Evaluation

Throughout this project there have been times when I have loved and hated making a tutu but overall I think I have completed it quite successfully. I have learnt an amazing amount of new skills which will be extremely useful in the future and will take my making skills to the next level. It has been interesting working more individually and not being spoon fed the instructions on how to make a costume, at times it was hard but looking at my completed costume now it makes me feel proud knowing that I have achieved what I wanted at the beginning of this project.

I liked having the workshops at the start of each week because I knew exactly what I had to achieve by the next workshop. This helped me keep on top of everything and plan out my time management much more effectively because I would set a to do list at the start of the week and I generally stuck to this. Without these tutorials I would not of been able to complete my tutu, although I think we had enough tutorials it would of been helpful to have a tutor around more frequently in case I was unsure of what to do or to double check something. Due to this there were a couple of times when something had to be re-done because I had gone ahead to complete it but it was wrong, for example the bodice looking wrinkled. I think I was more hesitant to just go ahead with a task because I was making something completely new and wanted to do it the correct way.

During most of my projects I have made a time plan but not to the extent that I had for this one, I found this extremely useful because I could keep referring back to it to keep me on track. I also made weekly timeplans which were useful because I could see whether I was going to have to speed up my pace or have time to relax. I also put in time off which I have never done before and this had a massive effect on how I worked on this project. I found that I was a lot more relaxed and enjoyed making my costume because I did not get stressed. I will definitely make a more specific time plan for my future projects and make sure I have time off because it was very successful.

Surprisingly I really enjoyed pleating and making the tutu, although it was quite repetitive I found it enjoyable because I did not do it all in one go, I spread it out effectively. If I have enough time in future projects I will defiantly do this for tasks that are repetitive because I am really happy with how I did my pleating because it is all neat. I also enjoyed putting on the surface decoration because again I took time to make it perfect and feel that I achieved this well and it does look effective.

There were certain parts of this project that I didn’t particularly enjoy, for example putting the hooping into the tutu was frustrating because at first I didn’t understand how to make it lay flat, but with practice and now that I know how it works I think I wouldn’t find it as bad. I also found sewing the bodice to the tutu really difficult just because it was so fiddly and such a big costume to work around. Although I am happy with my costume I am not completely happy with the tutu and how it lays when worn, it still doesn’t look as flat at the others. I think this could partly be because it is the biggest tutu and therefore there is more weight pulling it down, but because I have never made a tutu before I don’t fully understand how to make it flatter. I have put more strings in which pulls it flat but it still is not as flat as I want. I think with more practice I would get better at stringing the tutu and with some more assistance I would have more of an understanding.

I feel that the fitting went considerable well seeing as on the day I found out that my dancer had changed. Obviously I had a lot of changes which put me behind slightly but I just worked quicker and put more hours in to get back to the same level as the rest of my group. It was interesting working with a client and I learnt a lot from this, travelling around London with my tutu was a task in itself. I have found that when working for a client every part of the costume has to be perfect, if a mistake is made you have to go back and start again. It taught me that you have to work around them and even though our fitting was a week before hand in I have shown myself that I can complete it if I set myself the right time plan and put the hours in. I will remember this for the future and prepare myself for having to work around the client and having to alter time plans if I need to.

After finishing my tutu I think that I would like to go into dancewear, maybe not specifically ballet but some form of dance. Although I did enjoy making the tutu, I don’t know if I could do it as a profession now that I have completed it I feel I need a break so doing it day in day out I think I would find stressful. I know now to prepare myself and make a time plan, and to give myself a sufficient amount of breaks so that I don’t stressed or bored. After making this tutu for a client I feel that I will be more precise with my work and try to make it as neat as possible. I have learnt a massive amount of new skills which a very specific and will be extremely useful to me in the future especially if I want to go into dancewear. I have enjoyed working more independently and it has showed me that I am prepared for my final year and that I can achieve what I put my mind to. Overall I am happy with the outcome of this project and have enjoyed it.