Developing and using flats.

I decided to develop technical working drawings (or flats) for my garments that I have designed on Adobe Illustrator. They are time consuming and challenging to draw and I am still getting to grips with illustrator as a programme that is new to me.

After getting the shape and movement of the garments right, I decided to display and present them with my prints applied onto them, thus providing another way of showing how my prints would appear when made into a garment.

Further fashion illustration styles

I wanted to work in a different style after successfully creating a series of drawings displaying full garments. I wanted to display my prints and embellishment samples through a fashion illustration so I again began with a drawing of a face (see left).

I then decided to manipulate the face by applying the print to the face itself and to the surroundings of the face. This means that the illustration could be used as a print indication board as well as setting the general mood for my collection of textile samples that could be used for fashion.

illustrations developed

I decided to develop garments and apply my prints through drawing with various media. I wanted to give the prints and embellishment samples a series of silhouettes to stand on in the form of garments. Therefore I decided to create dresses, jumpsuits and trousers etc for the samples to stand on.

 These then have been changed into a lineup of illustrations with the head that had been drawn earlier has been super-imposed on top and arranged in a professional manner.

Beginning fashion illustrations

I decided that the best way to develop my fashion illustration techniques was to draw a face first from a model found in a magazine. I chose to use model of the moment, Cara Delevigne, as she has featured in 99% of the shows at recent New York and London fashion week shows.

Applying samples to a body

I have a small wooden mannequin and decided that I would attach my samples that I have created to the mannequin, giving some form of indication as to how the garment could be used in the fashion world.

I draped the work over the small body, giving the impression of garment shapes and how the patterns and fabrics that I have created would look in this certain shape.

Knitting samples.

The first textile world that I was a part of was construct. I particularly enjoyed the knitting aspect of the construct world and now whilst in TD4F I decided to reapply my knitting skills to my project.

The sample featured on the left, shows a technique called "hooking up". This allows for some textures and buckles in the fabric and I decided to work into this with the embellishment techniques that I had developed before. This presented a new set of challenges in itself. The beads had to be carefully applied to ensure that they would stay on the right side of the fabric which turned out to be quite the nuisance. Regardless, I decided to work in the same way into the sample left, embellishing around the lace holes.

I then decided to continue using a loose knit, having a low tension and using lace holes and ladders to give the knit a loose structure and appearance.

Using embellishment as mark making.

I decided to use gold and silver seed beads on samples of fabric as a means of mark making. I painstakingly undertook the task of sewing on each bead individually so as you can imagine- they took HOURS.

Initially, I used calico on the right to embellish onto along with paint. I know this wasn't a fabric I wanted to use, however I just wanted to understand how the beads could create a mark.

On the left, I embellished the beads onto a sample of substantially more expensive untreated silk, a fabric that I'm more likely to use when applying my designs to garments etc.