The Lined Dress project was my first garment making experience in the Fashion Design program. It’s a very informative process that requires the designer to interact with fundamental pattern making, the shingo-sato technique, and a level of freedom when removing darts and placing seams in the garment.
My Design Statement for the garment is below:
My artistic goal is to give one hundred percent to whatever visual I feel is communicating something words wouldn’t have said any better; in relation to my current journey, it would be through clothing. My work has been influenced by loss of security, the black experience, my southern identity, and personal epiphanies stemming from travel and education. I challenge myself to balance my need for art with academic success, prompting my decision to currently pursue two bachelor’s degrees from The New School. I use my work in reference to post-colonial theory, as well as the avant-garde left-wing socialist movement, forming resistance against the capitalist market system. My muses are marginalized communities like my own, I want to design for the activist, the outspoken, those who want to use clothing as a tool to educate those around them and who stare. My aspirations as an artist are to let the harsh realities of adulthood inspire my art not destroy its existence.
The lined dress was my first experience making a garment in the Fashion Design department. The process in general had many highs and lows, as I was adjusting to multiple things at once. I think that my chosen professor, has been very influential in my skill growth and did a great job of noting the class’ strengths when assigning work. We ventured into the dress by making a number of samples, therefore only focusing on certain sections rather than tackling the entire garment at once. I struggled initially, I approached sewing with a very different past, I had never interacted with half the tools we’d purchased, and grew up drawing my patterns on newspaper. I was accustomed to using whatever drawing instrument for the seam allowance and an automatic machine versus the industrial machines throughout the department. My sewing experience has been mainly low, not really receiving good marks on the samples, but the ability to move forward with the garment and have the support of my professor has been a consistent high.
Overall throughout this process, I learned that being tedious and exact with your measurements the first time will save you confusion in the end. I am a student and for this year, I am expected to make sophomore mistakes, so be forgiving with myself and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
—————————————————————————————————–
We approached the assignment by making a series of samples (zipper, collar, sleeve) to prepare us for the dress. We we’re tasked with creating three bodices, from muslin, and bringing them to class for a special demo. The demo was an introduction to the ‘shinto-sato’ technique. The infamous technique is all about transferring darts, and adding style lines by drawing on the physical bodice. I was fortunate enough to engage with the process in the 3D form and on pattern paper, when restructuring my bodice.
3D Bodice Technique
3D Bodice Techinque
Shingo via Pattern Paper
After restructuring my bodice, I then cut it out and applied it to my fabric. I chose to purchase two blue fabrics and color block my bodice. A “1/2″inch seam allowance was added to all of the pattern pieces and then cut out.
I proceeded to pin the respective pieces together and sew the bodice together at the machine, initially on a basting stitch and then again on a tighter stitch to secure the pieces. I pressed the seams open as I went to make the process easier and preview the final piece.
pinned bodice
sewn bodice
pressed open bodice
With my bodice sewn together, I flipped it inside out and put it to the side as I ventured toward the skirt.
bodice front
bodice back
The skirt of the dress is another component that allows the designer to take initiative and make creative decisions. I opted for many pleats in the front and a flare in the back. As my skills have developed through this class, I’ve challenged myself to alternate fabrics on the inside of each pleat. In order to prepare the pattern for that, I had to cut each pleat out of the pattern, and add a “1/2” inch seam allowance to each piece.
Currently, I am still compiling my pieces and sewing together my skirt to create the dress silhouette.
