Jacket Pattern Design Process
It occurred to me while in the mess you see to the left, that it might be interesting to ‘sewing crazy ladies’ like myself, to follow along in the creative process. My ‘system’ is not real pretty – but the ‘trip’ is sure fun. Sew….. follow along with me. I hope doing so will encourage your own creative sewing for 2008!
The first photo at the left … well, it was MORE of a mess before I snapped this picture. YES, it is the floor – in my basement. What you see is my ‘piles’ of a sweatshirt, with coordinating trims, my favorite “Crone Art” button/embellishments (thoseon the white cards), etc. As I ‘piled’ goodies, I also envisioned what design they might best become.
UNITY – a design where you slash the sweatshirt through the middle horizontally – like an Empire line – below the bust, in the midriff. Below then can be any other fabric, sweater, jeans, even the same sweatshirting fabric, but embellished, fitted, etc. An example is the maroon jacket with floral trim around the neck on the front of my Vol II.
REFINED – a design that actually guides you in removing the sleeve, cutting a ‘cap’ to the sleeve (as much as possible), creating an ‘armscye’ by cutting and fitting the remaining ‘jacket’ in that area, and re-inserting the new sleeve. This will even further ‘refine’ the fit of the ‘sweatshirt being used as fabric and matching ribbing’. Other ‘fitting’ techniques will also be included – darts, seaming, etc. to further ‘refine’ the sweatshirt into a great jacket!
PATHWAYS – is the angled design, where a strong diagonal crosses the body. I’m ‘real excited’ about this one. I’ve done several of these over the past 2 years, and they always cause great comments – and “HOW did you DO that?” questions. Many of the ‘piles’ you see above just ‘said’ this design to me.
FRUITFUL – is another pattern. It is probably the first of many like this – in which I pack embellishment ideas.
By the way – I’m looking for about 5 more of you willing to be ‘TESTERS & REVIEWERS’. I need people who will both test my directions, give me suggestions for increased clarity, and also review my end products and post about them on sewing boards, blogs, etc. I’m looking for a good variety of sewing expertise ‘levels’. If you’re interested, please let me know with a quick email to me at londa@londas-sewing.com
I invite your comments on this creative process blog. Thanks for reading…
For Londa’s books, patterns, and supplies as described in her sewing escapades, please see Londa’s Creative Threads – http://www.londas-sewing.com