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.