Happy New Year

Hello everyone,
The weeks leading up to the new year was a very hectic one. I will be adding a new post shortly.
Happy New Year to everyone, I hope that it will be full of new designs:)

Costume 1

Hello,
Today I will be writing about a costume we did for a performer here in Turkey. When we had our first meeting she told us about what she wanted which was a nude body suit with gems, a puffy nude coloured skirt till the floor and a mask covered with gems. Our process started with getting her measurements and then creating the pattern.

Here are some pictures from the pattern process

Once the pattern was cut and ready it was time to sew. I used the overlocking machine only (this was because with a straight stitch you lose the elasticity of the fabric). Once we sew it it was time for the gems. The smaller ones of the gems were stick ons and the larger ones were sew ons. This picture was taken when we completed only the stick ones with some sew ons.

When this phase of the making process was complete we moved on to make the mask. For this we bought a cardboard mask and cut it into the shape we wanted. Secondly, we sew the same shape from fabric to cover the cardboard mask. Once the fabric was completed it was time to start putting the gems on it. Like the body suit we put both stick ons and sew ons. Here is a picture of the mask ( this was taken before it was complete, we put many more gems on it so no fabric was showing underneath).

Once these two items were close to finishing we started working on the puffy skirt. To get the shape we wanted we used a material called glop which is used to make corsets. This gave us the shape we wanted and we added hard netting to give it more of a puff. We then covered it with fabric and put some small stick on gems on the entire thing (I am very sorry but I do not have pictures of this process). Here is a picture of the skirt on me to show the puff on the back.

Once everything was complete we handed it over to our client who wore it for one of her performances and here are some pictures of her.

Costume Design

Hello everyone,

Today I would like to talk about Costume Design. While living and working in İstanbul we got the opportunity to meet some great people who are performers. When they found out what we did for a living they were delighted because they were having some trouble finding designers who would think out of the box. (Enter SNACH)

After our initial meeting we went to the drawing board and tried to come up with as many ideas as we could to fit their themes. This in my eyes wasn't the best move because showing all you can do at once might backfire too but it all worked out for us. We started with some interesting jackets and bodysuits. I will be sharing pictures and also will be sharing some sketches and designs very soon. I am very excited about this part of the blog. 

I will be able to share more work with you this way and I think it is an enjoyable subject to read about.

This is going to be a short entry but I will be writing a longer one very soon. I am sorry that I haven't written in a while will be writing more often from now on.

Pattern Phase

Hello everyone,
I am very sorry that I haven't written in a while. I have completed the pattern of the garment.  For copy right purposes I will not be putting a picture of the pattern itself. I will explain how I did it though. As you already know the first thing to do is to take your measurements for this garment I needed my bust, waist, hips, shoulder to waist and finally waist to floor. Considering the fact that I will be wearing heels with this garment I added 10 cm's to the skirt length. If I wanted a long trail then I would have added a minimum of 30 cm on the back.
After I had all the measurements I did all the calculations. When doing a pattern you need 1/4 of the measurement you have so for example if your waist size is 60cm in total on the pattern it should be 15cm because once it is cut and sewn together it will end up being 60 cm's again. For the Bust however; after dividing the measurement I add 1cm to the front and take away 1cm from the back pattern due to the bust and the same thing happens on the hips too, you add 1cm to the back because of the bottom and take away 1cm from the front. This way the pattern will fit your body in a much better way.
Note: If you have a big bust then you can add more to the front and take away the same amount from the back and the same goes to your hip measurement.

I always use a base pattern. After drawing the base pattern, I do the adjustments according to my measurements. This just makes sure that you make a pattern smaller or larger without loosing the shapes and the curves.

The next step is the cutting and sewing of the mock up. I will be posting pictures of while I am making the mock up and will also will post some form the fitting phase too.

Sketch phase

Hello again,
After drawing the sketch I took a photograph of it and put it onto the computer. As you can see it is a two piece garment, a long skirt and a lace top.

The photograph itself didn't look very good to me so I started to play on it on photoshop.

I added lace, and some colour to the skirt and this  is what I ended up with.














The fabric I bought for this dress is a pastel olive green so I filled the skirt in with the closest colour, for the lace top I decided to choose a vibrant colour which ended up being a coral pink (red).

The next phase is the pattern. To make the pattern I need
my measurements. The measurements I need are the shoulder width, bust, waist, hips and waist to floor. These are the main measurements I will need to start making the pattern.

I will keep you updated as I progress with this garment. I am very excited about the next phase because it is the phase where everything you imagine starts coming to life.

My First Blog

Hello, I wanted to start this blog because I am very passionate about what I do and that is Making Clothes. Today I will be talking about my next project which is a evening dress for myself to wear at my sister's upcoming wedding. Now would be a good time to mention that my husband who also graduated from the same Uni as me, as a fashion designer, is going to be the designer behind this dress for me. Let me tell you a little about how the process works. The first step is to get inspired :) this can happen anywhere really, it happens to me when I am watching TV or walking around in the city. Once you have an idea all you have to do it jot it down or make a sketch (It doesn't matter if nobody else understands this step, you will be fine as long as you understand it). If you are in the fashion business professionally (a fashion house or a factory) the next step would be to create an illustration of the design. In business it would then go to the pattern makers so that they can make the pattern but in our case it comes to Me. I always start a pattern by drawing what the finished pattern pieces will look like in a much smaller scale. This gives me an idea as to what my pattern pieces will look like once they are completed. (Don't forget that these can change as you go along.) I start the pattern according to the body measurements of my client. After the pattern is completed I move onto cutting the pattern out of the mock up fabric. Once it is cut it is time to sew and again if you have a big business there would be different people doing this step for you too. In out case I am the one who sews too. :) The mock up garment doesn't have to have all the finishing touches done to it. Once the mock up garment is complete you have your first fitting with your client. This is the first time they see their garment come to life so they usually are very excited about it (There can be some disappointment when they don't see the colour or fabric they wanted but after you explain that it is a mock up and once the fit is perfect you will make it out of the chosen fabrics they usually relax.) When you fit the dress usually you have to do some adjustments to it on the body. Everybody has a different body shape and even if you have all the measurement you might need to make some minor adjustments when it is on your client. After you translate all the adjustment to the pattern you are ready to make the real garment. You can choose to make an other mock up and have a second fitting before you cut the real one (This all depends on how confident you are in your work, and how many adjustments you had to make in the first fitting. If you had some major adjustments to make like changing the darts to make the fit around the breasts perfectly then I would suggest having a second fitting but if you only had minor adjustments like taking in the waist a cm then you won't need a secong fitting.). After the fitting/s are complete you can start the real one and this step always gives me the butterflies because even though I know the pattern is correct and that it fits my client I worry on the back of my mind that I could have made a mistake somewhere. (I should say though, I look at this in a good way because worrying about it makes me check my work many times over.). Once the fabric is cut you are ready for the sewing. Sewing can get very frustrating from time to time because if you sew a wrong part undoing it takes time but if you check that all your pieces are where they are supposed to be before sewing than it is unlikely that you will make a mistake :). Getting the accessories on like the zip, pipping, buttons and etc. can take more time than other things so take your time. I never do the hem before I try the garment on my client for one last time (I ask them to bring the shoes with them IF they are going to wear it with heels), each fabric has different characterisitcs which is the main reason behind one last fitting. Once you know exactly where your garment length is supposed to finish (this can be the arm length, the skirt length, the jacket length or the trouser length) you can complete the hem and the garment will be ready to be handed over to its new owner after a good ironing and steaming.
Note: Ironing each stitch down separatly while you are putting the garnment together takes a little longer but I suggest that you do it because it definitely makes a difference with how the seams look.

I will be posting pictures from each step as I go through them with my own dress.