Paragraph about my final project

   For my final project, I will make a neck piece and a top. I want to represent the history of lace and chiffon in my garment. For the neck piece, I was inspired by the neck piece that women wear during 17th to 18th century. I will combine wire, lace mesh and strips of lace and chiffon. And for the top, I chose a basic sweetheart patterned top because it shows femininity really well in the form. Also this pattern is beloved throughout the centuries. I chose the colors of the design to be mainly black and burgundy, those colors are also in my swatches of the pattern collection. I thought they represent the luxuriousness of the two fabrics, and those colors have been used a lot throughout the history of lace and chiffon. Therefore, through this project, my main goal is to convey the luxuriousness that lace and chiffon were clung to, and combine the feeling of past and present together by using details from different periods. 

Sketches and Reference images

These are my sketches for the final look.
I am going to make a neck-piece, which is motivated from the lace neck-piece in 17th century.
Also, I will make a basic sweetheart top with cotton, lace and chiffon.

Timeline for my final project

By

4/25 sketches done, directions done

5/2  half-way done ( fabrics cut, some of them sewn)

5/9 finish the garment

Take concept photos

5/16 presentation

Silhouette study garment

Process of making my garment

I chose a simple top pattern to make, and put an alteration of making a hole on the side. 

My topic is about sheer materials, so I thought cutting a hole would show the body and the garment together, which sheer materials do. Since I was inspired by lace mostly, I wanted to cover the hole with small fabric, but not to cover the whole thing. So I decided to make long strips and attach it to the hole. I kept it flowing, so it would make a feminine feeling, similar to sheer materials I chose for my topic. To the hole, I connected muslin pieces, which were cut into long strips.

I did the whole process by sewing machine. For the alteration, I cut a hole by scissors and sewed the strips on top. Since my piece is fairly small, I made a small hanger out of wire by myself. 

Writing about my garment

My topic is <History of sheer materials, specifically lace and chiffon> . I chose a basic top pattern, because I thought the curvy shape would be good to show the femininity, which is the vital aspect of my topic. After putting some alterations in design with drawings, I decided to alter the garment by making a hole in the side part. I will make a hole, shaped like my motif from pattern collection book, which is based on the shape and pattern of lace. Also, it is about sheer material, but since I cannot make it transparent, I decided to create a negative space by cutting a hole. By that, I am able to see both the garment and the body, which is a feature of sheer materials. I will also sew the strings of muslin pieces, attached to the hole and the garment. 

I think the most beautiful thing about sheer materials is that they show the skin and the garment together. The skin is not showed directly, which creates the feeling of a subtle gorgeousness. In my garment, I wanted to create that feeling, also showing the skin and garment together. Therefore I chose to make a hole, and cover the hole slightly with pieces of muslin strings. 

I found an article of Elie Saab fashion show spring 2014 by style.com. It was made out of beautiful clothes in lace. Every piece in the collection had lace in it, and it was transformed mostly into dresses. It had various colors, but was really well connected as a collection because of the same transparent material, lace. So I also wanted to emphasize the texture, atmosphere it creates, and the opaque attractiveness. 

Sketchbook images for Silhouette garment study

Bridge writing assignment on pattern collection book

The pattern collection book

 My book is based on the theme of my research project, “The history of sheer textiles”. In my beauty map, I narrowed down the subject into 2 fabrics, which is lace and chiffon. Before making the 16 variations of my patterns, I made a simple motif design. I wanted it to have a feminine feeling, so I kept it small and put some curves in it. This motif became the basis of my whole patterns.

As looking at lace fabrics, I realized it is also composed of repeated small patterns. Some parts were made with mesh, and others were made with combined threads, but they were all repeated in a regular order. I made the patterns in illustrator, and tried to create the similar looks that I felt from that specific fabric, lace. I chose my color palette from the feeling of femininity and luxury. I have 7 swatches in my palette, and they are chosen from different hues in purple, ivory and burgundy. When I was researching for my sheer fabrics, especially lace and chiffon, I found that many people chose purple and ivory colors for it because they thought it conveyed luxurious looks. I agreed with that and also chose them as my basic color palette. With my patterns, I repeated the small segments from my motif modification pieces, and colored them harmoniously, using the colors from my swatches.

For my research, I am consistently seeking more resources of the history of lace and chiffon. Since the research is about the history and how and why those specific fabrics became popular, I’m trying to search for the books or design pieces from ancient times, and how it changed throughout the time. The whole process of pattern making was not only an interesting thing to do, but also was very helpful for my overall research. I could understand about the characteristic of the fabric more easily, and it helped me to design and apply the patterns to elsewhere.

Works from my pattern book

 These are two of my favorite patterns. The first pattern to me has both soft and geometrical sides. I also like the color matches. It looks luxurious. Second pattern has smaller components connected together. I think the combination of two different line patterns work well and creates a new feminine look. The last piece is a garment design on a real model. I put on of my pattern on a swimsuit, and it fitted well.

Pattern collection swatch book

My collection is from the theme of <History of sheer materials>. I made 16 pattern variations according to that topic. I named my book <Sheer beauty>, so it can imply the beauty of sheer materials, especially lace that I was mostly motivated from.