Final Evaluation

For Self Directed Project

 

I feel I have fulfilled the brief and my Learning Agreement requirements and have achieved the work I set out for myself in a professional way. I have completed a classical ballet tutu which fits the requirements from the client. I feel I have developed my skills in costume construction and have learnt many new skills which will improve my level of making in preparation for my third year of study.

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From the first tutorial I was excited about the new challenge I faced and learnt what the group was expected to do. The London fabric sourcing was a beneficial experience as it allowed me to gain knowledge into the location of other fabric shops which will be useful not only in third year but in future work. From the blog tutorial I realized I was not using my blog effectively, therefore from here on I updated it regularly. I have mainly used my blog to reflect and evaluate my work, things I have learnt. Writing these self reflections has enabled me to take a step back from my work and realise what I am learning.

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Working in a team on this project has been a good experience in not only preparation for possible future work but also because we were able to support each other during the making process. This will be beneficial for third year when I work on a production. I feel I have had the opportunity to and have approached my work in a professional manor such as the fitting which was carried out in a professional environment . This experience will be useful in fittings during my third year.

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I believe my skills in costume construction have developed and I feel I have progressed as a maker by facing construction challenges and issues, and learning to overcome them. I feel I am beginning to gain some quality control over my work in the sense that I am aware some of the time when something needs to be sorted. This will be highly useful if I can develop this further for and during third year. I felt the standard and fit of my costume was good. I thought the fitting went well and I did not have as many alterations to make as I expected.

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In my Learning Agreement I stated that one reason for doing this project was to challenge myself which I have certainty done. This costume was challenging to construct and has presented me with many difficulties which I have had to overcome. One example of this was working with new fabrics which can be difficult knowing how to handle them. However this problem will help me in the future because if I come across similar fabrics I will know how to handle them. Although a few aspects have gone wrong within this project I feel I have tried my hardest to keep going and to put things right. For example the pleating of the tutu which I originally sewed wrong, upon assessing the time I had until the next tutorial and the amount of work I had to do in that time I figured I would have time to correct my mistake. I think I judged quite well because I did not fall behind with my work or other aspects of the course. This I believe was a good use of time management and something which I can take on board in future situations.

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Although I understand this project was self directed and we were meant to be progressing on our own, I felt the group could have gained more if the workshops were not quite so rushed. I also feel at times, aspects of the construction were not explained as fully as they could have been considering this was something none of us had ever done before. I think the timetable for the workshops could have been spaced out more effectively, for example the couple of weeks before the fitting there was not a great deal of practical work to complete whereas in the week proceeding the fitting there was a lot of work to do. One way in which this could have been prevented would have been to have the fitting earlier if that was possible.

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Now that I have achieved what I set out to do in my Learning Agreement I have now learnt how to make a classical ballet costume, and understand how it is constructed, gained a wider knowledge into the art of ballet, improved and widened my making skills, and worked under a lot of pressure and to tight deadlines at times. If I had more time on this project I would liked to have had time to sew on the braid to the bodice which I will now complete after hand-in.

 

Although my workbook is quite large I felt it was important to have a clear and in depth step by step of the making process because this was such a different and complex costume to make. I feel that my notes will help me in the future if was to make a classical ballet tutu again. I feel it will also be of more use to me in a workbook form rather than in my blog because I have a hard copy of it which is easily accessible.


Fitting Notes and Evaluation




Evaluatuing the Fitting


The fitting was held at Arts Ed' so I had to travel to London to get the costume fitted to one of the students there. I felt the fitting went reasonably well. The general fit of the costume was fairly good particularly the tutu. I was pleased with this especially because this was the first time I have ever attempted a classical ballet costume. The bodice needed a few alterations to make it fit snug to the artists body. These were achieved by taking in the bust seam from just under the bust, the seam next to the CB and lengthening the shoulder seam a little. i felt that these alterations not only improved the fit of the costume but also made the bodice much more aesthetic appealing. None of these alterations hindered the neckline. However as a couple of the seam had to be altered I will need to look at the decoration lines across these seams and adapt these slightly. Before the fitting I was apprehensive about the fit of the costume, particularly be as I did not take the measurements so I could not visualize the size of the artist. Also because I was not sure how well adapting a pattern would work compared to making a block/padding out a mannequin to the artists measurements. I was also apprehensive about whether I had made the costume correctly especially as i have never made dancewear before.

I believe I behaved in a professional manor throughout the fitting of my costume. Although the fitting was in a different but professional environment I felt fairly confident carrying out the fitting. I felt I interacted quite well with the artists a points during the fitting both to let her know what I was about to do and asking her how the costume felt but also asking her about her courses and dance. I felt I was well prepared and organized with all the equipment I needed and that the costume was at the stage it should have been for the fitting.

Following the fitting we had a group meeting about how we thought our fittings went, and to discuss aspects of the costume such as applying the decoration regarding the time we had left. We also discussed what we could do before the next workshop which included altering the bodice and preparing the facing for the plate. Following this meeting I wrote a list off all the things that needed to be done on the costume ready for hand-in, in order for me to try and judge what I could aim to achieve each day. From both completing this list and the meeting I am very worried about being able to finish everything in time for hand-in and to a good standard.

Fitting Notes

NOTE:

When fitting ballet costumes or any other form of dance costume always use safety pins instead of normal pins.




Put costume on artist and make sure the waistband is sitting on her waist.






Pin CB with safety pins matching at bust and waistlines. No alterations were necessary on the CB.
























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The shoulder seam was not sitting on her shoulder correctly as is was too tight. To overcome this problem I snipped open the shoulder seam and re-pinned 0.5cm above original seam line on both front and back.




























Take in the seam next to the CB 0.5cm all the way down to reduce the slight gaping.









Take the bust seam in from under the bust (3cm down from the bust line) 0.5cm in all the way down. Smooth seam intake over bust up to nothing at design line at neck.





















Leg openings were fine.



Crotch was fine during the fitting. However I altered this before the fitting because I thought the knickers were being pulled in too tightly so I moved the seam into the seam allowance by 1” to make it bigger.

NOTE:- When marking up the alterations take from the side of the pin nearest to the original seam.

- When taking in/out a seam leave old seam in for the time being. Sew new seam the unpick old seam.



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