Pattern, patterns, patterns..........

Never really realised exactly how much work was involved in putting together a pattern in a nice envelope......!! At first I thought 'well, it's just a drawing for the envelope, the pattern pieces and the instructions' and ask a friend to try it out, and proof read it...

   

Well, nothing's ever easy - we know this.....! But in the course of doing all this I am having to: spend several hours sourcing nice envelopes, only to find out that the printers will actually cut the paper so all I have to do is stick it down, learn how to use the pen tool on photoshop (doesn't sound like much, but it's not that easy, especially if you want to know how to make your work visible (!), do a LOT of little diagrams to illustrate the instructions, lay everything out for printing, including the back of the envelope with photo of the item, AND flat drawings.... all this is extra to creating the image for the front of the envelope (which I like doing), and making the pattern pieces. They are OK, so long as you don't have any curves, hahahahaaaaa.....:-( 

Maybe I'll just be an artist instead....;-)

Oh well, it'll get there in the end I guess.

Accessory patterns

I was quite touched the other day, as one of my students who'd done the Colsca / Smittens workshop (and who also comes for pattern cutting classes), came in brandishing her newly finished smittens, which she'd made from my pattern, feeling very happy with them! I say 'touched', but that's not quite the right word. What I meant was that it was something like hearing a song you perform on played in a shop or club (not that that's happened that often to me!), or I guess seeing a book jacket you've designed in a bookshop....

So my job over Christmas is to work out the best packaging idea for the patterns, as the one I have at the moment is just a kind of stopgap, due to having to produce them quickly for a workshop. Then it will be on to the patterns for other accessories I designed a while ago. I have quite a few ideas, but the packaging is soooooo important. People who actually get to see my stuff seem to love it, so I've realised that it's seeing the stuff in real life that's the key to selling it, or a pattern or a workshop for it. I've sold about 6 without trying at all :-)
So that's my work cut out (get it?) over Christmas, alongside the bespoke commissions.

Speaking of which, now that the tweed wedding dress has departed, and will make it's starring appearance next Saturday, somewhere in Gloucestershire, I am on to an equally different fabric for a wedding dress - suede - well, faux actually, but you'd hardly know the difference! It's gonna be VERY nice I think, and will have a sumptuous,  '50's but modern' look to it. MANY metres of fabric here!!!  Looking forward to it :-)

​Anyway, here's the lady of the smittens, looking very happy, and some images of the pattern envelopes below :-D
Bobbie x​

Classes a go-go

Classes a-go-go

22/9/2015

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September is always a crazy month if you're a teacher - organization overload, all the formalities, and then eventually you can actually get down the REAL stuff - the knowledge, and the imparting of such!!!

There is quite a lot, (am I kidding myself?!), actually loads of technical stuff involved in pattern cutting teaching, but the aim of it all should be (in my humble opinion) to give others the means by which creativity can happen. I call it the 'transformation' :-) Ideas on paper or in the head, transformed by means of technical stuff (the making if patterns and toiles), into amazing garments, or parts of garments. If you know these methods, your creativity knows no bounds and you also have the respect of others around you in the business. I guess that's a bit like trying to write a song, but not knowing any of the technical stuff that enables you to play it to other people, i.e. playing and instrument, singing, writing music, using programmes on the computer.....OK it IS possible, but not easy.
So, it's a means to an end....
My means to an end right now is to get organised for tomorrow (first day teaching out this academic year), so less blathering.....
I'm using the plastic sheet for blocks now, which means no more dog ears and wiggly edges, however many students have to copy them, so more to make today as well as all the paperwork :-)
Speak soon!
Bobbie 

Love this pic of 'old style' blocks...

Tomoko Nakamichi

Tomoko Nakamichi is the author of those wonderful pattern cutting books, 'Pattern Magic' of which there are now 3 in the series...

It's hard to find out much more about her personally on the net - there don't seem to be any Youtube videos - but I did find a post on someone's blog, (link above) which, if you scroll nearly to the end has some photos of the lady herself giving a lecture / workshop at the Bunka School in Japan where she taught in a regular basis. How I would have loved to be at one of those, really to see the kind of person who has dedicated herself to her craft in such a way, and how she communicates her information.
                                It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it! 

A little preview:

Website work

I've been doing quite a bit of the above, please see the classes tab  here, so you can see all the details of what, where, when and how much if you fancy doing a class or a course! 

This blog is for classes specific stuff, and things of interest regarding the creativity and application of pattern cutting and sewing, but the 'Classes' tab on my main Atelier website gives more detail as mentioned, and you can also see a lot more information about me, and the other threads of my creative work - bespoke commissions, teaching 'out', artwork and music. (Just in case you wonder who on earth I am!) 

Bodice toile

In other news, I am running 2 - 3hr workshops on various topics in the summer, as people's routines change (due to school age children and / or holidays), and sometimes these are more easy to fit into your schedule. The next one is this Wednesday at 11am and is a pattern cutting workshop on how to make a pattern for a dolman sleeve.I had a special request for this from two of my Mill Arts Centre class students, but if anyone else would like to come too, I'd be delighted to have you along. The cost is only £25, and all is provided, including refreshments, but if you have a large set square or patternmaster and a technical pencil, that would help :-)

I'm located on the edge of the village of Cropredy in Oxfordshire OX17 1PF. 

The next workshop after that will be for how to put in zips - invisible and jean zips, and that will be on Wednesday 12th August. Please ring 07941 619992 for more details, or check the website.

Bobbie :-)

A Mill Arts Centre class in progress  - making a toile (calico mock up) to test the pattern

A success!

Pleased to announce a little success on the personal block front with my pattern cutting class at the Mill Arts Centre in Banbury. 

We are all different shapes and sizes, and for students that aren't aiming for a career as a designer/pattern cutter, a good objective is to make a personal block (sized to your own measurements), on which you can base any design, knowing that it will fit you when made up as a garment. 

One of my students told me that she hardly ever wears trousers and only possessed one pair, as she could never get any to fit...

So when she came to the class yesterday and I noticed that she was wearing a beautifully fitting pair of trousers in lovely fabric, and I remarked on them, thinking that she'd been out and bought some expensive designer trousers. 

Well, you know what's coming.....she had actually made them from her own perfectly fitting pattern, and looked a million dollars! We were all very impressed, and I was so pleased for her, a) that she could wear a pair of great trousers, that made her feel good, and b) pleased for the class (who had some proof of the method we used) AND myself, that the 'constructing from scratch method' had worked so well.

More soon!

 Bobbie

Pleats!

At one of my group pattern cutting classes yesterday we were talking about pleats, and how to create different types (a seemingly mundane conversation!),  and this amazing design I'd seen recently popped into my head. I don't really know how it would work in practice (when you sat down?), but looks fantastically sculptural.

Also, we started drafting a trouser block from scratch i.e. from basic body measurements, as trousers are tricky when it comes to getting a great fit. Yes, I know that fabrics with stretch will forgive lots of fitting problems, but to know how to really do it properly if you want to produce something immaculate and tailored is very useful. Skills such as these help your ideas as a designer, as you know the choices you can make...

That's all for now - just a quickie! Apart from a photo of a recent addition to the studio, below........if you'd like to see an unexpected combination of artwork/teaching/commissions please go to my artwork blog: https://bobbiesroom.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/mondrian-landscape/

Bobbie.