Evaluation

Evaluation Of EMP

The Mad Hatters Charity Tea Party

During this EMP unit my skills and abilities as a costume maker and workshop coordinator have been pushed to new boundaries where my social, ethical and cultural skills along with my construction skills have been heavily challenged. Taking on board the pointers from my last assessment, I decided to work with The Mad Hatters Charity Tea Party, which is a large event held in Portsmouth that raises money for Cystic Fibrosis Kids. Realising Elizabeth Cooke’s designs, this project has allowed me to combine textural methods throughout both costumes and tea party set up, as well as teach some of the textural methods to others through workshops.

From a technical perspective with both of the costumes, I faced the challenges of creating an animal outfit for the March Hare that wouldn’t overheat the actor. For the White Queen, a dress which had a full skirt that could support a crinoline, bodice which allowed the actress to move freely and rich fabrics which looked regal but fitted within the charities budget. This meant choosing materials and fastenings, which would help with these issues.

For the March Hares shirt I originally looked at digitally printing fur onto a specially coated cotton fabric. However after several attempts of trying to tile the fur so that it became a continuous pattern it was found that trying to take a 3D effect and transferring it to 2D print only gave a flat colour image and wouldn’t pick up any of the desired texture. Once discussed with the director and designer it was decided to change the shirt to a gingham pattern. This was in keeping with the events theme and character as well as remaining a light fabric choice that wouldn’t hinder the actor.

The boater hat also required scaling and experimentation. The original design shows one crochet teacup on a hat with a green ribbon and ears. However after creating various size cups and pinning them together and testing this on the hat it was decided to add another two cups scaling to a smaller size each time, a crochet doily and various cakes.

I also experimented with pleating for the White Queens dress to make the skirt more full and accommodate the additional understructure. Before this project I found pleats a nightmare, as I could never make them even. However after the first calico sample I found a way that worked and allowed me to improve on the technique. During fittings it was decided to combine the front and side panels of the skirt meaning my original pleating was doubled and a box pleat had to be added to the sides of the skirt to increase the amount of fabric in the skirt and hide the side seams. I struggled to get my head around this initially as I had to double the fabric behind each pleat and layer these. As I was used to pleating in neat lines with each one being exactly matching it took time to adapt.

The workshops are my greatest achievement within this project. I have been teaching 10 different groups, both able and disabled, various knitting and crochet techniques that could later be turned into assorted tea party items such as cakes and savories. An issue I ran into was that I had to change my teaching techniques in accordance to the age/ ability of the group, everybody has a preferred learning technique and combining all these into a singular lesson sparked some concern amongst the parents of some of the children I was teaching. I decided the best thing to do was to place the children into groups of 7-10 and then focus on the best way of learning for them. I found that making up examples of finished products became a positive motivator for the younger children as they had a visual and tactile image of what they could make. The adult groups were much easier to teach and more responsive to changes in patterns.

To prepare for each session I had to make sure I had a learning plan in place and examples of what was being constructed that session. For the younger students I also had a star chart system to monitor behavior and a star of the lesson award, which were a set of coloured knitting needles and a ball of wool for the student who tried the hardest. Something I emphasized throughout was that it didn’t matter what the outcome of the session was for each student so long they tried there hardest and felt that they achieved something.

One specific case is Stephan. He is a special needs child who has severe ADHD and found it hard to concentrate on the smallest of tasks. However since taking the workshops he has been more aware of his actions and his behavior has improved both at home and within school. At the beginning he found the sessions pointless and a task that he didn’t want to do. However after speaking to him and trying to understand thing from his point of view, we created a five step achievement plan showing what he wanted to come out of the lessons with his reward being a day trip to Monkey Land and Hobby Craft so he may buy his own set of hooks and his favorite ball of wool. His fifth goal was to come out of his spelling test with a C or higher as he had never got a higher grade than an E and was failing most of his homework tasks. He has achieved all five of his goals and has scored a B- in his latest spelling test. Whenever he started to get frustrated he took out his hook and ball of wool and focused on that until he found he was happy again. This shows that through crochet and knitting a kind of therapy has formed which he is responsive to. It brings about the question of whether this can help others in similar situations

Overall I am pleased with how I have developed under this project and the final garments and tea party set. As a result of this I have grown in confidence and feel I am more competent within the construction of garments and teaching.  I would like the opportunity within the future to advance my skills and try different techniques and resources, enabling the ability to pass these onto others and become a professional workshop coordinator.