Evaluation

          Having come to the end of what has felt like a very brief unit, I feel like I have gained a great deal and achieved my goal, which I set myself at the beginning of the project in my learning agreement. I feel considerably more confident in my own ability as a maker and believe that I can now comfortably look at a garment and break it down in order to see each individual stage of making and know how to replicate it in order to make the same garment again from scratch.

I’ve extremely enjoyed making for the costume store as I feel like I have learnt a lot of invaluable lessons from each garment that I’ve made which will continue to remain as routine practise when starting any new project.

For instance I’ve learnt how important it is to check over your pattern pieces before you start making to make sure that they all fit accordingly to save on hassle and time later on. This I learnt with my shirt collar piece that was initially far too large and caused unnecessary headaches right near the end of completion, which was not a nice way to finish the piece.

For me the most challenging garment to make for the costume store was the 18^th century breeches and purely because of all the different features and elements of construction that they entailed. I think the breeches were the turning point for me as when I begun making them I felt out of my depth and very insecure about each process and what had to be sewn and how. This all changed half-way through however when something clicked and I got into the rhythm of it and felt confident enough that I was on the right track to continue without asking for assistance.

The Victorian blouse was the most enjoyable garment to make as it was the last piece that I was making for the costume store and meant that I could apply all that I had learnt so far in the unit and put it into practise. Once we were given the sample blouse to copy from, I deconstructed it and knew exactly what needed to be done first and noted all of the later stages of construction. This was a very gratifying feeling and a great way to finish the unit.

Having said this however, the blouse didn’t come without its problems. Whilst making the blouse I had my biggest learning curve of all which will be something I will value indefinitely. Whilst feeling very stressed over other work pressures I rushed the most important part of the blouse, which was the pleated organza on the front. In a bid to get ahead I thought I could skip several steps in order to get the same results but quicker. Of course I was wrong. In the end I ended up with wonky, uneven pleats and burnt organza. As frustrating and upsetting as this was, as soon as I cleared by head and gave it another shot I realised how important it is to take your time as you really cant rush the finer details or cheat patience. The results I achieved the second time round, I’m really pleased with as I did really take my time because I wanted it to be as neat and as perfect as I possible.

Running alongside the costume store, Breathe at times did make me feel like I had my work cut out for me. Every time I really got into making for Breathe and progressing with a piece, I felt like I had to put it down again and continue with the costume store. Because we only had one day a week and one evening session a week on Breathe, there wasn’t enough time to make a whole costume, which would have been nice, however I did get to silk paint and shirr fabric, which are both techniques I’d never experimented with or used before.

I really do feel like I’ve developed so much as a maker and come so far in such a short space of time. Each garment I’ve made represents the stages I have been through in order to get to where I am now which is a much more confident and independent costume interpreter. I’ve learnt valuable lessons and processes along the way and feel like I can tackle future projects head on without feeling out of depth or inexperienced which is exactly where I wanted to be at the end of the unit.