WEEK 4- Toiling

As the hood and sampling was done, I thought it would be best to get the toiling done next, which was a mixture of successes and failures.

The first toile (in the picture to the right) was possibly the biggest disaster ever and I knew all the reasons to why it was and how I could change it. Firstly, I shouldn't have really used the men's shirt block, even if I wanted a boxy silhouette and it really didn't fit me very well. Secondly, the raglan sleeves don't need to have the dart in the shoulder when using woven fabric, which will eliminate the over-exaggerated 80s shoulders I have in the picture. The length of the sleeves and body weren't right and the side seams needed to be more diagonal and visible on the front. In addition the collar didn't even fit onto the neckline, so I couldn't attach that or the hood.

The second toile was completely want I wanted (well with some minor changes) but it looked a lot more like my design in comparison to the first one. The raglan sleeves fitted closely to the shoulder and the sleeves where the right length and fitted closely to the wrist. In addition the collar and hood fit perfectly around the neck line. The side seam does need to be more diagonally to the front, but I put in the zips for the ventilation mesh lining that will be in the final garment. I also would like the add a phone pocket, which I had sampled separately to the toile, to the zip front. I even sonic welted and taped this toile to see if it would work in this style which it did, making it even more waterproof.

Overall, this process has been successful in the end, as I believe its best to fail first time and know how to resolve it than have it perfect. The next stage will be to make the final garment from my fabric choice and hopefully will be successful.