Initial Moodboard/Sketches
I was first inspired by the ruffling technique, which reduces fabrics without cutting them out while also create beautiful curves. However I encountered a problem with the small amount of fabrics that I had (exactly 1 yard), there would not be enough fabrics for me to make a ruffle garment. So I had to scratch this idea off and take another approach, which is deconstructing the fabric and patches/resew them together.
Revised Moodboard/Sketches
I was particularly inspired by the third one of the sketches, which the one that I used the technique of folding the fabric to create the front of the garment. I found this design especially interesting because I can definitely incorporate the style of deconstruction in it while following the concept of “zero-waste.” Instead of going for a neat ruffling style, I turned my direction to more punk and counter culture. The new direction definitely is my aesthetic, and I was very excited to see how this would turn out.
Fabric Moodboard/Process
To convey the style of punk fashion, I chose a fishnet fabric, a pink zebra print fabric and a cotton/sheer black fabric. These three fabrics work very cohesively together, and they definitely make the statement of punk. I was mainly playing with the rectangle shapes, which from them I made bows, sleeves, and patches. I used the technique of pleating on the fabrics that I left and made a skirt out of it. To emphasize the idea of deconstructing, instead of sewing the front of the garment, I used yarn to string them together, and I also used the safety pin as an element to adds on the aesthetic of punk.
Photography
Reflection
I am very happy with the final result! Even though the fabrics that I chose are a little bit of slippery hard to work with, I spent a lot of time sewing them together slowly and carefully and overcome the challenges and hemmed all edges. I am also very proud that I actually used all my fabrics without wasting an inch of it, this has proved that my design successfully fulfilled the requirement. I gained the experience of designing something that is sustainable while keeping my own style. I used to think that zero-waste garments are boring because they are limited by certain constructing techniques, but after finishing this project I have learned that zero-waste garments can be cool, too. Not only complicated shapes can create interesting garments, rectangles, the most simple geometric shapes are also capable of. I have incorporated the techniques I have learned through this course such as pleating, patterning and even sewing, to problem solve and constructed this zero-waste garment. As designers, we need to use what we have learned before to solve the issues in the future, we just need to apply them in a more creative way.
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Yarn knitting
