Toile Diary

Last week the fun started! The toile diary began by sampling all the difficult parts that could accrue and manufacturing the toile!

So I started off with the sampling, looking at all kinds of things from chicken wire to acrylic boards! Testing out what would work best for the shoulders and the front bodice!

I started my toile diary off by sketching out my final design of the front, back and side view and annotating any areas that needed to be explained.

My first sample was looking at zips for the floor length skirt. I had decided that I wanted the zip to be a feature as well as a function, therefore I am going to place the zip on show. I am also going to research sourcing neon zips that could be used as a feature on the skirt to fit in with the colour theme.

The next sampling was for the front bodice, when I was designing this area I had already decided that I wanted to create it out of a plastic material so it would be structured and also fit with the shield look. I firstly looked at this plastic material that was used for a pattern template, however this plastic only came in white and I was looking for black. I tried to problem solve this by spray painting the white plastic, but this didn't give a block colour.

Luckily I then found this A2 sheet of clear acrylic plastic board that was similar to the pattern plastic and it also came in black, so it's been ordered! But I've also been sampling out some areas with the clear piece I found! I tested out stitching two pieces together, which moved around a bit and didn't create a straight line. I tried taping the two pieces of plastic together and this helped it not move around while stitching. I also tested out stitching the plastic to this material that was used for bullet proof vests that I was hopefully going to use for the back of the bodice to help the front bodice stay to the model. This sampling also worked but I used two rows of stitching just to give it some more strength!

My next stage of sampling was for the shoulders, I wanted the shoulders to be very structured and stable so I had a trip to B&Q and and found a sheet of chicken wire that would be perfect for it! So I wanted to test out if I needed wadding and how much I would need! To make it comfy for the model, I also wanted to test if I wanted black fabric on the top of the wire with neon underneath or the other way around! So I've tested all these in my sketchbook and here's what I have done... In order ahah!