Locating Week Five

This week I began my twill I used a medium weight calico for this i firstly began by creating a a paper pattern. After I was happy with the pattern I pinned it to the calico ready to cut out however what I didn't realize when drawing up my pattern was that at the front of the apron there needed to be more room so that it wasn't tight straight down and the apron isnt being used a unisex apron there needs to be room in the front to fit a variety of body shapes. To overcome this I placed the pattern at an angle off the folded calico which when cut gave extra room at the front.







I found the making of the twill surprisingly easy as the body of the apron was one solid piece. For the straps I used the calico and made large flat rulos, I chose to use this method as if I did flat piping with a top stitch there would be an edge showing of the material and I feel only being able to see the seem on the rulo straps creates a more professional finish.


After creating the apron I thought about how I could finish the edges initially thinking mited corners however as I am going to use a strip cotton I decided that a bias bind edge to the apron would be best as it would show the stripes in another way and is also both a curiosity and necessity of the apron brief.



The twill has reassured me that the apron shape I have designed is right for what I want as the open back allow the apron to fit around a variety of body shapes, once I had made the twill I got a male and female to try it and found it fitted well on both genders his was something that is crucial to the apron that I wanted to make.

After making the apron I pinned pockets and created some pocket placement ideas onto the twill I made a large button whole pocket across the top of the apron however I don't feel this was successful as it made thee apron misshaped and  became ill fitted on a male, therefor I will not being doing that for my final Apron.The process of creating a twill was highly beneficial to me as if I was to go straight onto my cotton there are things for example the pocket I would have put on and it wouldn't of been right, the twill has aloud my to further develop my practical and design skills. In the next week I plan to create my final apron and explore more with pocket placement.

I was also inducted onto the omni stitch machine this something  I would like to use in the future however not in this project as I feel it leans more toward the female gender when on a garment.

Locating Week Four

This week I began to start looking at material choices for my apron, as the apron is for both  the male and female I wanted to choose a patterned cotton with no preference or implication of particular gender. I decide to go for a stripe or a spot I sketched out some ideas within my sketchbook.

I decided that the most successful idea was the apron with a vertical striped body and horizontally striped straps. I like the idea that the eye follows the stripe up and then has to change direction the point of interception between the two different stripes creates a focal point for the apron as well as this any button wholes or pockets could also have the stripes horizontally and any bias I may use will create the stripe in another form. 

As I didnt know how to make pockets or the types there were I learnt how to create a button whole pocket and a patch pocket these process were something I found enjoyable however I did have to have a few attempts at the pockets because for the button whole it was quite fiddly and the press of the material was extremely important to get and even button whole, also with  a patch pocket if the corner are not tuned out properly the pockets look unprofessional.

I enjoyed the buttonhole process and so I reserched into this and found the artist Maxine Bristow

. She is a textile artist who works with buttonholes to create gallery based peices. Her work has strengths within its composition. This is something I want to look into for my slef initiated brief 

My plan for the next week is to create my twill as a mock up in medium weight calico to get an ides of the sizing of the apron as well as designing some ideas with pocket placement before making my final apron.

Locating week Three

This week I began to sketch out some ideas for my apron. I sketched out a few ideas of decorative aprons however this wasn't something that I wanted to do I came up with a few ideas one being a pac o mac style apron something that could be folded within itself into a bag there fore the material would have to be strong washable in some way and durable. I thought more into polyester as it didn't crease and was still lightweight however in the tutorial we spoke about how cotton would actually be a better fit for the apron as it is lightweight, washable flexible and a natural material as apposed to the polyester I was first thinking. I was quite worried when first going into the tutorial as most other girls had thought more about embellishment and the decorative style of the apron, whereas I concentrated more on the function, practicality and process. However Lynn said the way I looked a the apron brief was fine and that my apron will be more about process such as seams pockets ect. Lynn also mentioned about trying a patterned material this is something I plan to look into. I invasion this apron to be a consumer product as I feel the idea behind it is strong for this the context is all about the product and making it practical and unisex. It is not and apron that is used for a certain thing eg cooking  or art. It will be a practical durable apron that should have a large variety or consumers.

I also looked into who I want my apron to be for, I want this to be a unisex apron so it caters to a wider consumer therefor I finally chose my apron shape to be a loose apron with a cross back strap so it is possible to slip on over the clothes rather then wasting time with fastening up this also works with the idea of the quick durability of the apron within its own bag idea. As I want this apron to be unisex and plan on using a cotton i don't want it to be plain white as it it would show the marks all over.

Over the next week I plan on stating a twill of my apron aswell a deciding on a pttern which i want to use.