My Summer in London

I’ve been wanting to blog about this since I got back from my London adventure :D 

I was lucky enough to go and study during the summer at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design

I chose to study bridal wear as I wanted to improve my skill on haute couture dresses. 

There I met the most incredible bunch of talented designers and teachers. I found it very interesting to watch how other designers work and how each designer has a different way of exploring their ideas before they arrive at their final dress design. 

As some of you probably already know, CSM is moving their campus to the new Kings Cross campus and so we were very lucky to be the last bunch of students who got to study in the original Charring Cross Road campus. It is such an amazing building with so much history. You can feel it as soon as you walk in: so many great designers have walked this hall before you. 

It reminded me of my old faculty building at Chulalongkorn University. It is so old, charming and unique. A place where you wouldn’t dare walk around at night as it looks like it might be haunted :D 

What did I learn during my time there ? Well, without going into too much detail, during the course we learnt about vintage dresses from different periods, some hand embroidery and learnt new sewing techniques. Our project was to design and make a bridal gown.  

After a week of sleepless nights, I finished my first ever wedding gown. 

I have often been asked to make a wedding dress which I’ve always declined as it’s just too much stress. However I have never felt more at home as when I am working on big pretty dresses. I love silk, chiffon, tules, lace and all the pretty sequins and embroidery. I was hooked! I wanted to learn more about high fashion tailoring and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ve signed up to work for a couture house in Hong Kong which I’ll tell you more about it in later posts :D

xo

Subsidee 

Environmentally friendly potato printing

While I was doing research for my collection for the Ecochic Design Award I was looking for a cheap and organic way of doing prints on fabric. As part of this process I decided to see what I already had available in the kitchen to see if I could make prints from anything. I was in luck. In the kitchen I found a few potatoes that we had bought for dinner and I thought to myself ‘lets make potatoes prints’!

I’m sure some of you would have done this before in primary school. It’s a cheap and very simple way to make prints on a wide variety of surfaces.

With potatoes in hand I went back to my room and began carving with my wood carving tool set. 

Using water coloring and document prints in my sketch book 

Here is what the prints look like.

Experimenting with more designs

End result

It certainly works! The only thing is that you can’t keep your potato stencils. It only lasts a day or two. I only experimented with water color this time and managed to make a few cute cards out of these lovely potatoes. My next project is to use fabric paint and try to print on fabrics. Hopefully it will work. 

Happy carving ❤