No more exams...EVER

So on Tuesday I finally sat my last EVER exam and I swear if they didn't make it the hardest exam I've ever sat.
I officially sat my last ever all nighter as well in the build up, whilst I studied for a solid 2 weeks the night before I still had that hellish sense of dread that falling asleep would make all the information fall out of my ears.

The exam went pretty good, I'm confident I done the absolute best I could and now the rest is in fates hands. May 8th is my presentation for collection and then after that it is definite freedom, no more work at all just play.

Right now I'm just enjoying the new Paolo Nutini album whilst finishing my last ever assessment that's to get sent in on Friday. Very chill.

New job starts on Monday and I'm gonna start brainstorming a few ideas for what I want to do with this blog, gonna buy some new products to experiment with and stuff, maybe invest in a nice new layout.

Speak soon :D

Huge news!

As a fashion student faced with the prospect of graduation you start to feel immense pressure regarding your future.

In a previous blog post I sang praises for my universities careers department who have truely been wonderful in helping me think about my future and also I've spoken of my mentor Lindsay who has offered me no end of fantastic advice.

I should mention that I live at home with my parents, have several good friends here in Scotland and a thriving student overdraft that needs to be dealt with. This causes a problem.

It is no secret that in the UK most of the jobs are in England. There are several thriving garment industries in the likes of Manchester and Sunderland and whilst Scotland has the borders with their mills that supply wool to Chanel, it is definitely not on the same level.

In the past year I like many other Scottish fashion students have thought "screw it! I'll pack my bags, grab a train and head south, like a goose searching for sunshine" this is not rational when you're basically skint and serving coffees for a not so fabulous £250 a month and your student loan only has one precious pay out left.

Basically I've taken a very grown up decision and decided I cannot risk flocking south with no financial support in search of a job that may not exist.

Which is why I'm happy to announce that I managed to somehow land a visual merchandising job at my work at full time hours, a proper salary and all the benefits that come with that!

Whilst the dream is still a life in London as a garment technologist this is the best possible start to my life after uni that I could have wished for, my biggest fear was being out of full time education and stuck working 8 hours a week whilst battling for full-time work basically anywhere.

I'll have a full time wage,be doing a job that relates to my degree, getting to stay at home and most importantly be able to start saving for my future!

Many of you will think this is a very 'safe' option and you're probably right, I won't have any thrilling stories to tell anytime soon of late shipments or upheaval in the sewing workshop as models are late and machines don't work but instead I'll have stories of me being genuinly happy for the forseeable future until I can afford to make that leap.

I have one exam left and then I start the new job. If there's one thing for my readers to take from this it's that there is at least one fashion graduate out there who has managed to start making something of herself after university and I can't wait to blog about it all for you!

The Photoshoot

Before I handed in my collection for final grading I had to do a photoshoot that showcased the clothes on some live models, just as a reference for my lecturers to look at when marking my project.

Now I am not a trained photographer, I just decided to save money and shoot the girls in a window display at my work to get the effect that I wanted and personally I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out. It's crazy to look back to this blog a year ago and see the photos from last years collection and see how far I've come!

So here's some of the photos from the evening in a shop window, at the local shopping centre!

I have to say, some of the photos where we just had a laugh really turned out to be some of my favourites!!

Juice Plus

It's safe to assume that every girl has their 'new start' routine. For me it involves a nice long soak in the bath, exfoliating every inch of my body, shaving my legs etc and then ill trim the dead ends off my hair before lathering my favourite body butter on my arms. For most girls this routine comes after a particular nasty break up but for me it represents a fresh start.

Whilst university has been so busy I've had no time at all in which to go to the gym and because I've been in uni most days from 7am to 9 at night I've not exactly been eating or sleeping the greatest either.

A few weeks ago before my schedule got so overwhelming that sleep was put on the back burner, I attended my best friends engagement party and had a fantastic time, which translates into "omg I had a two day hangover it was that awesome." The day after, when I was feeling particularly sorry for myself whilst lying in bed and watching Game of Thrones I decided to take my friends advice and sign up to Juice Plus.

Now Kirsty (http://www.krstyvns.blogspot.co.uk/) is a friend of mine from university and a promoter of the brand and I had seen on Facebook that she's lost a tonne of weight and inches to her body on the brands shakes and capsules.

The products are mainly fruit based and the aim is to immerse yourself in clean eating in order to achieve an overall much healthier lifestyle.

After a heavy night of drinking and smoking far too much I decided I would give it a go as well after Kirsty explained to me that she has tried every diet under the sun and this was the only one that she felt healthy doing. By healthy she means she was energised, her skin had improved and she was finding it enjoyable.

So I ordered the shakes which costs me £24 a month for 4 months and tomorrow I will start my detox!

Juice Plus recommends you detox your body before starting the shakes for 4 months in order to maximise the results you get from the product.

So I feel all fresh and brand new and ready to start the 2 weeks of detox tomorrow. Juice Plus recommend 2 weeks of detox but some people tend to range between 7 and 10 days purely because of how rigorous you have to be with the diet in comparison to when you start the shakes.

I'll start a new section on this blog for the Juice Plus posts so that they aren't lumped in with all my lifestyle posts but tomorrow I'll take my measurements and hopefully in 4 months time when everything is over there will be some serious differences!
I'm hoping there's a noticeable change come Grad Ball in June cause everyone loves to shed a few pounds before putting on a gorgeous dress!!

Wish me luck!

4th year is OVER!!!!

I really must apologise, after my amazing trip to London (which I will post about soon) I came back to uni to find that it was all hands on deck in order to finish my collection.

There are no words strong enough to describe how hard the last month and a half has been for some of my class.

 

However! It has been finished and was handed in on Friday so now my 4th year is officially over in terms of there no longer being any classes.

I have a few automatic hand ins I need to complete and one exam before I graduate so apart from going in to uni for that I'm back home with family and having a well-deserved rest.

 

So looking at the collection now that it's finished I would have to be brutally honest and say that whilst I love all the detail and effort I've put into making it, I think I prefer last years work.

I also feel like last years stuff was made to a higher standard because there was much less riding on it so I wasn't as stressed out.

I think as well, because I've had to spend a whole year designing this, practicing this and then creating the final collection, I've gotten really sick of looking at it.

In the past few weeks I've had to pull several all-nighters in front of a series of The Walking Dead with nothing but my sewing machine for company but it all seems worth it now that everything has been handed in and its no longer something for me to worry about.

 

If I had to put together a survival list for 4th year fashion students it would definitely include Pro Plus, Dry Shampoo and face wipes because there are definitely mornings where time devoted to showering is nowhere near as important as time devoted to finishing that last specification sheet.

 

Here are a few photos of the finished collection, I had to do a photo shoot to accompany it as well so I'll post those later on :)

 

So that's the majority of my collection, honestly it looks just how I wanted it to but I am actually so sick of the sight of it. Only a few months left until I graduate!