Thesis Print Development

Throughout my time at DAAP I have used prints frequently and I wanted to include them in my final collection as well. The print that I have developed is based off of the sediment patterns present in the marble caves and will be used throughout each look in the collection. I kept the colors cool and neutral with bright pops of orange and teal as is seen in the sediment patterns. I think this print will help the collection to pop on the runway and in critiques and will really add an additional layer of interest to it. I started off hand painting and dip-dying different types of fabrics to create a repeat and look that I was happy with. I soon realized that even though these swatches were turning out interesting, it would not be practical for me to hand paint the fabrics for my final with the amount of yardage I will need. The way the reflections, colors and repeats turned out however were something that I wanted to include in the final print when I created it on the computer.

I decided to create the print using Adobe Illustrator and some of the brushes that I have installed in that program. To start, I created one portion of the print that I liked based off of some of my favorite pictures of the sediment patterns in the caves. Once I had one section of the pattern done in a way that I was happy with, I copied and reflected that piece to form a complete segment of the final print. I went through probably about 5 or 6 different prints before I found one that I was happiest with. 

I sent this final off to spoonflower and got it printed on different types of fabrics to see which fabric I liked the best for my final collection. I had to color match the print with a color palette swatch from spoonflower themselves to make sure the colors I wanted would translate when it was printed onto fabric. My friend Mallory reminded me of this and said that since she has gotten a ton of fabric printed through them, she knows first hand just how much the color can change from your computer screen or even printed on paper to when it is being printed on fabric.The swatches came in a few days ago and I have decided on a final fabric for the print that I could not be more excited about! I will post about that in the coming week, once I scan the fabrics. As always, thanks for reading!

xoxo Hillary C.

Senior Thesis

 

 I have started to concept and loosely sketch for my senior thesis which is a slow process, but one I am really excited about! This is going to be my main goal this summer and I hope to have all of the final pieces for my collection sketched out and ready to be turned into muslin mock-ups and final fabric designs. We have the option to do 4-6 looks for our thesis collections and I am aiming to complete 5 designs and possibly 6 as long as each look individually is strong and unique. I will be scanning pages from my sketchbook to post on here every week so you can see how I work and how the collection is evolving and coming together.

The inspiration for my senior thesis are the Marble Caves found in Patagonia, South America on Genral Carrera Lake, which is shared by Argentina and Chile. The lake is fed by the melting ice of glaciers. The water in the lake carved out these caves and formed caverns and passageways with rich sediment streaking and coloring. Marble is also slightly soluble in water so when the lake reached its current level, the marble started to dissolve. Throughout the year, the lights and colors in the caves change from low water and natural-looking color in the spring to higher water levels in the summer and eerie blue colors. I am taking inspiration not only from the coloring, but also the play of the hard marble vs. the fluid water and the way the caves taper to a point and reflect on the surface of the water. Overall, I want my collection to have fluidity in shapes, smooth transitions, and be something that is easy to look at, similar to how the water has eroded the cave out over time to form these soft lines and fluid shapes. I love the way the cavern walls and patterns reflect into the water and I want to mirror looks across the body to mimic this element in each of my designs. The symmetry and design elements that this will create will not only provide smooth transitions and balance within the designs, but also intrigue when done with patterns or other design details. I also want to develop my own print based off sediment and mineral patterns on walls of caverns which will be used throughout the collection and provide visual interest and movement. I loved the colors of the sediments present in the pictures I have found so I want to blend the best colors found both in the spring and in the summer to make one large print. I will then use spoonflower.com to turn this print into a fabric to use in my designs.

The silhouettes I want to create will have cut outs, overlays and layering to add depth similar to how the cut outs and erosion of the cave provides “peep” holes showing elements farther back in the cave. I also want to design both tailored pieces as well as softer pieces representing the hard stone architecture of the cave and the smooth, fluid water that lies in it. Mixing fabrics will also help me to achieve this look.  I am hoping to use matte fabrics (possibly suede or chiffon), chunky knit elements, self-designed silk prints, and heavier wools throughout the collection. I want to experiment with design details such as keyholes, layering, draping, cutouts, and ways to add structure so I can include some of these into my designs. When it comes to details, I want to find something that is fresh, not overworked, seamless and fluid.

Its a ton of work, but I am so excited to begin sketching and finding fabrics that will work with this collection. Make sure to check back in the next week or so for some updates about the print that I have been working on to go with my collection as one of the key features. 

xoxo Hillary C. 

 

Knitwear Final Project!

Hey everyone! I know that I have been absolutely horrible at posting this quarter but things have been so crazy with school and work! I want to give you all a recap of this quarter and what has been keeping me so busy recently. 

As I posted about earlier, my main studio this quarter was knitwear and it was a ton of work but I feel like I learned so much more than I ever expected to from it. We not only had our final project to work on, but a swatch book full of different knit techniques and a sketchbook with mock project research and final project research and swatching. Here are some pictures from my sketchbook. The mock research and swatching that we had to do was about mushrooms and we had to repeat that research project for our final project as well. 

I took inspiration from desert sand dunes and the patterns and rippling that wind forms in them. I wanted to design a garment that was wearable and showed the contrast of light and shadow as well as the contrast of the smooth areas of sand and the rippled textured areas adjacent to them. I kept my color palette neutral and found this amazingly soft mohair marbled colored yarn to use as the darker color. I instantly fell in love with this color because it had cool blue tones in it as well as beige and sienna browns. I chose to use s fuzzy white wool/acrylic blend as the contrasting bright tone.

I did a ton of sketching and swatching to get to my final design. The look is a all in one dress/shawl combo with a low cut back on the dress and a high-low back on the shawl and is connected through princess seams in the front. I used ruching technique on the main dress that involved picking up floats to add texture that was seen in the ripples of the sand. This technique not only took up a ton of time, but a ton of yarn as well. The look fit my model perfectly and looked better than I could have hoped for.

 With the crazyness of this quarter over I am turning my full attention to my senior thesis collection. Look for a post on that coming in the next week or so! As always, thanks for reading!! 

-xoxo Hillary C.