Creative Technical Studio 1: Dress

Throughout the past eight weeks, I have learned to do many things in garment construction — this included patternmaking, draping, and sewing. Since many things were a first timer for me, I have been led to explore unfamiliar things, and did not have an idea of what I wanted my dress to look like. For example, I have done three Shingo Sato Bodice samples, which I was inspired by Preen by Thorton Bregazzi and MA Student works from Central Saint Martins. I was amazed by the patchwork, mixing and machine of different textiles, patterns, and fabrics, as well as the amazing color choices that made each piece unique to itself. I was admired by the voluminous garment portrayed on the models.

To accompany my interest in volume and texture of a garment, I practiced draping a skirt. This process took multiple attempts, and I wanted to include both elements of texture and volume. I decided to do a mixture of clashing pleats and tucks, as well as attaching pieces of the skirt together to create a rise in shape. During my third week of skirt draping, I decided to stick to those specific pleats and drape, and made a pattern for my skirt.

For my sleeves, I originally wanted to incorporate a Bishop Sleeve and a Mutton Sleeve into one sleeve. My muslin attempt was unsuccessful; however, I finalized my idea by doing a Bell sleeve with ruffles in each panel.

For my collar, I decided to do a roll collar. It did not fold or look the way I wanted a roll collar to look, due to the fabric. I finalized and made the pattern for the roll collar, and ended up not using it in my final dress design.

After deciding all the designs for every part of the dress, I have made patterns of it and cut out the fabrics I chose — I wanted to incorporate three different plaids in one dress. The most challenging part of the design aspect was how to organize each color plaid in each panel/cut. I had a dark blue/green plaid, a bright red plaid, and a yellow plaid. I thought that yellow was the brightest and most contrasting color to both red and blue, and decided that yellow should be in the middle for the bodice. I then tried to make it so every cut in the dress that had to be sewn would have a ruffle that contrasts those two colors, and everything was planned so there would be no matching color to each ruffle. The amount of fabric I had was not enough to complete both sides of the sleeve completely, but I decided to do non-symmetrical sleeves which emphasized the different color and texture usage in the dress. I decided to leave out the lifting of the skirt draping and let it lay down flat so all the ruffles can be seen. Finally, I added my lining, facing, interfacing, and zipper to complete the dress.

This plaid dress opened me up to exploring different kinds of fabrics that did not necessarily follow the color palette/aesthetic that I usually go for — pastel colors and knit fabrics. Ever since I have decided on the fabrics for this dress, I have had a large interest in different kinds of plaids and fabrics that include lines. I used to have a strong, differing opinion about plaids, which has been greatly underappreciated my whole life. I never wanted to own plaid clothing nor plaid related accessories, such as scarves or blankets. My interest in plaid grew so much from disliking the plaid, since designing the dress. I have ended up becoming more open towards difference and strangeness in likes and dislikes of certain things, which has led me to be more open minded about design.