Ugly Creatures by Teresa Mackay

FABRIC TECHNOLOGY -  YEAR 10 UGLY CREATURES

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Our first project for Year 10 Fabrics was to create our own ‘ugly creature’. We had to base our design off two or more animals as well as re-purposing fabrics. 

We couldn’t use a cat or dog as part of our design, because we needed to challenge and extend our imagination. As well as that, we got to make our own pattern and use a range of hand sewing techniques to add interesting and complex elements.

During the planning of our ‘ugly creatures’ we learnt how to interpret different ideas and opinions in order to create an outcome that suited our expectations. For example we had to think carefully about what type of fabric would work best for our design. Would we use woven fabric or stretch fabric? What effect will the fabric give to our design? These were the types of questions we had to ask ourselves during the planning process. We also had to figure out;

• Who our stakeholders would be?

• What mix of animals were we going to use?

• How we were going to incorporate different ideas.

• What fabrics would make our animals look more realistic?

• What other designs have already been made in shops, books or online?

• Which stitches would be most effective for our design?

• Did we want our toy to have movable joints?

Once we had finished our planning we got to test our pattern using a paper toile (pronounced twal), we use a toile to check if the pattern works, looks good and to check if it is the right size. If we don’t test our pattern before we make our design then we don’t know if it is going to work or not. Some of us had to change our pattern after making our toile because the pieces didn’t fit or the proportions were wrong.

Once our pattern worked how we wanted it to, we got to start making our ‘Ugly Creature’. We used re-purposed fabric, buttons, plastic moving joints and any other things we thought would make our toy look how we wanted. During the planning and creating of this project we had to ask our stakeholders for their opinions, these were people in our class who helped us decide between ideas and encourage us to make a toy that was to the best of our ability.

Overall, everyone in Year 10 Fabrics seemed to enjoy this project. It helped us develop our skills and learn to take other people’s suggestions into consideration, for some of us this was our first time making our own pattern and this project was a good way to learn this valuable skill.