Reflection

I liked the design of my waistcoat, as the front goes lower than the back, and i believe this is a modern fashion. I didn't include buttons as i wanted it to be the type of waistcoat which gets worn with a casual T-Shirt underneath and Jeans, so was hoping it would fall to the side. However, as this was Calico, the desired effect was not achieved, and i think the design would have been much better if there were 2 buttons on the front holding the garment together. This could have given the item more class and structure. I would also haev liked to have overlocked the edges with a white cotton, to match the Calico. This would have looked much neater and mroe effective, especially if there were buttons in the end.

Keywords

TOILE - A model of a fashion piece, often made from Calico or a similar fabric.

DART - A fold in the fabric, taking away certain amounts of fabric and folding them away, which affects the shape of the garment. For example, in a waistcoat there is a dart to adjust the armhole size.

PATTERN - A pattern is your template that you make which is the shape of your final design idea. It is used to make the pieces of your garment.

SEAM ALLOWANCE - Often 150mm, this is left so that all seams can be attached together without puckering or coming apart.

PATTERN PAPER - A special paper with a grid on, on which the Final Pattern is drawn. The grid helps with a guideline to draw the pattern accurately.



Keywords are an important part to the start of the lesson, particulaly with younger pupils. Keywords can usually be read out at the beginning of the lesson with the Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes. This then helps the pupuil know what to expect from the lesson, and will understand the terms used when explaining something. This also offers an opportunity for praise of a student if they can say what a keyword means, and how it is used in a lesson.

Manufacture

This is the manufacturing process for my toile:

1. I drew around the front and back Block onto Calico to get 2 pieces, leaving 1.5cm seam allowance along the shoulder line and down the side/waist.

2. The darts were then marked through the block - for both pieces - onto the Calico, in order to be able to draw them on for sewing.

3. I then sewed the armhole and front darts into the front piece of the half-waistcoat. The back dart was then sewn into the back piece.

4. The two pieces were sewn together (with the piece inside-out) at the shoulder and side.

5. I placed this onto a mannequin, and used string and pins to determine my design, and cut unnecessary pieces off the waistcoat.

6. This was then unpicked. This would give me the shape of my pattern. The block was then drawn around again, only this time onto Pattern Paper, and the Calico Pattern was matched up and i marked my design onto the outlined block shape, remembering the seam allowance. This was my Pattern.

7. The pattern had to be drawn around onto new Calico to make the front pieces of the waistcoat. Instead of drawing the Darts and Lines onto the new Calico with Pens or Pencil, a needle and bright-coloured thread were put though each Corner Point of the Dart, and on other key points of the pattern, as to identify them When the Pattern Paper was removed.

8. When everything was confidently marked out, I removed the Pattern Paper from the design, and sewed the darts into the first piece; this was then repeated with the second, only the other way around, so it would create the other side of the front of the waistcoat (Left or Right).

9. The back piece was created in a similar fashion, only drawing the pattern onto folded in half Calico, with what would be the middle of the waistcoat lining exactly along the fold of the fabric, so that each half would be symmetrical. This was then pinned in place and cut around.

10. The darts were then marked out individually on each side using needle and thread. These darts were then sewn individually.

11. Whilst inside-out, the pieces were sewn together along the shoulders and down by the waist, and the final Toile was made.

CAD/CAM

In secondary schools, one of the main CAD/CAM programmes used concerning the study of Textile Technology is a programme named SpeedStep. This programme allows you to create Patterned Designs and drawings without much difficulty. It also allows you to import pictures of clothes already in exsistance and trace them. This then allows you to take a design already out there, modify it and create your own tiwst on the fashion.

This programme is great for Key Stage 3 CAM, as pupils can make a simple product such as a Cotton bag (or Calico depending on budget) and use SpeedStep to create a design to Sublimation Print onto the fabric. This then gives them a product they have made and a sense of achievement with a relative amount of ease. This could take 2 lessons (One for designing, one for learning about Sublimation Printing and actually doing the printing). This also could be used for GCSE coursework when designing clothes, for exmaple a graphic on a T-Shirt.

Mass Production

   Just like when buying products, manufacturing them is cheapest in bulk. This is certainly the case with the textile industry. If producing many items at one time, machines can do much of the work, and human labour doesn't need to be paid as high, as designs are ready made in CAD/CAM programs, so each piece doesn't need to be marked out individually, and CAM means that people cutting each piece of fabric is no longer a necessity.
   Large machines like Straight Blades can cut up to 50 pieces of fabric in one go, so much work can be done in seconds, and a Round Blade can be used for knitted fabrics. Although there may not be as many staff in these mass production environments, the workers must be highly skilled as they have to operate lareg machinery , and if they did something wrong, huge batches of products could go to waste. The staff members who don't work this machinery look at every garment for Quality Control, an essential part of this industry, as if a customer has a drastic problem with garments, batches may have to be recalled or returned to big sotres such as New Look and Primark. As these stores are nationwide, a lot of money would be lost for the company.

   There has been much debate about the ethics behind these high-volume environments in the media over the last 10 years; for example, the store Priamrk has had serious investigation into Sweatshops and cheap labour on shores away from the U.K. It can be said that it is rare to find an item of clothing from a High Street fashion store which has been manufactured in this country.
   Pressure Groups have been behind movements to get companies to trade more ethically in order for all workers to work in a safe environment and to earn a decent wage.