Designing a Project

I get my inspiration from many different sources to start a new project: books, photos, fashion and antique magazines, antique garments. Sometimes just a technique will trigger an idea for a project. Once that idea starts to foment in my brain I turn it over and over working out some of the details. I will even go to sleep thinking about the details, color selections and embroidery ideas. It sure beats counting sheep! But since I'm a very visual person (like most stitchers) I have to draw and write it all out. That's when I really get down to the nitty gritty details. There's something about drawing out the design idea on paper that helps me work out construction details and proportions. I always use a 0.5mm mechanical pencil...the cheap ones from the big box office supply stores. With a good eraser...always need that when I change my mind about something!

I have a notebook that I draw the ideas in....several notebooks over the years. These are a record of the ideas, the year when I drew them, maybe a listing of the supplies and yardage used, and even the design elements that I go on to use in the actual project. Unfortunately one of my most precious notebooks was left on a plane last year....oops. I miss that one, but that loss forced me to start anew and fresh.
Here is a really good example of working out a design for my grand daughter's Easter dress that I wrote about earlier. I was using a Children's Corner pattern so my drawing shows a couple versions of design details that I wanted to "try out" on paper.

The dress on the left is closest to what I actually made minus the idea of piping at the high waist seam (the scratched out line). The fabric was a beautiful floral, hence the scribbles. The collar embroidery was close to what I actually did. The right drawing shows an idea of using a pleated ribbon trim on the white pique collar. Glad I didn't do that one because it would have detracted from the wearer! But you can see how visually I worked out the details close enough to start construction instead of winging it as I sewed. Below is the collar embroidery design I decided upon which I actually used for the template.

I traced the collar piece front onto the notebook paper and figured out the placement allowing for the collar roll at the neckline.


Here's another more recent example:  my Infinity Christening gown. You can tell from the drawing I was trying to decide the order of the pin tucks, lace insertion and the serpentine design on the hem. I ended up with a different order but I had sketched enough to really get a good idea of the proportions. Look at the bodice on the actual dress below...it doesn't look anything like what I drew out, but that's the beauty of sketching it first. I could "see" it and decide I needed to change the design. 

Compare the drawing to the actual gown. Even the sleeves are different. I penciled in the serpentine design around the sleeve but decided one Infinity symbol was best on the sleeves to "match" the ones I decided to put onto the bodice. Drawing the ideas out helps the actual construction process by speeding it up (no spur of the moment decisions) and simplifies the entire process.

Try this technique on your next design project and see if it helps you. The drawing doesn't have to be fancy or perfect. I think you will find this organizes your thoughts and supplies before cutting into those precious, expensive materials!

An Easter Dress Two

Easter sewing is so much fun....beautiful spring pastels after a long, cold, snowy winter, light fabrics (not heavy wintery ones) and faster stitching techniques because of lighter weight cottons, linens and silks.  I adore working on natural fibers.  So many of the light weight cottons (like the Jacquard on this dress or lawn, batiste, pique) are easy to sew, press up well and are so comfortable to wear.  And they're very washable, a must for active young children.

This Easter dress is no exception.  It's washable and only needs pressing when it comes out of the dryer. A little spray starch wouldn't hurt, either, to make it look just like it came out of the sewing room. The smocked collar will press up very nicely to give it that full, lighter-than-air feeling because the fabric is a Swiss batiste called Bearissima II from Bear Threads Ltd.  As I mentioned in the last post "An Easter Dress" I would supply the smocking design. And here it is with the instructions below.  Enjoy!

 This design can be adjusted to fit any size of Bishop, Basic Yoke or smocked collar by adding or subtracting the number of 5-step trellis rows. For this design on a girl's size 8 dress pleat 9 rows, with Rows 1 and 9 as holding rows.  Row 2 of pleating is Row 1 of smocking design. All smocking is done with three strands of stranded cotton embroidery floss. Only two colors are used in the design in addition to one to match the collar fabric.

1. Find center 2 pleats and mark.  Backsmock (cable) Row 1 with 2 strands of embroidery floss to match the collar fabric.
2. Row 1: Start with an up cable on center and cable across row in color #1. Turn fabric upside down and cable across to complete the other side. Change to color #2 and stack cables across right next to the previous cable row with an up cable next to the down cable of the previous cable row. Change back to color #1 for Rows 2-7.
3. Row 1-2: Starting at design center, complete a down cable at Row 2 and a baby wave up to the down cable of color #2. Complete three cables (up, down, up), then baby wave down to Row 2 and complete a down cable, continuing in this manner across the row. Turn fabric upside down and complete the same series of stitches from center to the other side of the fabric.
4. Row 2-3: Starting at design center using color #1, complete a down cable at Row 3 and a 5-step trellis up to Row 2. Complete one up cable and a 5-step trellis back down to Row 3 and one down cable. Continue the cable, 5-step trellis and cable sequence across the row.  Turn fabric upside down and complete the same pattern from design center to the other side of the fabric.
5. Rows 3-4: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable across between Rows 3 and 4.
6. Rows 4-5: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable across between Rows 4 and 5.
7. Rows 5-6: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable across between Rows 5 and 6.
8. Rows 6-7: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable across between Rows 6 and 7.
9. Row 7:  Change to color #2 and complete cable, 5-step trellis, cable right next to the completed one in color #1. Change back to color #1 and complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable right next to the previous one in color #2.

The added benefit of this design is the ease with which it's completed: it's fast and required only the three stitches. This versatile design can be "dressed up or dressed down" by using flowerets in some of the diamonds formed by the 5-step trellis. Cast-on flowers could also be sued, along with small buttons. Turn this into a basic yoke design and fill it out with the decorative stitches and ideas mentioned. It's really an open diamond design just waiting for your beautiful ideas!