Aspen Collection FINISHED!

Hey everyone! I cannot believe that I am writing this post but I am finally done with my Aspen Collection! The 10th look was completed today and I decided to go with one of my original sketches instead of switching designs as I had previously wanted to do. This look is a cape/shawl top with a high-waisted straight leg pant. I used this cozy brown knit for the top and a brown suiting material for the bottom. Both pieces also have the teal suede-like fabric as the quilted details. I am in love with the way that the teal and the brown went together! It looks so rich to me and is a color combination that I can honestly say that I have never worked with before. I photographed the pants on a table because as before, they just don't look right on the dress form and I also took pictures of the top so here they are!

These past few months have absolutely flown by and looking back I still cannot believe that I have managed to design, pattern, illustrate, flat sketch and construct 10 complete looks and 9 different accessories. I am so excited to go back to Cincinnati and photograph them all on my model! I still have an accessory or two in my mind that I might make up quick, but those will only add to the collection at this point. I know I originally wanted to use gold heat sealed studs as accents on the quilted details of each look, but now that the pieces are done I am really happy that I didn't. I think that they would have been distracting and hard to place so that they made sense with each piece. Being being a designer means coming up with a ton of ideas and knowing how and when to edit them down into something that really works and I think I really was able to accomplish that with this collection.

I will be packing like mad and traveling the next few days back to Cincinnati but within the next week or two, once I am able to fit and tailor the looks to my model, I will be photographing them and putting them up on here so make sure you check them out! As always, thanks for reading!

-xoxo Hillary C.

Final Illustrations Done and Updated Technical Flats!

As promised, I have finished the final marker illustrations of all 10 looks. These are the best way to show what the completed collection will look like when it is shot on a model so I thought it would be a good idea to show you them all together. I have edited these sketches to include any changes that I have made to the original sketched designs when I constructed them. I decided not to include any of the accessories in these illustrations because I want to mix and match them and see how they look with each look so I'm not yet sure exactly which accessories will go with each look yet. So here are the sketches!

 

I have also finished the final technical flats of each look. These flats include seams, stitch lines, normal folds that appear in the garments, zippers and quilted details. I've been slowly updating these flats from the originals that I posted in the beginning of my co-op as I have completed the looks. I still have one look in the process of being made, but I was able to get the flat done as well. I was really excited because with these flats I played a lot with making prints and patterns and turning them into swatches that I then used with live paint for the quilted details as well as using brushes in illustrator for the trims and details. My flats have definitely come a long way from a year ago and i am really happy with them overall.

 

Something that I wanted to try and learn was how to do technical flats of accessories and this was the perfect time for that. I was lucky enough to have a set of fashion brushes with trims for illustrator which came in handy when it came to the chain details. I was also able to play with making beads and fringe and shading on bracelets and I came up with a style that not only goes with my garment flats, but that is also detailed enough and interesting to look at. 

  

 Within the next day I will be finishing up the final shawl/cape look and I will try to get the photos and info uploaded as soon as its done, however I am also in the process of packing everything up to move back to Cincinnati so if I am not able to get them up by Friday, look for them that following Monday. Wish me luck! Time for me to put my head down and finish up this whole process! Thanks for reading!

-xoxo Hillary C.

Look #9!

Hey, so it has been a little longer than usual since my last post but I have been working on a little bit of everything this past few days. I am almost done revising all of my flat sketches for both the clothes and the accessories that I have made and I have one more to go on my final sketches. I also finished the 9th look as well!

I'm pretty excited about how I am so close to being done! The look I just finished is a cigarette pant and a long sleeve paneled and quilted top. I decided to use the suede-like beige material for the pant because it has a really nice weight to it and it adds a pop of texture to this look. The top is made from white jersey and quilted light brown textured stretch material. As before, the pants didn't photograph that well on my dress form so I took pictures of them flat on the table. This look is a simple silhouette but the details in it really make it pop. The pieces in this look can be mixed and matched with other pieces in the collection which was something that I really wanted overall. I think the ability to combine pieces from different looks to create a whole new look makes that collection that much more wearable and marketable as a whole. Here are some pictures!

With this look done I am in the home stretch with 1 look left to complete and a handful of things to finish up! This next week should be a good one so make sure you come back and check it out! As always, thanks for reading!

-xoxo Hillary C.

Eight Looks Done, Two to Go!

Hi everyone! I have managed to keep on track and focused on my collection (which has been hard since I only have a few weeks left until classes start up again) and I have managed to get another look done. That brings the grand total to 8 finished looks with only 2 left to make! Needless to say I am pretty excited about that! The look I just finished is a cowl-neck top with a wide leg pant. As always, I took some quick pictures of the finished pieces. I tried to get a good picture of the full look, but since my dress form has no legs, the pants look weird so I also took a picture of the pants flat on the table. Here they are!

I used an off-white jersey knit for the top with the suede like material that I quilted for shoulder accents and the waistband of the pants. I love how this top turned out and I cannot wait to see how it looks on my model when I get back to Cincinnati! As far as accessories go with this look, I think that I will keep it simple and use some of the bracelets layered up with it. I think it will be just enough and let me bring a pop of the teal color into the look as well.

Up next, I am going to work on the next pant look and after that the final look! I have changed the last look from another capelet to a comfy top with quilted panel leggings. I can't wait to start working on that, but I am going to save it for last so I end on something that will keep my interest. I have also decided that if I have time left once I get all of the looks done that I am going to make a braided belt to go with the collection. There's still a lot more to do so make sure you check back later this week to see it all happen! Thanks for reading!

-xoxo Hillary C.

Another Look Done, 3 Left to Make

So I am really excited to say that I have finished yet another look which makes a grand total of 7 completed looks. This one was one that I had originally sketched and stayed pretty true to it. I used the white wool as the majority of the look and then the teal suede as the quilted area. The dress is princess seamed and knee length and I decided to add a full metal zipper the entire way down the back for some extra pop. Check it out! 

 I also wanted to see what this dress would look like with one of the accessories that I made so I added the two-tone fringe necklace to the look and took a picture of it to show all of you. I really liked the way the necklace overlapped the quilted pieces of the dress and the way that all the colors worked together. I definitely think that when I take the final pictures of this look I will use this necklace with it.

 

I am in the process of sketching everything out and I have a few done but I've decided to not show you them until I have finished all of them. That way you will be able to see the collection completely illustrated as a whole. I will be getting that to you all in the near future and will also be starting the next look, a pant look with a cowl neck top, tomorrow if all goes well! As always, thanks for reading!

-xoxo Hillary C.