In The Sketchbook- June 2016

Welcome to In the Sketchbook, a monthly look at fashion design sketches that we are working on for ourselves. Sketching garments on a personal croquis is a great way for the individual couture enthusiast to move beyond the use of commercial patterns and into a world of personalized design! It can be intimidating at first, but with a little bit of practice it becomes something you look forward to. Join us for a look of what we have going on In the Sketchbook! Brought to you by Wendy Grossman of Couture Counsellor and Steph King from Siouxzeegirl Designs.

For June 2016 I played with several different ideas to further my sketching. Some of these were purely to work on perfecting my drawing/sketching techniques. Earlier this year I signed up for the Craftsy class Drawing Fashion Flats with Laura Volpintesta. It took me a while to get into this class... Mostly because sketching used to be very intimidating and frustrating to me! Now I am a full on convert and love doing. With help form this video class I was better able to get my ideas onto paper.

Playing with different details in my sketching from the Craftsy class Drawing Fashion flats.
1.dress with pleats and different bodice constructions 2.tunic with different types of fullness and 3. bodices with different necklines.

This month I also experimented with drawing on different mediums. I travel frequently for work and carting along a clipboard and a roll of tracing paper is not the most convenient. I took stock of the various drawing pads that I have collected over the years and found one that works great for airplane travel. It is a Canson sketch pad, 5.5x8.5 inch 50lb paper pad. I reduced my croquis by 20% and copied it onto a piece of cardstock, cut the cardstock to fit the sketch pad. I then use a small binder clip to clip the croquis to the back of the page and then I can sketch using the outline. There are some pros and cons to this method.Pros: - I can slip the small pad right into my larger purse and pull it out on the airplane or in the terminal and sketch away.- the paper is thicker so it makes erasing easier.Cons- it is much thicker paper, therefore you cannot play with layering of details like you can on tracing paper.

More playing with details on blouses. The lower blouse is a depiction of the CG T-2025 blouse I am working on. The drawing on the right shows a sketch in progress with the croquis clipped behind it on the Canson 50lb paper.

I also worked on playing with sketching out multiple iterations of the same type of design. I find that this challenges me to think outside of my design box. I did this with several ideas in the following 4 sketch photos. I really likes playing with these and I think this is something that I will continue to explore.

Dress with asymmetrical collar- 2 iterations

Playing with peplum ideas! 3 Iterations. 1- blouse with built in soft peplum, 2-Jacket with folded longer peplum 3- asymmetrical zip closed jacket with attached defined peplum.

Jacket ideas- 4 iterations. Lots of ideas! symmetrical and asymmetrical closures and collars, neckline shapes, collar shapes, pockets, design lines and several skirt designs.

These were 2 different designs for a long evening/opera coat.

This month I also paired some fabrics with my drawings. I have quite a collection of fabrics that I don't always know what to do with. Pulling fabrics lets me not only play with ideas of the design but lets me see it in a fabric or fabric combination.

2 designs that I paired with fabrics from my collection.

Another very useful tool is the ability to plan and create an outfit or accompanying design. In the example below the Jacket is a garment that I just finished. I wanted to pair a skirt with it and by drawing out the designs I could really get a feel of the different designs and make a decision based on silhouette and the occasion. In this example I am wearing this jacket for my granddaughter's baptism and 2nd birthday so ease of movement and a softer silhouette is quite appropriate with the softer a-line skirt in the center. However, I really like how the pencil skirt takes this look into a much more business like look and will probably also make a pencil skirt to go along with it as well.

Use of the croquis and sketching to audition different silhouettes and designs. Using tracing paper lets me use a single drawing of the jacket and play with different skirt ideas.

In  my last example of June I show how you can get ideas out of your head and onto paper! I am an avid outdoor walker/hiker. I love to spend time hiking in the nearby arboretum and county trails. Sometimes I feel like a total schelp in workout clothes or track pants and a t-shirt. Workout clothes are fine if I am doing interval work and/or interspersing body weight exercises while power walking. However, on my long hikes it would be nice to wear clothing that fits nicely, looks great and is customized to my needs. The collage below shows 4 garments. My criteria: sun protection, bug protection, lots of pockets, breathability and some warmth for during spring and fall and cooler times of the day.

• One long sleeve button up shirt made out of UPF 50 nylon breathable wicking fabric.
• Two different pairs of pants. 1 with gathered ankles, slant zipper pockets and possibly hip cargo pockets. The other with slash pockets and 2 zip hip pockets and the ability to be rolled up and secured to go through water, etc..
• The fourth garment is a vest constructed in similar way to a french jacket. Wool boucle outer fabric with a nylon wicking lining or a silk lining, Built in belt, outer patch pockets and interior zipped pocket for license/credit card/money. 

I ordered swatch samples of appropriate fabrics for constructions and plan on taking this idea further and hopefully to fruition!

4-piece outdoor hiking mini-collection. Sketched on tracing paper to be able to layer and play with details.

Wendy and I would love to have this feature grow into a link-up with other sewing bloggers. If you are interested in joining in this creative adventure or just want to share what you have been designing  please leave a comment to this post.