In The Sketchbook- January 2017

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.

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe New Years. I love the idea of a new year. It evokes feelings of freshness and creativeness that usually gets quite stuffed down and put to the side during the end of the year flurry of holidays, get togethers and family time.

I have 2 things to share with you this month.

The first is the process of taking a sketched garment and turning it into a reality. Often times this creative process can take quite a while. Sometimes the sketches that I do are speculations and what-ifs, playing with ideas in my head and getting them onto paper to see if they have possibility. Other Times I have fabric or in the case I am going to show you I have a fabric combo that I really want to use together.

In this case, I first showed this drawing back in September of 2016. Fall was coming and all of the fashion magazines seemed to be showcasing this fun, relaxed but chic looking athleisure wear. I loved the idea of adding a soft comfy hood to a knit dress and that is how I dreamed up this idea.
As the the holidays wrapped up I was chomping at the bit to get this made. It was an idea that I really wanted to try and I just kept thinking what a perfect cozy casual dress to slip into on a cold winter day! I have a full blog post coming up on how I actually got to this final product. It was a several step process. I really enjoyed the process and I took some satisfaction in making a sketch come to life. 

There are some subtle differences between the sketch and the final product. We could play the game of 'spot the 5 differences'! any takers?

Ok For the top 'front' photo you can see that there are 3 differences.

1. I changed the neckline to a shallow V.
2. I attached the hood right down to the V. 
3. The length is a couple inches longer. SOme of this having to do with the give of the fabric weave.

For the 'back' view I changed 2 things.

1. I added the blocking and inserted flat piping to give it some more interest.
2. I changed the hood to be made of the grey weave and lined with green instead of all green. I'm glad I did! A green head would have looked funny.

The second thing that I want to share is some of my explorations of using markers and markers/pencils in my sketches. I am loving the bold use of the markers and how fun they are to draw with. Admittedly, it will take some time to master the marker. I have some that are chisel tips, brush tips and fine tips. Figuring which ones work best for different applications is fun. I wish I had more time in the day to play!!

The 2 garments below are finalized ideas for possible entries into the Spring Haute Couture Club of Chicago fashion show. Now that I have ideas finalized I need to work on patterning and muslins to get things going.

Variation of my corners dress. Using a small print of silk with a dimensional silver texture.for the detailed parts and the larger print of a cotton /lycra for the larger areas. I covered her face in this because I didn't want to show how awful it is!
Then decided that an awful face is all about the process... so you can see it below and get a good laugh! I know I did!!

This second garment is one that has been brewing for quite a while. At least since last spring when I attended Sarah Veblen's Design 1 workshop. I originally had an entirely different idea for the use of these fabrics. They were all being used together but in a very different type of garment. Although I really like the garment I originally sketched it just seemed very forced to me. This new idea has just made me fall in love with the idea!
I am very happy that I was able to sketch out my idea and in a way that really captures the garment I see in my mind.
The majority of the dress is done in a very fine pinstripe menswear wool. The deep V will have an inset of red silk georgette and the godets are going to be the neoprene laser cut lace layered over red silk chiffon.
And as for the face! This time I did not try to add any details and I like this much better!

This is a bolero type jacket that will go over the dress. the sleeves and the flared back portion (which I drew flared out, even though it will drape into lovely folds when worn) are both to echo the godets as the neoprene laser cut lace layered over the chiffon and the front panels and upper back yoke are a red/black large dot jaquard with the neoprene lace layered over it for cohesion. This will have a simple closure and no collar with the thought that the bottom of the V of the dress will be seen below the front bolero.

Here is a close up of the main fabrics.

I am really enjoying taking my sketching to the next level and using markers. I won't do all my sketches this way. I think of this as a second step or as a way to further develop sketches that I want to more fully explore. I also find that adding in some of the body detail is nice for my eye. 

Make sure to stop by Wendy Grossman of Couture Counsellor to see what lovely sketches and ideas she is working on. I happen to know that she has been exploring ways to do digital sketching, it is very cool!  Please feel free to share your sketches and ideas, leave either of us a comment or just link back to one of our posts.

Happy Sketching!