1 More Day...

...before my last quarter starts! I'm pretty excited.

But not only about school - Laura's senior prom is just around the corner, and she's finally decided on her dress design (Ralph Lauren, found on theiconicfashionblog):

It will be the first halter design I'll make, and I'm making it for someone who isn't deformed like our dressforms at school, so it'll be a welcome change to homework. Hopefully I can convince Laura to make some changes so a) it's more an original design and b) so it's not so frilly.

And if you're wondering why this is familiar, it's the dress Serena Van Der Woodsen wore to her mom's (first) wedding on Gossip Girl.

Wish me luck!

2 months isn't a long time, is it?

So...another quarter, come and gone. Out of the four I've had so far, I think that this one was at the same time the most creative and the most lackluster. In my Creative Design course, I felt I grew a lot - and it certainly helped that we were able to do computer flats (or CADs) rather than hand-drawn ones!

Here's a round-up of what I did, very quickly, in every class:

Creative Draping 2: This class was fun because I was surrounded by good friends and a teacher who was very generous with grades - and was very appreciative of the students who actually followed directions. She incorporated a lot of couture sewing methods into the projects, so every assignment had a hand-sewn hem (I'm an expert at blind hems now!). My final project was this amazing colorblocked cobalt and black dress, which I'll have pictures of soon - maybe by November. The bottom part fits, but the top is a little...roomy...for someone of my stature.

Creative Design Analysis and Collection Development: I loved this class. This quarter (and next) I had all of my classes with my friend Airi, who is amazing and really creative. The first project of the quarter was a group project to reinvent a current designer's line, and lo and behold - we both chose Tommy Hilfiger! It was so much fun to do, and I got a lot of experience with using Illustrator.

The second assignment was a 36-piece collection of your own design. I chose to do a collection based on a Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, which, I will state, is NOT the same as the movie. As snowboarding outerwear is my first love, I went in that direction, and this was the first assignment where we had complete creative power, and the freedom definitely inspired me. I posted one of my jackets on facebook, and all of the positive comments inspired me to show more. Here's the rest of my assignment below so everyone can see! (Copyright Claire Kaiser, 2010)

Computer Aided Fashion Design II: This class introduced us to Photoshop, and how we can use Photoshop to make our fashion illustrations look even more professional. Personally, I like hand-drawn, hand-colored better - there is a quality there that you can't imitate with the Dodge and Burn tools on a computer.

Computer Patternmaking I: I'm loving computer patternmaking, which I should since that is what my internship is training me to do. I feel like I know more on the system at Volcom more than I do about Gerber, that we learn about in class! I think it's a hard program to grasp, but luckily I was able to do that quickly and kind of understand how to create things besides the projects we had in class.

Survey of Western Art II: Because I'm Professional Designation, I was able to get out of the first Art History class - and I almost wish I could audit it. I loved my teacher (I had him first quarter for another art class) and his lectures were very insightful and, at the same time, not overwhelming. For our final project, which was to curate an art show, I compiled royal and presidential portraits, both official and unofficial, to show the differences between their way of seeing themselves and the public's interpretation. While it didn't seem to be the best project, as I got into it I found myself enjoying ways to connect artworks and regretted not having more resources!

Next quarter won't be anything new, just more emphasis on designing actual garments and hand patternmaking, rather than just the creative side. I can't wait to make more clothes!

Okay, turns out the way I posted the project didn't work before....hopefully this works better.

Well, there goes my resolution....

So it took all of two weeks for me to fall off of the bandwagon. But at least I'm updating now!

The internship is becoming really informative and interesting - I've started orienting myself with the patternmaking software that they use, and it is REALLLLLLLLY difficult to understand. My computer patterning teacher says that the system at school is the hardest, but I don't think he's met Optitex, which is what Volcom uses. The cool part of their program is that you can see the garment in 3D, so you have an immediate idea of what the sample will look like. My supervisor thinks it will save the company, as well as the manufacturers, a lot of time and wasted effort. I can't wait to learn how to really use it!

School's going well, and I have some of my photoshop work to put up here. The first assignment in my class was to "fix" an old black and white photo that had been ripped or stained, and then colorize it. After looking through my dad's old photos (all of which are pristine and could have been developed last month), I found one of my Aunt Mary that appeared to have been attacked by a crayon. (It was in 1956, when my dad was less than one, so all signs point to Aunt Mary...sorry to throw you under the bus!) Here's the original, my fixed version, and the colorized version:

I'm not a huge fan of the colored version, but it was the assignment....my classmate Airi pointed out that in the original it looks like she's smiling, but with the change in shading in the colorized version, she looks like she's crying!

All my other classes are going really well - Airi and I are collaborating on a group project, designing a collection for Tommy Hilfiger! We're inspired by the American Frontier and have come together to create what I think will be an amazing, commercial, and fashion-forward collection. I'll try and put up some flats when I get around to do it!

Hooray, I'm an intern!

Well, my internship at Volcom started on Monday, and I'm sure it will be great! I spent the first two days "specing" garments (measuring at various parts of the garment and comparing them to the original measurements), as well as sitting in on a women's fitting. It's very interesting to see how the designers interact with the patternmakers, and also how much the garments can change from the original garments (one knit stretched so much that the model could barely keep it on her shoulders)!

I've also had both first days of class, and I'm hoping that it will be a lighter workload than last quarter. My creative draping class seems to be the only class with a large workload - everything else should be easy to stay on top of. Luckily, I have a break early Thursday mornings so I can work on all the draping that I need to do on the school forms.

And, on the non-school related front, I've become addicted to the shows "Big Love" and "The Suze Orman Show" - both are fantastic in different ways. I've been able to get "The Suze Orman Show" on my iPod for free (I'm not spending my emergency savings fund!), so I'm listening to episodes on my way to and from my internship. It's fantastic!

And so it begins with the New Year's Resolutions....

...And mine is to actually write on this blog. Regularly. Luckily, I don't have the "procrastinate less" resolution this year, so it doesn't matter that I took 3 days to write my first post of the year.

So without further ado, a picture of my most impressive piece from last quarter: a snowboarding pullover for my patternmaking class. Aren't the colors perfect?

School starts this Thursday, and it should be a light day because I only have computer patternmaking and art history. And next Monday, I start my internship at Volcom, where I'll be assisting patternmakers two days a week!

Have a Happy New Year!

Back from NYC

So I didn't get to post pictures from NYC, mostly because a) I didn't have my camera cord b) I didn't take pictures c) we were so tired every night to do anything besides collapse and d) I didn't wear a lot of it.

Yes, I only ended up wearing one dress....which I will put up in a later post. I did manage to get one picture in front of Columbia.

However, I did take pictures of all of my dresses today to show you what I intended on wearing. Our hotel was in Brooklyn, and that is quite far from Manhattan, so my idea of changing at night went out the window when we realized how far it was. And the walking! I wanted to wear heels with these dresses, and there was no way I would have been able to last - we walked 10+ miles throughout the entire weekend. It was great though!

Without further ado, my projects:

First, is the dress I did end up wearing, a plaid sleeveless one that I absolutely love. The plaid is so bright, and with the mustard brown sweater I wore with it, it looked very seventies, according to my friends.

Doesn't the plaid look awesome from the side? I managed to match the plaids almost perfectly on the front - the back was a different matter...easily solved by keeping my sweater on all day. It's a little wrinkled from being in the suitcase, but I didn't iron it since I plan on washing it soon anyways - it's cotton, and all the edges are finished thanks to my serger!

Next is one I absolutely love, a purple satin long-sleeved dress. If you can see, I didn't even hem the sleeves and skirt! I was planning to do that the night before I wore the dress, but since I never wore it...I most definitely will though. The Edison downtown, anyone?

Lastly is a white dress I made, hemmed, and tried on on Sunday, but eventually decided against wearing - it's lined and would have been way too warm for the nice October day. Also, there are some fit issues I'll have to work out - somehow it's sized bigger than all of the others, even though it is from the same pattern, and there are a few kinks with the cap sleeves I designed.

Luckily, I'm going back to school tomorrow and can how to both fix the fit problems, and learn how to properly make cap sleeves! I can't wait!

A picture of me in the plaid dress will come soon, I promise.

All my Bags are Packed, I'm Ready to Go...

...NOT! We're leaving in approximately 22 hours (I think - I'll have to check our flight one last time) and I'm not even packed.

However...

...my collection is done! It consists of 4 dresses and 1 skirt - 3 day outfits and 2 night outfits - perfect for the trip! I meant to upload pictures earlier in the week, but with all the sewing and other stuff (MTV's "16 and Pregnant" is a great time-killer), I haven't had the time!

All I can say is that all the dresses are based on the pattern of my blue dress (from the second post) so expect darts, nipped waists, high hemlines, and pencil skirts!

I can't wait until I land in NEW YORK CITY! I'll post pictures of my various projects tomorrow - or later today, however you look at it.

Good night everyone!