In 2015 I took part in a fashion design competition. I lead a group of six people in creating a collection. Our collection was based on flowers as well as using unconventional materials such as paper and wire. I designed two of the looks and made one of them as well as designing and making the shoes for another team member’s look.

The design I made was that of the skirt and corset. The corset was made from scratch, out of white fabric and boning to keep the structure. I then used wire to make the flowers, painting some of the gold. The skirt was one that I already had at home. I cut it to the length and shape that I wanted and then added blue ribbon to the hem.

To make the shoes I used wire to make the shape of the leaves then using water soluble fabric filling in the shape with machine sewing. I then used blue ribbon for the stem and painted the edges of the sole blue.

My team won two prizes for two different designs. My paper flower dress design won a prize as did the design for which I made the shoes. It was a wonderful experience and I enjoyed working with some different materials.