For our first project this semester we had to work in collaboration with one of our classmates. Since I missed the first class because I had some visa issues, I did not have a partner. So, we decided the easiest solution was for me to work with one of my close friends, Jaewon. She is on Anne’s Thursday class, which made it easy for me to do the fittings and the interview.
The interview really helped me figure out what Jaewon’s ideal pant was like. She was mostly concerned about the cut of the pants (they had to “fit her well”) and had to be flattering to her figure. I learned that she really loves simplicity but with a twist to make it interesting. And she also made it really clear that she wanted the pants to hit her ankle, since they are usually “too long for her.”
Taking all of the interview highlights in mind, I started to sketch many interpretations of what Jaewon desired. I wanted to meet her halfway. This pant had to be our pant; not just hers or mine. So, I made 10 illustrations and showed them to her. She chose the last one I made, which was one of my favorites too. It was very simple design-wise; a fitted pant with fabric draping down the sides. I went on to buy the fabric and decided on a sheer, black textile that was pleated and a solid one of the same color to use as a base.
I started playing with the sheer fabric to figure out how I wanted to use it, and my design slowly started to morph into something else. I used the textile on a bias, in conjunction with the pleats to create a converging point on the front and back of the pants. I ended up changing my base to a flesh colored textile, so that the fabric manipulation would really pop up. The pleats would be darker on the sides and start getting lighter towards the center of the design. To achieve this gradient, I just started draping with how the fabric pleated naturally, then I made a smaller pleat manually and after that I began stretching the fabric to achieve the most contrasting lines in the design. This created the illusion of a smaller waist and longer legs which is what Jaewon originally wanted.
I draped all four pieces on the mannequin and then pinned everything down to my base. After that I went on to do a basting stitch on all the edges of the piece so that the pleating that I had worked on would not move at all. I serged all the pieces and kept the red (basting) stitches as the guide to where my stitching line would be.
One of the hardest parts to do was the waistband; I wanted all the lines to converge at center front and center back and that was hard to match with the pant. I originally had a waistband that was just one piece but since I wanted that design, it had to do 4 cuts into it: center front, center back and on both sides. The sheer fabric did not have any support so I decided to use interfacing to give it more body and to keep the pleats tamed and not moving as much.
I was very pleased with how these pants turned out even after all the difficulties I faced. The most important aspect for this project for me was to create a garment that appealed to both, Jaewon and myself. It was a very rewarding experience for me to collaborate with her since it felt like I was working with a client and I could tell that she really enjoyed the garment that I made for her. Which is why I named this project Converging Point; it represents where her aesthetic and mine meet.
