what was this project?

This was my first project at DV8, we had to create an item of clothing out of rubbish. We also learnt about the design process in fashion, from a initial sketch, to working sketches, to pattern cutting and how this process is vital to create your final outcome.

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what did you choose to make for this project and why?

i was really excited for this project, as i thought it was such an unconventional idea, but super creative. the garment i decided to make was a punk inspired jacket, I really love the punk era and they really had some "crazy" fashion, so i thought this would give me a lot of freedom to go as crazy and unconventional with my garment as i wanted too.

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what materials did you choose to use and why?

originally when i came up with the idea i had no clue how i was going to carry this out, but after doing the artist research for this project i had decided that i was going to use bin-bags, plastic packaging and receipts. the reason i decide to use these is because these materials are easily manipulated, can be turned into a sturdy structure and can be made to look like leather.

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how did you turn these materials from rubbish to a jacket?

The process i used has a big scientific element behind it, the bin-bags and plastic packaging i used was made from low-density polyethylene (LPDE) and polyethylene is a very clever material. It is classified as a "thermoplastic" which refers to the way it responds to heat. Thermoplastics become liquid at their melting point. Low-density polyethylene's melting point is 110-130 c. Because LPDE is a thermoplastic it means it can be heated to its melting point, cooled and reheated again without significant degradation. LPDE also doesn't burn, it liquefies which allows it to easily be moulded and joined together. - for me this is all great news as i didn't have to use any joining materials like glue or tape, i only needed heat.

For the body, i used an iron to heat the layered black and yellow bin-bags and create thick sheets of fused/joined bin-bags to lay my pattern onto and cut around it. For my arms i did the exact same thing but for one of them instead of using layered black and yellow bin-bags i used the clear plastic packaging (also made from LPDE) and receipts with mental health statements written on, i put a square of clear LPDE, then a receipt, then another square of clear LPDE on top and heated it with the iron, which then fused receipts inside both pieces of LPDE, i joined all of them together and cut my arm pattern out.

To join all the pieces together i had included seam allowances in my pattern but instead of sewing seams together i ironed along both seams to fuse them together until i had fused all the pieces together and finally i had my jacket. 

(please note that i put a sheet of baking paper in between the LPDE and iron to stop the LPDE melting directly to the iron)

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what was the relevance of the mental health statements

The reason i included mental health statements is because i have suffered through a lot of mental health issues myself and am now a advocate for mental health, there isn't enough awareness and being able to include that in my work means a lot, the statements on the jacket are also statements of hope so more me after battling through everything they are almost like badges of honour, like look how far you have come. If i could show other people that there is hope of things getting better by walking around and essentially wearing a bin-bag and a few receipts then that is amazing.

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was there anything else included in this project you haven't spoken about?

All of our projects are broken down into different criteria, which are a mix of sketchbook and research work and practical work. In this project we had to:

1. Research - research a designer/artist who makes "trashion" for a living,

2. Initial experiments - find different pieces of rubbish and experiment with different techniques you could use to create your garment

3. Finalise our ideas - choose which sample we wanted to take forward and use to create our garment and draw our final sketch so we know what we are working towards.

4. Create and Exhibit - create our final garment and then exhibit them in the college foyer before half term. 

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what was your favourite part of this project?

I think my favourite part was constructing my garment as it was a total new technique so it was really fun even though it went wrong a couple of times.