Another area I am interested in is Pattern Technology. I have been pattern cutting for 9 years now, and I always make patterns for my own clothing. I feel having a mathematical mind as well as a creative mind, pattern cutting comes fairly naturally to me.

I can produce patterns straight onto the paper as flat patterns as well as producing patterns from a Toile. I don't know which way I prefer, but I feel that with some garments it is easier to produce the flat patterns first.

During my time at college I became very aware of the standard model size (because I'm not :) and got very interested in producing clothes in non-model sizes. Ever since I started studying fashion, friends, relatives and even people I do not know have bombarded me with questions about clothes. The most asked question is "Why is it I can never find anything that fits me properly?" I started feeling very responsible for this and decided that I had to do something about it. In my fourth year at college I began learning to grade patterns by hand.

In my final year at college I began learning how to grade on the computer. The computer system we had before my final year was a very dated Gurber system, which I found very confusing. But at the beginning of my final year we had the latest Lectra system installed and I found it a lot easier to use. I had to teach myself to use the system as there was only one tutor at college who was being trained to use it at the same time as I was learning it.

For my final collection I decided to produce a range of clothing for different sized men and women. Pictures taken at the show can be found in the photographs section of this site.