Saturday, September 6, 2014

Intro to Fashion Design: Class Final


Photography:  Esther Boller (myself).

I had my first fashion class during my spring quarter at school, and the class was Intro to Fashion Design.  For our final project we had to design and make a garment inspired by an abstract painting.  The goal was to create a garment that reflected the shape, color percentage, and overall mood of the painting that we chose.  I chose the below painting by Clive Watts.
 Once we had decided on a painting we had to draw 10 croquis designs of the front, side, and back view.  We were encouraged to think and draw like a sculptural artist, because our professor wanted the class to think about volume and each angel of the design.  We were given the option to make our garment out of non-conventional materials, but after going through the whole school year without any sewing assignments I was longing to get back on a sewing machine so I chose to work with fabric.
Once my design and materials were chosen, I started the construction.   This was the hardest part of the project, because I had never sewn anything like this before.  Drafting this garment took quite a bit of problem solving.  At first it was going to be one dress, but after thinking about how I was going to line it, I decided that it would be easier to make it into two separate pieces.  So it became a skirt and a blouse which made drafting a lot simpler!

In my class for The Sewing Party I will be teaching how to draft and sew these circular panels.  If it's something that you'd like to learn you can sign up here!
To get the volume that I needed in the circular panels of the skirt, I used a really cool material called Pellon!   It's basically an incredibly stiff iron-on-interfacing.   It keeps its shape so well, and was exactly what I needed to create the volume of the circular panels in the skirt.

The last part of our project was to do a photo shoot of someone wearing our garment to add to our portfolio book.  I took these photos and my lovely friend Carly modeled for me.  Overall this was such a refreshing and fun project for me!  I'm not sure how many hours went into this project from start to finish, but I basically lived in the Fashion Building for the last two-three weeks of school. 
I have about another week before my sophomore year starts.  I'll be taking Apparel 1, Fashion Sketching, and Art History 2.  The Apparel class will be my first sewing class so I'm really looking forward to this upcoming quarter!  I'll try to keep up with sharing my projects with you as they're assigned to me.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

27 comments:

  1. Stunning and captivating design and execution, as usual.

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  2. Wow! This is fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing! Your friend did a great job modeling, too. She looks so professional. So, is it a peplum top with a skirt, then? When I see the painting and the final, your dress IS his painting in fashion form. The top picture also brings to mind a dress I saw on Pinterest...I think it was an Alexander McQueen dress--red, black, white. Here's a link to the pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/138837600986078491/ I love seeing your work. :) Have a good next semester!

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  3. By the way...I could really see someone wearing this on the red carpet. They need to snap it up! Instead of scholarships, you can just make a few red carpet dresses and fund your schooling. ;)

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    1. Thank you so much for such sweet complements! That's so nice of you to compare this to a red carpet dress! And I passed on your modeling complement to my friend as well :)
      Yes, it is a separate top and a skirt! The top has the same details that the skirt has, but in a less severe volume - so it looks more like a peplum! And thank you so much for sharing the Mcqueen dress! Wow, what a beauty! His designs are such masterpieces. Thanks for the inspiring link!!

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  4. Wow, this is the most amazingly beautiful and creative dress! You are incredibly talented :)

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  5. smashed it out of the ball park!

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  6. striking !! gorgeous !! eye-popping !! etc etc etc !!
    Did you decorate plain fabric....or......???

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    1. Thank you so much! Yes, I painted the design on myself. I used watered down acrylic paint and painted it on my cut out fabric pieces before I sewed the garment together.

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  7. FABULOUS!!!! A true work of art! Well done with great execution! You are brilliant!
    rebecca elliott, artist, art instructor hillsboro high school, art department chair hillsboro r3 school district

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  8. This is beautiful. And I would choose it over the lovely Alexander McQueen gown!

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  9. The volume and shape on the skirt is so so gorgeous! Good luck at your next year of school. Can't wait to see more of your work :)

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    1. Thank you Sophia for your kind complement and for the luck on this year of school!! :)

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  10. Oh Esther! Your skills never seize to amaze me. You are a gem!

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  11. Wow, this is fantastic! I love this dress (sorry, top/skirt), and you succeeded beautifully.
    I stumbled across your blog a couple of years back, and for some reason came across it again the other day. Having read backwards now all afternoon I enjoyed very much all that you have created and your beautiful photography, along with everything you write about your inspiration.
    The artistic, fashion design path is surely the right way to go, because you are very talented, indeed!

    All the best for your career!

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  12. I stumbled through from Kollabura to here, and just want to say you have a BRIGHT future in fashion design! I love this! hope you got an A on your final!

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