We are St.Paul

Final Blog Post: Miriam Arrieta

Being part of this year’s Express Yourself Clothing trunk show was an amazing experience from start to finish. I learned a lot of new things throughout the process of this project, starting from the design stage to the night of the trunk show. We first selected three garments from the shop after receiving a photograph of an area of St. Paul. The next step was to design, deconstruct, and then reconstruct.

The process as a whole taught me to be more ethical and sustainable in my designs. I thought I could not make it, but I persevered and pulled through till the very end. I was surprised that I was able to remake clothing into a new design out of used clothing. I never worked with slippery silk fabrics and beadwork before. As a beginner with these skills I felt intimidated, but now I feel at peace with my skills although there’s always room for improvement. Strategically piecing my creation together with limited fabric was one of the wonderful skills I picked up. My end results made me appreciate and motivated me to continue the sustainable passion within.

Being limited on time and fabric, I don’t think I was fully able to go beyond what I wanted to. However, I learned to pace myself. If I was to go back and change something, I personally think it would be the skirt. It could use a little more bedazzle.

I am glad and honored to be chosen as the winner for the People’s Choice award. The night of the trunk show was a blast. Explaining my creation over and over again dried out my throat, but I honestly enjoyed socializing with the judges and attendees about my design. I’d like to thank all of the judges, attendees, my professor, my friends, and last but not least, the EYC staff. My confidence boosted up and I would love to continue working on sustainable pieces.

Final Blog Post: Tash Bame

The trunk show hosted and supplied by Express Yourself Clothing in St. Paul was definitely a new experience for me. The entire process from choosing materials, updating blogs, photographing the final garment(s), and the actual trunk show was much more laid back and relaxed than I had initially expected. Although this experience was easy-going, it has fortified the importance of time management and communication with potential customers (which was Express Yourself Clothing, in this case.)

I really like the rush of adrenaline that I had felt when we were given a short amount of time to choose our garments from the store, I felt as though this kick started even more excitement to execute a look inspired by Station 4 in St. Paul. This part of the process is crucial to the designer/tailor, because the few garments we come out of the store with will determine what can be created. In hindsight, I wish I would have chosen larger garments with more fabric so that I could have made a vest with more coverage. I feel as though my lack of resources had cut my vision short, which was due to my poor judgment with how much fabric I was able to salvage out of the original garments. Although I ran into a few problems, I am very happy with my final look. I believe that my model was very appropriately styled from head to toe, and the utility belt I created really pulled the look together and was a very direct representation of the photograph I was given to draw inspiration from.

The trunk show was very fun, and exhausting at the same time. I was trying to jump back and forth between explaining my design and a classmates design because she was out of town. I do wish that the lights would have been on, so that the people and judges would have been able to see all of the design elements the students included in their work. I think that the lack of lighting prevented the audience to truly view all of the garments. Overall, this was a positive experience that I hope the next class of apparel design students at St. Kate’s will be able to take part of.

Trunk Show Reflection : Yaya Xion

The trunk show went extremely well. It was easier to do my elevator speech with my garments next to me. I found the show super exciting and definitely my scene. I felt that Express Yourself Clothing’s staff did a great job of putting everything together. The judges provided me with great feedback that will help me continue to grow and improve as a designer. The feedbacks were definitely encouraging for me to reflect on my work and design ethics. One thing that could be improved on is the communication process with Express Yourself Clothing’s staff. When Sabrina requested for our original sketch, she should have asked for our final sketch instead. Some of my colleagues and I submitted our first original sketch, instead of our final sketches, so people were slightly confused when viewing the flyer. Overall, I was satisfied with the show!

During the process of designing and creating my sustainability garment, I found the journey to be much more difficult than expected. It taught me how to be strategic and frugal with my fabric usage. I learned to place my pants pattern pieces on the fabric in a thoughtful manner, so that I will have enough fabric available for my blouse. This is crucial for my understanding of fabric usage when cutting out fabric pieces for future projects, which will prepare me for industry’s high demand of saving time and money. Before this project, I was not considerate of placing my pattern pieces in a manner that will save fabric. I also had a very different ideology of second hand garments, such as soiled or for low-income individuals only. This project gave me the skills to transform my unwanted garments in my closet into completely new garments. This encourages me to view secondhand garments and the environment from a different perspective as I continue to grow as a designer.

I became extremely passionate about the idea of sustainability throughout my process of construction. Due to this I found ways to strategically use a majority of my secondhand fabrics with only minimal scraps left behind. Although the fabric usage went extremely well for me, I need to further improve my sewing skills. There were some construction aspect that I could have done a better job on, such as hem finishes, or applying the lining. Overall, the design and creativity aspect strongly signified my inspirational perspective. Though, I do need to balance out my design aspect. I learned that simplicity tends to speak better for itself than an overwhelming design. I also learned how to put my personality into my work, which became my favorite part of this project. Having the ability to put my creative mind, whole heart, and personality into my work was exciting. This experience will help me continue to improve my work in sustainability, sewing, design, and creativity.

Final Reflection Blog: Dina Penaloza

The trunk show was a success and a lot of people came to see our designs. At first, I was not sure what a trunk show was, or how things would work but I learned that it’s more of an informal fashion show where people come to you and ask you to talk about your work. This was an interesting experience for me because I have never been part of a trunk show.

Usually, I’m a very quiet person and tend to keep to myself unless I’m around friends or people I know. I had to step outside my comfort zone and talk to strangers about my work. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Usually, when I have to make a speech, I get nervous and tend to stutter, but in this case I found it easy to talk to other people because it was a more loose setting. I was actually enjoying myself, and having people come up to me and ask me questions about my design. I was happy to know that people were actually interested in hearing what I had to say.

The overall process of constructing the garment and participating in this event was fun. I had a few problems along the way like working with the mesh fabric of the upper bodice. I had to take a piece out, after I was done constructing the garment because it had a bad tear. I also had a couple of problems with my model’s fit. I was able to solve and correct these problems right away. I had a great time participating and I would do it again given the opportunity.