For the making of my garment I first referred back to my collective research of skeleton source material which images I obtained from the internet, (looking at close up bones and there structures), I then looked at the inspired skeleton dress illustration which I drew, in order to have first hand source material to refer back to when making the 3D dress. I wanted my garment to be as similar to the illustration design as possible.
I then reflected back to my artist research looking mostly at the production of how they made there dresses and garments, as well as the fabrics and accessories they used (e.g detailing) this helped me in the process to making my dress as I could use the knowledge of fashion designers like Alexander McQueen's work to help me.
Production
To start the production of my dress I first used an old skater skirt to use as the base of my skirt piece. I then started to attach netting to the skirt by first cutting 15cm by 30cm strips of both black and grey netting. I then layered the netting by pleating it and pinning it to the waist line of the skirt. This created a more volumised skirt with the layered netting on the top. I then secured the netting by sawing it to the waste band.
After securing the netting I then added fabric to the skirt. I used grey organza for this piece folding it in half then I marked out the shape which was waiste 20, lenght 50, and width 40. Then I cut the shape out. I pinned the fabric over the top of the netting and then sawed to make secure.After attaching the organza I kept some of the fabric loose with no stitches so I could pull through some of the netting to create a more volumed effect both under an over the organza fabric.
After pinning to secure the seams together, I then started to sew, (pins helped make sewing easier)
While sewing the seams I found it difficult to keep the folded edge from gathering as I was sewing because there was to much extra fabric in places e.g. around the arm holes.After assembling the bodice, I then started to add the fabric paint of the rib cage design. I had practiced this on a spare piece of the cotton material (as development), before applying this design to the final garment. I used a better fabric paint this time as well as silver fabric paint. I first sketched out the rib cage silhouette onto the fabric. I achieved this by using first hand source of ribs and there structure. This helped me get a clear realistic effect onto my piece as well as improving the overall effect.
After painting the bodice I then started adding the wire edging on the painted ribs by using super glue and shaping the wire to mold the rib shapes. I found that I had to develop this further due to the super glue not drying translucent but yellow, this was noticeable on my garment therefore I painted over the glue with acrylic which helped the glue blend into my paint work.
Overall this method worked well but if I was to improve I would of used a more translucent glue.After that I cut strips of grey organza and melted the edges over a small candle flame by burning the organza it gave a 3D rib like affect. I then pinned each piece onto the painted rib cage bodice.
I liked the burnt fabric effect as it gives movement to the fabric which is inspired by Alexander McQueens (movement of the body designs).
I then started to create wire elements onto the skirt by using influences of images from the internet of hip bones. I used the wire to show this effect. I attached the wire onto the skirts waist band by first using super glue as a attachment and then sewed over the wire with a looped effect to secure the wire fully.
After that I then used organza material (burnt) onto the skirt to incorporate both the bodice and skirt together. This worked well to show the bone structure overall.
I feel I could of improved this piece by adding more material as I only used pieces in order to cover parts of the netting. I felt that the raw netting made my skirt look messy.
When the bodice and skirt was assembled with fabric and wire. I tried on the 2 piece garment to see the fit as well as to see what the overall look looked like,
I found that I needed to incorporate the grey cotton and fabric paint onto the skirt some where. Therefore to alabirate more on the hip bones I created a wire structured, cotton accessory onto the hip to represent the hip bone itself.
To create this I used references from the internet of the hip bones as I used the shape and structure from the internet images to mold the shape out of wire. I then used the grey cotton fabric and stretched it around the wire hip shape, and pinned the material tight so I could then sew.
I then created the shapes and shadows of the bones with fabric paint and acrylic. I feel that this made it more intricate and realistic, tying in both the skirt and bodice together. I liked the overall effect when attached to the skirt waist.
After that I then used body casts of both my back and collar bones to my shoulders to represent my bones in the body and adapted and exaggerated them with plaster bandage to create a more prominent spine and shoulder blades as well as my collar bones.
To start the molding with plaster bandage process of my body shape, I first created a cast of my back, by first using cling film onto the skin and then cut the plaster bandage into squares (not ripping as the dust is harmful if inhaled). I then got someone to apply the plaster onto the direct skin to get the shape with wet plaster and applied 3 coats to make it strong. I then got someone to remove the plaster cast and left it over night to dry. When dry i had to experiment with attaching this plaster back mold onto my garment. Therefore I decided to use Velcro for my bodice and my plaster to fit together.
I attached the Velcro by sewing it onto the plaster bandage. This was very hard to do at first as I couldn't get the sewing needle into the plaster, therefore I had to make pin holes and then sew with needle and thread after.
After sewing the Velcro onto the bodice back and the plaster bandage mold I then started to shape the mold (due to sewing I had to re-do some bits of plaster as it made it unsteady) and added the prominent bone structure of the spine and shoulder blades, even though this piece showed the structure I still feel I could of developed further to make it more realistic and should of added white paint to get a better finish.
After attaching the back finally I moved on to create the collar bones. I used my last development work to help me as well as using the same casting method with my back cast (cling film and molding the wet plaster onto direct skin to get real shape of my collar bone) I feel that the shape was very realistic and then I used this to develop further by exaggerating the collar bone and part of the shoulder.
The overall effect was good and i used paint to exaggerate the collar bone further with grey and white shading.
After finishing the piece I noticed that when trying on my bodice there was no adjustment to the bodice and would not fit, therefore I used safety pins on each side of the bodice to attach the side seams together, to let this fabric have more give in it. The safety pin was inspired by the structure of grates/railings and how I could incorporate architecture into my piece.
I also was experimenting with elastic and other sources to see which represented the architecture the most. i researched into the grates in the road as well as railings and gates looking closely at the structure and style. i also used photography of my surrounding looking in my home town but also in Worksop. after doing this i also found that these pictured helped me with the use of wire and metal used in my garment looking closely at the similarities of gates and railings to the wire shapes of my rib design.
This use of safety pins gave the garment a raw effect as well as inspiration from a fashion design on the cat walk using safety pins to attach seems together therefore I used references of both architecture and the fashion industry to inspire me.
Finally when my final garment was completed I then wore it down a catwalk of a Wednesday lesson. This helped me show off my garment in the fashion industry, which i wanted to betray and I feel I achieved this.
Even though the catwalk was a knew frightening experience it was very fun and I would defiantly like to do it again. It also let me show off my work to a new audience, so they could see the hard work I had applied into making this garment.
I feel my opinion on the overall effect of my garment was good, and feel i incorporated all themes of architecture, the human form and the fashion industry.
But the things i would improve on is collecting more images of architecture which inspire me as some of my other illustration designs of garments incorporated more architecture than this piece.
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