2 great silk shops and a dye supplier

Hi there, A great supply of raw materials opens up possibilities you never knew were there. Here are a few you might not know.

Silk Trader is a great resource and useful for silks. Their website is worth keeping on file.

Beautiful Silks is another great resource for a really wide variety of silks

Kraftkolour is my favourite place for dyes and all things to do with colour. Use Landscape for protein fibres such as silk and wool and Direct dyes for cellulose fibres such as straw and cotton. A good multipurpose dye for protein and cellulose is Procion dye, just be aware that it requires the use of alum and salt.. you can print yourself a tech sheet here.

I will add more as suggested by you as we progress through the term.
Julian did his talk about Justin Smith & as part of it he showed us these 2 videos.

http://www.jsmithesquire.com/news/ma_graduation_collection_rca_fashion_show_2007.html

http://ascotinsider.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/headonism-milliner-stephen-jones-speaks.html

                   I talked about using wire in trims and we looked at how to wire a feather, using wire in rouleau, the different types of beading wire and the how to choose the right sort for your projects. Briefly we looked at french beaded flowers and how they don't need to be daggy (http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/bfbasic.html for instructions) and finally we talked about ribbon wire.it's as good as extinct now so if you know what it does you could make up a substitute using cotton tape and some jewellery wire.

Cheers, Serena

Another Fabulous website

Today on my travels I discovered several things that might be of interest to you. Firstly I found some blocks at the Camberwell Antiques Market (on the north side of the Camberwell Station). I thought they were good value and recommend them to you. There are also some nice blocks at L'uccello, a little more expensive but a good sized dome and a really nice vintage brim among them. So if you need blocks there you have it. 

The second thing is the online collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. They have over 3000 hats from tribal head dresses to some of the most chic millinery I have ever seen. Go to http://www.metmuseum.org/search-results?ft=hats&x=0&y=0  and enjoy. 

Last one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-8DG3e91AU here is an interview with Prudence of Prudence haute couture millinery talking about getting inspiration. I know most of you are pretty right with that but she speaks so passionately and authoritatively that I am sure you will like it. 

When you come tomorrow night be prepared to do some millinery. Make sure you bring your spec sheet filled out and your note book. I will be doing some ribbon trims which should take up about an hour so bring any ribbons you have and be prepared to create a sample.

Over to you milliners, I'm excited to see what you do now.

I hope your milliner research is starting well & you are finding plenty of info about your milliner. If you start having problems please let me know and I will try and help.

I hope you enjoy the theme research and idea development stage of this project. I believe that time spent doing this will result in you getting a much better result long term.

Here are some links you might find useful.

http://www.fashionising.com/trends/b--2012-fashion-trends-6819.html 

http://www.fashion-templates.com/scrapbook-inspiration.html

Here is a great list of fashion blogs http://www.squidoo.com/best-fashion-blogs-websites-trends-inspiration

Pinterest can be found here http://pinterest.com/

If you find useful stuff that you would like to share with the group please add comments below, you can also have postings delivered to your in box by subscribing if you would like.

Preparation for Lesson 2

To make the best use of your time in couture millinery you can prepare by bringing the following

• your millinery sewing kit including- thimbles, millinery needles in a variety of sizes, scissors for fabric & for paper, pliers for grabbing and cutting, some UHU glue (not the glue stick the stuff in the little metal tube) pearl headed pins, blocking pins, threads (a variety of strengths if you have them), tailor's chalk, a medium sized claw hammer.
• A folder with plastic sleeves to record your progress and store spec sheets.
• A sketch book to work on your designs and use as your inspiration file (photos of hats & other images that inspire you- could be fashion, architecture, nature, people, cultures...etc, etc, etc)
• Millinery materials-set aside materials you may wish to use during this semester (consider traditional and non-traditional materials). At this stage just what you already have, don't buy much of anything before you have chosen your theme for your collection.

Welcome to 2012 Couture Millinery- an introduction.

This year starts with 2 units focussing on couture millinery techniques & advanced pattern making for millinery. 

You will be asked to make 3-5 pieces of millinery in the semester and an assortment of trim samples. You will be asked to apply the highest design & fabrication skills you are able to. These units are aimed at lifting your performance to a new level & provide you with a collection of pieces suitable for presentation at the soiree in August and the Centre of Fashion parade in December. Here are some photos of some of the collections put together by the participants from 2011.

Later in the year you will be asked to do costing and run through the process for customer appointments, material covered in these subjects are preparation for those.

Below you will find some shots of the collections from 2011. (apologies for the quality of the photos)