Unfortunately due to certain circumstances I could not work on the breeches that I am making for the National Theatre Hire Department when I had initially planned to. These circumstances include not being able to start my breeches with the rest of the National Theatre students like I would have liked to because I was still supervising the production of 'Candide'. By the time that I was really to start SDP I found that everyone was too far ahead for me to catch up so I decided to start on my cutting on the stand project and come to the breeches at a later date because my tutor who would be talking me though how to make the breeches was also not available on my first day.
I talked to my tutor about cutting out my breeches before Easter Break so that I could maybe work just on the waistband of the breeches so that I at least had a few days start after the holiday. I was advised not to take anything home and that I would have plenty of time before my work placement.
Unfortunately my tutor fell ill on our return from the Easter Holidays. I asked all the other girls on the National Theatre project but unfortunately they said that they could not remember how to make the breeches and could not give me any help with making the breeches. As Sarah (another student on my course) had just returned from a placement in America she was in the same position as me. We tried to ask another tutor and the students for help but unfortunately this came to no success. So me and Sarah got to work on at least cutting our fabric out. By this point I started to worry about getting the breeches finished in time before I left on work placement.
When I went to cut out the fabric I had been given by my supervisors I believed that it was too thin and see though for me to make a long lasting pair of breeches out of. Upon asking them they decided that they wanted to ask for our tutors opinion before i did any more work.
Eventually after talking to the tutor it was discussed that I would back every piece on silisia, this meant that I needed to do a lot more work than other students making breeches, which really started to worry me as I only had around 6 days left by this point.
Fortunately one of my tutors allowed that I could take my breeches home with me and work on them in my spare time and have them sent back to university for the 16th May. This calmed me down a lot and made me feel like it was a possible job.
When I collected my thread to start marking up all my pieces I found that I only had the smallest amount of thread left on my role. I immediately told my supervisor and asked about getting some new thread the same colour. Unfortunately for reasons I do not know, even after asking a few times I did not get any thread. I am worried that because I did not have time to get matching thread and had to use white thread and the small amount of matching thread for neat hand sewing that this might effect my grading.
When I finally got to talk to my tutor about how to put the breeches together I asked to go though every step so that I can try and make them all at home. I took countless photographs of the sample pair to work from.
I have tried my very best to make the breeches as neat as possible and to my highest standard but unfortunately certain small delicate pieces did not turn out as well as I had hoped. I know you are not meant to blame your tools but due to not being able to make the breeches at university at all, I missed out on all the tools that the other girls could use. I fortunately I own an over locker which means that I could finish them neatly but unfortunately I do not have an industrial iron, I never realised how blessed we are to have them at university and how much easier they can make things.
This may mean that the breeches are made more to my own interpretation and my closest idea of replication the sample pair of breeches from the National Theatre.
I am aware that the students creating the breeches were often told to redo things and that they had done things wrong, this really worries me about my grade because I have not had an opportunity to have my work looked over and checked like everyone else.
I wish that I could have had time to finish or at least make a great start to the breeches but because I was alone I really struggled at times. I know that this project is called self directed and for this part I definitely was self directed and did not have any help in making the breeches, this meant that when a problem occurred I could not ask a tutor like other students but instead had to create small samples and work out for myself the best possible solution to solve a problem. This means that in parts maybe my breeches do not match everyone else's because I did not have the guidance others had, but I did make the breeches to my highest possible standard.
I found it hard balancing out working long days at the National Theatre and then working on this project all night. Although there are some parts of the breeches that could maybe be neatened up but I know that I spent as much possible time I had on them and work the best I could at making them alone.
I wish that I could have had the same opportunities that all other students had and really worry that my grade will be affected because my work will be compared to theirs.
However I did enjoy making the breeches and I feel that I have learnt a lot about myself, my own learning and how I can work alone with no guidance at all. I hope that I to take this with me into the third year and work more comfortably alone and independently.
All of my work was handed in on Monday 16th May in hope that my tutor can machine the buttonholes on (as I do not have a button hole maker at home) and that my supervisor can attach the buttons that had not been sent to me in time.
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