It’s already the middle of September, it’s still hot, and I have a ridiculously delicious pumpkin coffee to get me through today. Here we go. I also have a Costume History test I should be studying for now that I’m in a caffeine induced craze. Let’s blog instead.
Basically, life as a fashion design major is busy. I keep thinking of that one Veggie Tales song, with the lyrics: “We’re busy, busy, dreadfully busy, You’ve no idea what we have to do. Busy, busy, shockingly busy…”. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this busy in my life. I’m taking 18 hours. I’m not sure how I convinced myself that this wasn’t going to be a big deal.
I keep switching between this:
I am this cat
And this:
…on a daily (hourly?) basis. Because as frustrating or scary or just plain crazy as this semester is, it’s also been a bunch of fun. I have tons of classes (three a day Monday-Thursday, and one on Friday), and they all are connected to my major somehow. I’m taking some classes that are more centered on the business-y side of fashion: Retail and Microeconomics. Micro is already the bane of my existence. I took Econ in high school, but it was home-school Econ….so basically, I really didn’t take Econ. So taking an Honors Micro class may or may not have been a wise decision, but I’m doing it. Retail is a lot of fun, and very interesting. We talk about the business of Fashion, and sometimes we spend entire class periods talking about magazine organization or the Leather and Fur Industry or we have guest speakers who have made it in the Fashion World.
I’m taking a Costume History class that I’m currently avoiding studying for. So far, we’ve covered Egyptian, Japanese, Etruscan, Greek, and Minoan styles of dress. Believe me, it’s a lot of vocabulary. Did you know that there are two completely different Japanese words for short sleeve kimonos as opposed to long sleeve kimonos? Well there are. And I’m supposed to know them. We’ll see how that goes. The cool thing is that this class has kind of lined up with my Art History class. Because of this, I’ve been able to make some cool connections between what I’ve learned in each class, and it’s helped me study too. Between Art History and Costume History, I’ve had to do a lot of memorization!
My favorite two classes are probably Flat Pattern Design and Fashion Illustration. In Flat Pattern Design, I’m basically learning how to translate my drawing of a garment into an actual pattern that I can then use to make the garment. We’ve done a lot of practice projects where my teacher gives us a picture of a bodice (like the top of a dress), and then we have to figure out what the pattern would have to look like in order to make it. Now that we’ve gotten a lot of practice with this, we get to design and make patterns for our own garments. I’m so excited! I’ve been doing tons of sketching, and ordered fabrics swatches from Mood (thank you, Mood!), and on Thursday I’m going to show my teacher my ideas. In Fashion Illustration, the goal is to be able to easily sketch a fashion croquis (which is the fashion figure/body) in all sorts of interesting poses. My teacher started us with super basic concepts- just a still body, all angles and no curves. Once we had the proportions down (a fashion croquis is 10 heads tall!), we learned how to add curves. Then we got to draw the figure from different angles and in different poses. I have to sketch every day, but it’s definitely paying off. We also have to have some fabric and design ideas for this class too. By the end of this semester, we will have learned how to draw our inspirations on our unique croquis, and will have created a ‘mini collection’ of a few different sketched looks. Exciting!
I had two tests last week, and I have three this week, and at least one next week. I also have about five projects. When I think about this too much, it’s a little scary. Thankfully these projects are super exciting and inspiring.
Here’s a little peek at what I’m working on!
Fabric and Inspiration for Flat Pattern…work in progress!
Illustration Homework
Wowza. Ok this coffee is strong stuff. I guess that might be the extra shot of espresso. Peace, y’all. Gotta go study.
sartorialsara 