The Anti Catcall Suit
This bodysuit empowers women to cover and reveal themselves in whichever places they choose. The statement on the turtleneck is to give back the power to the women by carrying a provocative statement against catcalls.
FIRST DRAWING / BALENCIAGA CONNECTION
For this design I was orienting on Balenciaga's signature design language of body covering, tight fitting clothing. To combine this with my teams concept of empowering women by celebrating their softness as a strength, I gave the bodysuit a deeper meaning of the woman having the power to cover and reveal herself in the certain places she chooses. The embroidery "you should smile more" on the turtleneck covering the mouth is a statement against catcalling women and like that giving the woman the power back as a provocative gesture of not allowing someone to see your face.
PATTERN DRAFTING / CLO PROTOTYPE
To create the patterns I discussed with my design teachers how to ideally achieve this silhouette with the right pattering. With their help I could determine where the seam lines, openings, center front and back were supposed to be. I then proceeded to draft the patterns in CLO 3D by altering block patterns of a bodysuit, leggings and tight fitting long sleeve.
GLOVE PATTERN / MAKING PROCESS
To achieve a smooth glove sleeve without seam lines in-between I had to create a special pattern where the fingers were connected to the sleeve. For that I shifted the sleeve's seam line in CLO 3D so the sleeve will be closed on the side of the arm where the thumb is. Like that I could add the fingers at the end of the sleeve. By folding the sleeve I could stitch on the finger lines and like that could skip the bulky overlock.
1ST FITTING / SAMPLE
The first sample I created from my developed pattern and a fine knit fabric to somehow simulate the properties of my desired final fabric. When fitting it for the first time I already had quite a view notes for improvement; the length of the fingers, placement and zipper of the turtleneck, the leg/ body pattern since there was some fabric gathering on the hips and to improve the back seamlines on the butt.
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As feedback I received to research and develop a way to finish the edges and seams in a Balenciaga and contemporary way. For the zipper I got the tip to carefully measure the length of the fabric and the length of the zipper accordingly. To keep the stretch of the fabric in the hems I was advised to make fabric try outs with the jersey machine and to research into making hems with elastic.
KNIT SAMPLES / GLOVE PROCESS
For my plan to engineer my own fabric for the knitsuit by knitting it, I did knit experiments with different techniques and created multiple knit samples. To get a stretch knit I used the fair isle program and combined elastic yarn with wool twin yarn. My plan was to knit enough fabric to make sleeve and leg samples. After knitting for hours I only had enough fabric for one sleeve since the elastic shrinks so much.
After the making of the glove in my knit fabric I faced quite some issues due to the structure of the knit unraveling under the stitch line of the fingers. This, plus the amount of time it takes to knit enough fabric had me considering different ways to achieve my knit suit.
2ND FITTING / SAMPLE
Following the advice from my advice teachers I created multiple fabric experiments for the finishing of the hems. I tried out the jersey machine in combination with elastic. When looking at the back of the samples I saw the flat-lock wich I found visually intriguing and as an option for finishing the hems of the suit.
For the second sample I chose a sporty stretchy fabric to try to simulate the properties of my knit. The weft stretch was way too weak for the pattern which made the legs way too tight and the seams rip. As a review of the pattern there was still gathering around the waist meaning the pattern of the body and the legs still need to be adjusted.
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As Feedback I received the note that if I want to finish the hems with a white contrast flat lock the stitches need to be perfect and for that I need to adjust the jersey machine for the right tension.
We also came to the conclusion that knitting the whole suit would not be possible time wise and that I should look for a knit fabric on a roll and to then decide if I am going for a more sporty or "knitty" look.
FABRIC SELECTION / FINISHINGS
Following the advice to purchase a knit on the roll rather than knitting it myself, I researched in multiple fabric stores and online shops for an ideal meter ware knit. I ended up finding these 4 knit fabrics from which I made a selection of the top one on the left. I chose it with my design teachers, we selected it because of its stretchiness, feel and opaqueness.
As a sample for the finishing of the knit I used the jersey machine to see how the fabric behaves and how the flatlock looks on the knit.
LAST FITTING / FEEDBACK
For the last fitting I had one piece of the bodysuit finished already to present. During the process I made the changes for the finishings to be with black thread for the topstitch instead of a white contrast flat-lock, since for the Balenciaga feel a more monochromatic look would be the fitting choice.
To add some visual intrigue and to underline the message of this garment I did want to add a white contrast on the hem line of the top, since it is shaped like a frown and like that provocatively speaking against the message on the turtleneck.
As Feedback I received that the hem of the legs might have a too tight thread and that I should change the tension setting on the jersey machine according to my fabric to achieve a thread that stretches with the fabric. For the contrast hem I was advised not to do a flat lock since it doesn't not look high quality like Balenciaga. Instead I should find another way, maybe by adding another texture to it to create a white contrast.
CORRECTIONS / FINISHING
Following the Feedback, I removed the flat-lock of the top hem. While reviewing the concept board and my line up ideas, the idea of adding a white rib knit as a contrast finish to the top.So on the
knit machine I
knitted a long but
thin piece of rib to
attach to the hem.
To achieve a stretchy but stable look and feel on the hems and edges I added an elastic by overlocking it to all the hems and edges, while pulling
the elastic a slight bit.
Then I folded the hem and
topstitched the elastic
down.
EMBROIDERY / SAMPLE
For the turtleneck statement I created an illustrator file to embroider on the turtleneck. First I did a sample with Inge to see how the fabric reacts and to scale how big I would want the embroidery to be.