Baroque Couture Placement Diary
Before
the start of my placement at Baroque Couture, I had previously visited the shop with my sister on
the 02/01/13 to discuss her wedding dress ideas and to take her initial measurements. My sister also gave me a sketchbook of inspiration and ideas
for her dress.
I
started my placement with Elaina Evans at Baroque Couture in Draycott, Nottingham on
Monday 18th Feb.
Week 1:
Mon
18th - (10am to 4:30pm)
I fixed a bouquet
which was displayed in the store (made by a contact Elaine knows called 'Vintage
Raven’). as well as looked over the dress ideas and the inspiration that my sister
supplied me with to help design her dress. Later in the day we discussed pattern cutting with and I asked about the ways she would normally make her dresses. I taught
her a bit of pattern cutting that I had learnt at Trent (Elaina never went to
college or university and was self taught), I showed her how to do 'The Great
Knot'. We made a small half scale and I did a demonstration for her and she
tried it herself and kept the pattern pieces on her cork board for further
reference. I also helped re-stock her displays after the visited a Wedding Fayre
the previous day.
Tue 19th - (10am to 5:20pm)
After discussing pattern cutting the previous day, I took my blocks and creative pattern cutting folder in to show Elaina. I also took in my corset that I made at BCU because she wanted to see it. In the day we went to a photo-shoot at ‘Shottle Hall’ in Derbyshire. The photo-shoot was for 'City Life' Magazine and was courtesy of ‘Boudoir Bells’ photography studio in Nottingham. I met the photographers Maria Tanner and Yvonne Lishman and the model Keelie. Elaina did the models’ make up and I helped arrange the set. During the shoot I had the chance to watch and suggest outfit changes. I had suggested a pose idea to the photographer, Yvonne, and she loved it so I was allowed to direct the model into the pose and they took pictures. A selection of images will be published in City Life Magazine at a later date. Back at the shop we looked at alternative Wedding Fayres and I showed Elaina alternative blogs and we discussed ideas for photo-shoots We decided we were going to make a heavily laced gypsie/bohemian dress and Elaina asked if I could help with the manufacture, shoot and help source and alternative 'hippy' model. We also tried on loads of old corsets that Elaina had made for theatre plays and drank a million cups of coffee. For more information, http://thebigyellowbag.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/photoshoot-for-life-magazine.html
Wed 20th - (1pm to 5pm)
Because we had a limited amount of time, we looked for further inspiration for the gypsie dress and I helped Elaina sort out her Baroque Couture Business page on Facebook; she currently has someone else to do it for her and she wants to learn how to do it herself. I showed her how to upload images straight from her computer and from her phone, and she uploaded 2 images I took from the Boudoir Bells photo-shoot, 2 flyers for Wedding Fares she will be attending and a selection of images of a red dress she made a number of weeks ago. I also showed her how to 'tag' herself in images to help promote her business. Here is what we did . . http://www.facebook.com/BaroqueCoutureDerbyshire?fref=ts
Elaina
also told me the next day a client will be coming in for a wedding dress
alteration and asked if I would like to do it myself and offered to pay me.
Thurs
20th - (10am to 5:10pm)
I started to re-cover an old umbrella Elaina had
previously used in a play as she wanted to use it in a window display in her
shop. Helen, a lady who is due to get married in 5 weeks, came in for her
alteration, and I helped Elaina pin the dress and determine where the
alterations will be made. I helped suggest a veil and jewellery made by Vintage
Raven to Helen which she bought. I met Rebecca, the lady who owns Vintage Raven
when she came to the shop to drop off a delivery of new jewellery pieces she
had made. I tried a few on and helped Elaina find places for them in the shop.
