THURSDAY 26. FRIDAY 27.

A lot of the blog about my working days will potentially be fairly similar, something that you'll learn if you do not know already is that the work of an intern can often be fairly repetitive. 

So the past few days I'd worked on getting all the jackets re-toiled and we had the fitting with Shelly yesterday which went really well. After I'd blogged on Wednesday night I got some pretty exciting news that Lewis is coming out to join me for the last 6 days I am here, so this time next week he'll be with me which is super exciting as I can be the tour guide and I have an excuse to go sight seeing all over again! (not that I need one, I'm in New bloody York!)

I've spent today and yesterday sourcing some more, and yesterday Carly bought her pink neon leather for the bomber jacket however due to the skins being really small but really expensive she has had to rework her design a bit and has decided she'll not be able to do the entire garment in the leather -such a shame, but as her designs are for over-sized garments her pattern pieces didn't fit on any of the skins in a way that would be cost effective; the downsize of using real leather and being a student!

I've done a lot of re-organising Carly's work space and tidying as everyone is sharing such a small space, so it needs to be that everything is accessible and easy to find room to do the things we need to do, especially with all the printed fabrics arriving from now and over the next few days; we need space not only to cut the fabrics but also to store them. 

Just wait till you see the prints, they are completely out of this world and pretty damn special. 

One of the many things I admire about Carly is her eye for colour and print. She knows what goes, what clashes, what is meant to clash but can work together sometimes... The way she has designed her prints is really interesting, and although bold and garish, they are on the right side of eye-catching and are surprisingly incredibly beautiful.

Of the prints the spandex was the first to arrive this morning, so once we'd done all the errands and organising that needed doing this morning, we found space in one of the studios in a different part of the building and we started cutting out what was needed from these. 

It was exciting to finally put to use all the patterns I had traced out onto acetate, and arranging the pattern pieces onto the prints to find the best bits of the print was something we both enjoyed; it was amazing to see how Carly just knew which bits of the print would work for which panel of each garment. The garments we were cutting out for included 3 sports bras, boxer shorts, cycling shorts and leggings. I also cut out any other parts that needed to go with these garments such as elastic for waistbands, ribbed fabric for cuffs and waistbands, I took a few zips to get shortened and also cut out mesh for other panels in the garments. 

After work I met up with Steph and Fia in Union Square (which seems to have become our Friday night meeting point!) where we went to the cinema to see The Hunger Games. We ate a HUGE amount of popcorn and still didn't finish the bowl we bought, note to americans - your portion sizes are insane! I did have a hot dog as well...oops...but it was the best hot dog. Ever. 

As we'd all had a pretty long and tiresome week, we watched the film, made plans for tomorrow and called it a night, and all went our separate ways.

I need sleep, I think I've made all the sense I'm going to today...

xo

YOU KNOW YOU LOVE YOUR JOB WHEN...

...you do an 11 hour shift and you don't mind.

I really get on with everyone in the studio, even though tensions sometimes arise as everyone is under a lot of stress with their deadlines drawing closer and there's not much space; the majority of the time there is a good atmosphere in the studio. 

I got to work at 9:30am and left about 8:30pm, and under other circumstances I'd probably have come home in an awful mood but 1) I offered to stay and 2) it's so easy to stay late without realising! Having someone be so positive about what you're doing, even if you do make mistakes, really does make a difference to the way you work, and how much you put into what you're doing. 

So back to the diary;

Today I finished off the toile for the denim jacket that I'd started yesterday and I have to say I am so glad that one is out the way because it was so confusing; or maybe I was just too tired to make sense of it yesterday, I don't know but either way it is done!

(Left: Over-sized denim jacket toile, minus the sleeves. 
Right: the freaky blow-up rat I was greeted by when getting of the subway the morning)

After that I had a little break and bite to eat (I'd ran out the front door with a piece of bread and a banana this morning and it'd worn of very quickly) before starting the toile for the parka; perhaps my favourite garment in the collection. 

We spent late afternoon beginning to cut out all the athletic mesh that is used for panels, sports bras, t-shirts etc whilst we waited for a fitting with Shelly to show her all the toiles. I like to be around for the fittings even though I could've gone home loads earlier, and today was good because all the toiles I'd been working on were approved with just minor changes, which means all the garments have been approved and now everything is going to really kick off! I'm so excited to see the collection coming together (I just have to not think about the fact I'm leaving before completion) Also, with any luck a few of Carly's print fabrics will arrive tomorrow and we can get cutting all that out too :)

I'll add photos and pictures from the processes in a bit later, but I probably won't post finished garments as it's important for Carly to keep her collection under-wraps until it's shown at New York Fashion Week. 

Anyway, first long day done and dusted so I'd best get to sleep! 

(p.s. someone please pay for me to extend my stay by 7 days?) 

Love xo

BERNARDS WATCH

is much needed. 

I cannot believe that I'm over half way through my trip, it's so sad! I want to be here forever with an endless supply of money. What's worse is that I'm realising I won't see the entire collection come together, and I'll miss out on the whole masters exhibition. Boo. 

Tuesday 24.04.2012

Moan over, for now, so it's made me all confused being off work yesterday and I was pretty late getting into the studio today. I'm pretty annoyed because after my productive Saturday, the only thing I seemed to have carried onto this week is messing up. Although I was only working on a toile of another jacket, I was still pissed off that I kept getting things wrong. I eventually managed to get it mostly complete, I just need to work on the sleeve tomorrow and go back to the patterns and check any areas that were 'questionable' whilst making. I'm definitely not on top form so this is going to be a very brief entry and I'm going to get an early night so I can actually be of some help to Carly tomorrow!

Carly did however offer to credit me in the final exhibition, which'll be nice to feel like I'm there a little bit so I've just had to knock up a quick logo for her:

I'm sure I could've come up with something better but I decided to keep it simple with the second image, rather than spend ages rushing around complicating it.

WILLIAMSBURG / UPPER EAST SIDE / SOHO

MY SUNDAY MONDAY WEEKEND

Sunday 22.04.2012

Due to working yesterday, I woke up today a little confused but I'd made plans to go for brunch with Fia and Steph so jumped out of bed, got ready and headed to meet them before we all went to check out a few recommendations from Steph's flatmate. The two on the list that sounded the nicest obviously were as they were completely packed out! Unfortunately, it was also absolutely pouring down with rain which meant exploring Williamsburg wasn't as fun as it could have been. That's not to say we didn't find refuge in an amazing café, FABIANE'S, which I would highly recommend! I had a Cinnamon Cappuccino and French Toast with strawberries and maple syrup. It was amazing. 

The rain so so bad that we kept having to go into really cool vintage shops, amazing independent boutiques and thrift stores. Terrible. 

I bought some t-shirts, a Moschino top (its the bees-knees) and some birthday presents for a couple of friends who's 21st birthdays are coming up. You know who you are...o0o0oo! We came across Brooklyn Industries which I'd heard some people talking about last week, so was pretty happy to check it out. There were tonnes of t-shirts I wanted (including the one below) but resisted temptation. A pig, with a bacon moustache? It's got to be the one if I go back.

Wandering around I noticed this illustation on the floor, and on the door of a boutique CCTV stills of shoplifters. The old granny is my favourite, I have to say that did make me laugh quite a bit. 

It was a pretty odd day, which included a half hour break in a little salon whilst Fia got henna done. We weren't planning on staying out late, but it hit about 6 and our brunches had worked off, the rain was pouring down and we'd remembered passing The Bedford (another place I'd recommend) that looked extremely warm and inviting. And that it was! A warm dose of fish'n'chips and a local Brooklyn Brewery Lager made all the bad weather temporarily ok.

So yummy! We sat for nearly an hour putting the world to rights and drinking cocktails; the 3 of us could talk for England it is ridiculous once we've got started. Or maybe we were all avoiding facing the weather outside... who knows!

∆ ∆ ∆ 

Monday 23.04.2012

AKA: The day Kanye West was in the studio but I wasn't in work. FML. 

Although it'd be ace to say I'd seen/met him, I had such a lovely day today that I couldn't even complain. Unfortunately Fia was working today, but luckily Steph had the day off so we met about midday, had our standard pre-shopping Starbucks and hit the Upper East Side, acting like some weird mix between characters Gossip Girl and serious tourists. It was brill <3

We explored Upper East stores, treating ourselves to perfume in Victoria's Secret before heading south to Bryant Park where we jumped on the subway down to Soho as I'd been going on about the BOOKMARC and MBMJ stores; which I knew were situated perfectly on opposite corners to the famous Magnolia Bakery. We bought a sneaky slice of Pumpkin Pie, then headed to meet Fia for a classy McDonalds (it had to be done once whilst here) and to do a food shop before heading home! 

Not bad for a Monday :)