Design Development

Here are some design developments I have drawn to give me ideas of how I would like my final dresses to look, however I wont be able to create them to look exactly like this as the lay plan I have chosen requires me to draw a random line, which will never be the same twice, this is something I love about this layplan as this means that the dress will be 100% unique. My favourite design is the very bottom left design as I want one of my dresses to be tight to the top half of the body yet flow around the bottom. 

Here I have shown how I could add some sort of print onto my garments, I could even dye my fabric so that again it is even more unique. 

Samples

Here are some pictures of some experiments I did with small pieces of SCRAP fabric (as this is sustainable) I wanted to research what layplans worked best and what the best material was to use to get the looks Julian Roberts does with his garments. 

Firstly I created a top, this was a mistake as I didn't cut enough fabric, but as Julian Roberts e-book says, there are no mistakes and I actually really like how this turned out. I didn't waste the circle I cut out either and used it as a decorative accessory. If i was to do this full scale I think I could create the twist a lot better, to make it a feature.  

The second experiment I did was to see if other fabrics worked. I found a piece of wool scrap fabric and decided to work with that. I do like the shapes that I created but it was hard to make the dress look like it was just a massive bulky mess and I think this on a larger scale would only look worse. Thick materials wont be something I consider when buying my fabric for my final dresses after this experiment, I will use either jersey or cotton.

The final sample I did was my favourite as the way I had cut the pattern gave me a lot of material to play with and drape over the manequin and even though at first I was worried this would look too bulky and not attractive on the eye, it actually turned out better as I could plait and twist the fabric to draw the eyes to different parts of the body/dress. I cant wait to use this layplan to create my larger scale dresses. I think that now I have found a layplan I like I will stick to this for all three dresses and change the way i drape the left over fabric to make them unique. 

Below is an image of the layplan that I will be using and following to create my larger scale dresses, this is also the one I used on the sample dress above. 

MORE RESEARCH

Here are some photos of my additional sketch book that I am doing along side this blog to document my work, included on these pages are some more research of the designers I have previously spoke about (Julian roberts and Mark Liu) You can also see a sketch I did of a design idea I have for a skirt using Julian Roberts theory that everything is right. I also played around with scrap fabrics to create different knots and shapes which I think look a lot like the Julian Roberts designs, as it is all about draping and how the fabric falls and folds, 

Mark Liu

Mark Liu is an eco-fashion designer and wants to change the way people waste fabric, approximately 15% of fabric is wasted in the manufacture of a typical garment, when a pattern is cut out, the leftover scraps are usually considered useless, but Mark Liu creates zero waste patterns that fit the smaller components of his clothes among the larger ones like a puzzle so every bit of scrap fabric is used. I think that this is a really clever and un-wasteful way of creating garments, his work is also featured in the book 'sustainable fashion; why now?' 

Holly McQuillan

Holly Mcquillan lectures for a fashion university design program at a university in New Zealand, her work and lectures focus on sustainable design. since completing her masters of design, her work has focused on exploring the possibilities of zero waste garment design. Her work has featured in exhibitions and in books. she has also worked with other zero waste designers such as Timo Rissanen and Julian Roberts. I really like her work and I think shes extremely clever how she uses every last piece of fabric to create such incredible and intricate garments.

JULIAN ROBERTS RESEARCH

Julian Roberts is a fashion designer and filmmaker, who has shown 13 collections at London Fashion Week and won the British Fashion Council's New Generation Award five times. he teaches lectures and demonstrations in the UK and throughout Europe and America on sustainable pattern cutting. He is one of the main zero waste designers and has worked with other zero waste designers such as Holly Mcquillan. He has done some incredible designs using 'zero waste'. He also has an e-book which includes a lot of his inspiration and designs and tutorials on how to make his dresses.