| Creative Fibre Magazine | September 2004 vol. 7 no. 2 |
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Mason Charitable Trust Scholarship 2003
My appreciation goes to Creative Fibre and the Mason Charitable Trust Scholarship, who made it all possible for me to attend courses and explore more ways of working with fibre and fashion.
My aims in applying for this scholarship were to focus on design, developing better techniques in designing and constructing garments. I applied to Fashion and Textile Design Department, Massey University, Wellington, and was able to have one-on-one tuition with Anne de Gues, for 7 days. Anne is a New Zealander with a Dutch degree in teaching fashion, textiles and art. She teaches fashion design and drawing, historic costume, textiles, patternmaking, garment construction and costume design for performing arts at Massey and the New Zealand Drama School.
Late January 2003, I went to Wellington, taking drawings and samples of my work to Anne. Improving my drawing styles was the starting point. So it was back to drawing quick stick figures of Anne in different poses, helping to get action into it all, then circular ones and figures without lifting the pencil, emphasising the folds of clothes. With such an intense course and wanting to fit as much as possible into the timeframe, there was a lot of homework. I walked into Wellington and looked at all the fashions, drawing different styles, getting a feel for it all and sketched different ideas until late every night.
A theme was set … "I had been commissioned by an international celebrity to design and make a dress for them to wear to the opening Premiere of the Lord of the Rings"…(if only it was real, but now I had something to plan my ideas and designs on). I needed to make a mood board, where I could gather thoughts, ideas and inspiration. I intended my focus to be using rich colour and textures and be very much desired. A workbook is used for brainstorming, inspiration and research, so mine was filling with sketches, words to explain feel or design, ideas and textiles.
I was instructed on how to alter a block pattern and make a calico toile to fit me perfectly, learning how to change the position of darts, or making into princess line. This all takes time but wow what a difference it makes. Being tall I usually have to alter any patterns I get, so this skill is very valuable.
I drew different designs and put them into roughs, using different layouts.
The weekend came and I took the opportunity to visit Te Papa and 'the Lord of the Rings' exhibition, using it as research and having a chance to experience the essence. I also visited a lot of the other galleries around, especially the Dowse, which had a wonderful 'Kete' exhibition.
Now I had a variety of roughs, I had to make a decision on the designs I would use on a finished drawing showing the front, side and back views. As we could not decide on just one design, it was decided that I use six designs and create two pages of finished drawings. From these designs I was to pick one for a working drawing, this is one that you give to a pattern maker and they are able to draft a pattern from it - (It shows all the seams, pockets, zips etc.)
This was used as a guide to make a pattern by draping calico on a dressmakers model. A cardboard pattern was cut from the calico shapes before sewing into a finished toile.
I had so much fun, learning and experiencing such a lot over my time in Wellington. I have made up two of the designs I produced there, and now that I understand the design process I have more on the way.
For the second part of my scholarship I enrolled for an online course with Brigitte Krag Hansen, a feltmaker from Denmark. Already owning a couple of her books, I had tried some of her techniques, but never quite fully understood them, so it was a great to be able to email and get the answers. I am still experimenting with the techniques and can see them with practice adding new dimensions to my works.
It was unfortunate that I was unable to attend the Millinery course I had intended going on for the last part of the scholarship, but I hope they will run it this year. If not I have some names of working milliners who I hope will be able to teach me, to add the finishing touch to hats for the designer garments.
I would like once again to thank Creative Fibre and The Mason Charitable Trust for their support in my endeavours. The scholarship has given me a wonderful base to work from and I feel I will be benefiting from it for a long time. I encourage others to apply for the scholarship as opportunities like this are very limited and need to be supported to keep them continuing. Thank you so much.
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| 'Earth Maiden' Designed on the course, able to be felted without a pattern as it had no garment seams to create fit. | 'Natural Flow' Winner of the Rotocard Selectors choice award and the Black and Coloured Sheep Breeders Award 2004 Natual Fashion Parade |