Learning Agreement

Description:

During this unit I will complete two separate projects. First, I will construct two garments for the National Theater Hire. The first is a woman's chemise, the second is a man's shirt. Second, I will design a scene from Arthur Schnitzler's "La Ronde". I will complete renderings for both a male and female character, then go on to construct the woman's blouse of my own design. Alongside these projects I will be writing a brief critical analysis of performance.

I have chosen to do this body of work to improve all aspects of my design process. Up until now I've only done pieces of projects, now I have to opportunity to start with a play and end with a finished garment. I also wanted to improve my construction skills. By working on the National Theater project, I hope to gain skill and confidence in my making abilities.

In order to complete this work, I have made a detailed work plan. I'm going to stay very organized and use my time efficiently. I'm starting with the simpler sewing projects, and then moving into the more complicated ones as I gain the skills to do so. I've spread out the design process steps to give myself a lot of time to consider each decision I make. I plan to do the critical analysis quickly, while the performance I attend is still fresh in my mind. This body of work fully meets the assessment requirements.

Cardiff

Today I went on the class trip to Cardiff. I saw a lot of truly inspiring work. I think I gained the most from seeing how people present their work. I love to draw renderings, I had never conceived of so many creative ways to present them. I got a lot of ideas for presenting my ideas, as well as creating an interesting portfolio. The picture to the left is of The Ugly Step Sisters in Cinderella. I thought it was a very clean, yet fun and exciting way of showing the costumes.

Disaster!!

There is a hole in my chemise. Right on the front. I have no idea how it got there! I tried to patch it, but it's horrible. I'm going to have to redo the whole front. The fabric is beautiful, but a real pain. Every time I sew anything the machine grabs the grain, making it look tortured. I can't stick any pins in it because they leave holes. You can see my yellow chalk lines through it. I'm afraid it's going to look a real mess after I have to unpick my French seams. I'm feeling very frustrated.

National Theater Hire

Yesterday we went to the National Theater Hire. I was expecting something very formal and commercial, but it wasn't. It looked just like any other University costume stock I've visited, a warehouse that's a bit under-loved. I found that strangely comforting, like a confidence that I know what I'm doing. They let us try on anything we wanted! It was incredibly fun.



I put on a real chain mail coif, it was heavy! I think it would be very distracting to try and act while wearing it!










This was my favorite dress, I think it was from Beauty and the Beast? It was velvet, with lace and beading.










This is me as a medieval queen! The cape was beautiful.