Locating Evaluation

The locating unit was made of up of two briefs firstly the live project which for me was the Apron brief and a self initiated brief. To start I was slightly overwhelmed about the prospect of having two briefs to complete simultaneously however I overcame this with a time plan. My time management was something that I have struggled with in previous units. I knew after choosing the Apron brief that it would be a time consuming brief as I would have to wait for the scheduled workshops in order to create my apron. From the start I had realised that with the self initiated brief I would have a shorter amount of time. I chose to work on the briefs one after the other as I felt that it dividing up the time would have me not giving enough attention to either of the briefs.

Starting with the Apron brief, I chose this as I wanted to create a finished product, this along with the way the brief is open to your own interpretation of what an apron is were the key factors for me choosing the brief. My work shows clear exploration as Initially I had so many ideas I sketched them all down and explored with the idea of what an apron is. I whittled my ideas down to the stronger ones before deciding on the idea of a practical apron. I researched and explored with how the apron could store away for example does it have a separate bag for the apron to go into. Is the apron the bag, does the apron have an attached pouch for which to fold into. The Apron brief allowed me to further develop my skill set at I learnt a large amount of new techniques including; induction to the over-locker, facing, bias binding, rulo ect. There is clear development shown through my apron brief from the initial ides through the process and technical samples to the finished apron.

During this locating unit I visited Florence and went to Pitti I used this trip to talk to people in the industry and get business cards and start networking. This was something that I feel has taken me one step further into building my pathway into industry.

There are clear links form the aritst Maxine Bristow to my work in the apron brief through her use of the bound buttonhole as well as the simple clean aesthetic to her work. When moving onto my self initiated project I struggled slightly. When the pin up was held it was said to go with the buttonholes which was a clear link and I could see that through both my work and my artist influence. However once I tried to go with that I couldn’t quite get to grips with it, I wasn’t enjoying it and for me that was one of the main draws from the self initiated brief. I took charge of my work and looked back at my apron project and Maxine’s work and instead of looking literally at the buttonhole on the artwork I looked at laterally at her natural colour scheme and the context of her gallery based work this was something I then worked with. I looked back into my work and found that I had concentrated a lot n finishing the edges in my apron brief and so I combined all of this and decided on my self-initiated brief being about the edge and the qualities of the material. This shows that I have critically reflected and analysed my work in order to develop my practice.

This brief has allowed me to refine my choosing of materials as I created a cohesive piece with a variety of materials with contrasting qualities such as flexibility and weight. I have learnt to become more sensitive with my material choice. I looked into Deepa Panchamia’s work for both the context of her gallery based work as well as the layering effect of her work which implies pleating and a similar texture.

Overall I feel that I was got a greater knowledge of my work and where I see my work located (gallery based). This project has greatly developed my skill set through the apron project and developed my work as an artist. I feel that if I didn’t lose the few days in which I struggled with the self initiated then the project would have more initial drawing which is something that is lacking. However I do feel that I have accomplished something with my time management for this project as this was something I previous have struggled with.

Locating Week Eight

This week I experiment with placement of my pleated samples, I drew out a few pages of  composition ideas. This process really helped me as when it came to the placement of the samples I already knew that I wanted a brown background in order for the edges to stand out more. However I did still try with a white background.

I got a piece of wood and although I preferred it on the brown wood background I didn't like the composition and so I mimicked the linear form of my sample and cut a piece of wood to the shape and size I wanted. This aloud me to take control of my work more. 

I feel the composition of this piece is strong as it has dense focal points and the eye is taken through the piece. I feel I have successfully answered my brief as it is clear that I have a final piece and also evident that I have explored the materials both through manipulation and through the edges as some of them have frayed and others haven't. I specifically found the edge on the satin interesting as on the reverse dull side of he material when the edges have frayed the shimmer from the weft comes through.I have experimented with scale and to take this further would continue to do so, I could see this on a much larger scale as a gallery piece or taken into nature as the colour scheme implies and nailed onto trees to create an installation.

Locating Week Seven

This week we had a pin up session where I pinned my apron up with all my technical samples. We went around between the girls showing our work and had group discussions this process was really interesting as I got to see how other girls work had been getting on. When in discussion about my work the tutors and peers said they thought my idea of the apron that packs away was initiative and said how they wouldn't have thought about it. We then talked about how I could take my the button whole through to my self initiated.


after trying this I struggled with the idea and didn't feel it was at all for me so I looked back at my apron work and found that I had concentrated a lot on the edges of the apron through the bias binding and edge treatments. I took the idea of edges to come up with my self initiated brief. I decided to go with a neutral colour scheme as I feel this allows you to concentrate more on the edges. I used polyester satin, polyurthane netting to create my samples. As it says in the brief I manipulated the materials and found it interesting how the materials acted differently, some materials made straight lines and edges where as others made curves. I created pleats in linear forms, I found it interesting how come edges frayed and others didn't I explored this by combining materials.

 The pleats almost resemble spines and the rigid qualities that some of the materials have further imply this

An artist that inspired me with these samples is Deepa Panchamia she is a textile artist who creates one off sculptural pieces, she also uses a similar colour pallet although Deepa's work is about layering up the materials if made me think of pleating and was a great inspiration for me work. Also with the context of her work being gallery based this is something I see my self initiated work moving towards.



I looked back to Maxin Bristow an artist I previously looked at for the apron brief and took inspiration from her natural colour scheme I also found the white and cream work with the wood floor and interesting concept. I see this work similarly to Maxine's work being more of a gallery based work for an installation. This is something plan to work with my samples and explore composition for my piece of work.

Locating- Self initiated brief

The Edge

The raw edge of any material is something that is overlooked, as the first thought when creating a textile/fashion piece is “how could I finish this edge?” Ask yourself what if the raw edge was already finished. This brief is an exploration of this.

The aim is to select a small range of materials with contrasting edges and experiment with them. Explore the structure of the chosen materials, think about manipulating the materials and seeing how the contrasting fabrics act when manipulated. Think about clean edges, cutting, tearing, and flexibility. Explore different weights and types of materials (natural, man-made).

The aims:

-          To create a finished piece or set of resolved samples

-          Show an understanding and exploration of material qualities

Locating Week Six

This week I made my final apron, I used the a new pattern with the extra room at the front taken in to consideration. I thought that this would be an easy task as I had already done it with the twill however I was wrong. I got the measurements just slightly off and had not bought enough cotton to create the apron as one solid piece of fabric. The options I had were to buy the material again, to make the apron with horizontal stripes instead of vertically like I had decided or to create the apron as three separate panels and add seems. Seems were on the necessities list for the Apron brief and so is was an obvious choice. I decided to use this set back as an advantage to show more skill in my apron. I added piping on the bias into the seem to create a different type of stripe. I also added two in seem pockets this process was quite fiddly and over locking the seems while keeping the pockets the same size was quite challenging.

I added a button whole pocket to the top right of the apron. this creates a focal point to the apron.I also then made and added the bag to the inside of the apron, this has made the apron alot more practical and easy to carry.





I feel this apron is successful in showing my skill level as it includes; bias binding, seems, over locking, rulo, button whole pocket, in seam pocket, matching stripes and piping. All of these techniques are in the apron brief under the necessities and curiosities.  It is also successful in the idea behind the apron the attached pouch in which the apron goes into. I found this unit positively challenging as it forced me to think in a way I hadn't before and I got to make my initial idea of the apron in a bag come to life for me this was a personal achievement for me.