A Nasty Hickup In My Path Of Becoming A Fashion Designer

Okay, first word to anybody trying to become a fashion designer without going to school to do so. My dears, my poor poor dears please listen to me very carefully, this is not Chanel's era, we all need to do things differently now, you must learn everything you need to know as a fashion designer before you attempt to wing it on partial knowledge, okay? This is what just happened to me, I contacted a clothing company and they were interested in my designs and wanted to acquire the specs for my garment designs, I don't yet have pattern making skill though and had actually forgotten about the technical aspects of fashion illustrations (the flat 'technical' line drawings used by the pattern makers) and so, there is no practical way to for the company to do business with me in the way that this business is run now. And that's okay, because although I've been dis-illusioned and dis-appointed I was aiming to learn all I had to know as a fashion designer any way. So I haven't of course been knocked off my path. I haven't and you shouldn't be either. Just keep going and focus on the next step in front of you and not how long the journey is.

Anyway though, I've joined the fashion industry network and I've been making a few friends along the way. There are also some products that I know are going to help me out in my path and here's a list of which wonderful things they are: The Lutterloh Pattern Making System, Islander Sewing's Industrial sewing training DVDs and 'Il Figurino Di Moda' Fashion Design Techniques Book and the Portfolio Presentation for Fashion Design book (I've just ordered this last one) So I'm digging in my heals like usual and continuing to find my way.

I wish you all a wonderful day,

Ayisha (Emma)

Where's My Project Runway Archive

Shoot, you know a few months back I went onto the Project Runway Canada site and discovered that, COOL, they had the entire archive of project runway Canada episodes, that was wonderful because I managed to miss all of them. Well, a few weeks ago I went back on the site and discovered that they got rid of the archive. What was that done for? Ouch, please if anyone knows where I could watch the old episodes without having to suffer through commercials and what not, let me know. There is nothing more enjoyable than watching educational programming on one of your favorite subjects, fashion design.

As a reality show, it brings home the sometimes uncomfortable, downright frightening competitive reality of the fashion industry and I think that was really indispensable to any aspiring fashion designer to watch as it brings you face to face with the challenges of the business of fashion before you actually take the plunge. It was fun to watch too. I wish so much that they'd bring it back. I think I'm going to go back to the site now to see if anything has changed, or maybe I missed something, here's the link in case you're interested http://runway.globaltv.com/default.aspx or am I just so absent minded that there were only 12 episodes to the show and only one season? It doesn't feel good to be so out of touch with fashion television.

Working With A Dress Form And Plotting A Course

Well, I had another rewarding educational experience,  my dress form wasn't marked with the usual princess seams and neckline,  waist,  bust and hip lines so I had to draw those in.   Took me all evening to get it right,  but I just had to get it done (the same evening I brought the dress form home)so it would be ready to use.    First I drew in the 'rough' lines with a pencil,  using Connie Amaden Crawford's dress form illustrations in her 'pattern making made easy' book as a reference to how they're supposed to look.   Then,  when I was satisfied with my line work,  I darkened the lines with a blue sharpy and here are the results:

So that wasn't too bad,  than the next morning,  I just had to drape the basic front and back bodice blocks,  I loved it and unfortunately got so carried away I forgot to take pictures of it with my cell phone :(,   I did take a shot of the fabric blocks afterward though and here they are:

 I haven't trued them up or anything,  they clearly need it.   I've already traced them on paper and I'm going to true them up this morning.   I then want to make a seam allowance copy,  sew it up and test it on the dressform.   If it fits like it's supposed to then,  Voila!  I've got my perfect set of basic blocks then I'll be able to get to work on the rest of the master blocks that are built from these two.   I'll just draft all of them on paper first then transfer them to poster board to make my durable working copies.

As for my sewing and fashion illustration skill development,  I've come up with a practical plan.   Just like how I tried to practice my pattern making whenever there's been a dry spell in my article work (and on weekends),   whenever there's no pattern making to do,  I'll practice my sewing or illustration skills.  Just build on one thing at a time like Will Smith's "brick wall" principal.  For all of you who aren't familar with this reference,  check out "Will's Wisdom" on Youtube,  he's a very inspirational/motivational speaker.  (Thanks again for that one Philippe).

I'll keep you guys posted.

If you'd like to read more about fashion, information on the industry and online schools check out my site at:
Budget Online Fashion Design Schools and Resources

If you're a designer or home sewer and you'd like to find some cool eco-friendly fabrics and more check out my resource page at:
The Eco-Friendly Fashion Designer's Resource Page

Planning A Patternmaking Portfolio

It's Sunday so it might be the wrong day to fear / antisipate business going slow (I know I'm being impatient) but there's a great way to plan ahead on what to do with any spare free time I may have.   Update my fashion squidoo pages (when they fix up the bugs on my lens),  review my fashion industry books,  but perhaps,  more importantly I should work on putting together some content for my own online patternmaking portfolio.  

I don't have any eco - friendly fabric,  but I do have a stock of fabric from years ago and some other materials I purchased from thrift stores.   So I should try to decide on what kind of designs to create that would demonstrate some serious patternmaking abilities.   Then I'll have to figure out how to take some decent photos (with my cell phone?  hahaha,  I'll probably  have a great new camera by then hopefully) to put on my portfolio pages.

The thing is here is that my sewing skills aren't that great, or atleast not as refined as I'd like them to be,  so I'll have to get past that to provide some visual 'credentials' for my patternmaking skills.   That shouldn't be too much trouble though,  usually when I sew I'm in a rush,  things rarely turn out perfect like that.   I'll just take my time so I can get it right.

I want to make some complex garments and some simple garments.  I think one garment should be a sort of empire waist baby doll slip with a keyhole detail at the centre front and slightly flared hemline.   The next design should be a princess seam dress with puff cap sleeves and cut out detailing in the sleeve and side panel areas.   I'm thinking this would need some kind of backing material or interfacing to stabilize and support the cut out areas neatly though.  I should also do a pair of pants with frontier pockets and an asymetrical jacket.  For the simpler designs I think I'll do a totally girly scalloped hem tulip skirt with fullness at the waisline and hips tapered to slim fit skirt width at the below the knee hemline.  I'd also like to do an interesting color block fitted vest.  

Yeah,  I'll work on these whenever I don't have clients or much work and post these projects on the sewing mamas forum too.   I'll plan ahead to take my time and make sure they turn out perfectly too.   Right now then,  I have to re-do my little figure templates and do my fashion illustrations for these designs first.   When I can,  I'll post the figure templates on my Squidoo lens too.

Free Fashion Figure Templates Are Here !

Here are the templates I've just scanned and cleaned up again.   I have them all ready to pick from for my fashion illustrations I want to put together for my patternmaking portfolio I'm going to build.

Yeah,  that cute little "free to sell" fashion figure template book I posted about before was destroyed when someone (not me) spilled lemonade on the computer,  sadly.   I totally lost the beautiful cover I made for the book and no longer have the background contents I originally used for the cover.   So I'll just post each of the templates online here so you all can enjoy using them too.   There's around 30 figures.   I want to post them on my Squidoo lens as well when the staff help me out with that updating problem I'm having with my fashion lens.

I have to see if I can post them here in a way that you can print a full-size,  page height template from the images,  let's see... Yeah,  looking good,  all you need to do is click on the template you want to see and print,  then you'll get to the full size image.  Enjoy.

If you'd like to check out my fashion or eco friendly fashion resources lenses here are their links, feel free to drop me a note if you like what you see/read, I'll be happy to hear from you:

Budget Online Fashion Design Schools and Resources

The Eco-Friendly Fashion Designer's Resource Page 

Design Illustrations For My Patternmaking Portfolio

Here are my two illustrations for the designs I've done for my portfolio, all colored in with AdobePhotoshop,  I'm starting to really love that program.   And for all who may be interested,  I know my work is a far cry from professional,  but to get that water color wash look,  I used the "wet edges" brush option for the shape dynamicked "paint brush" I used.  Makes me wish I wouldn't have missed Ludmila Adam's free webinar tutorials for AdobePhotoshop,  you can find out about that on her Fashion Chalkboard facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/illustrator.for.fashion?sk=wall  As for my two designs,  one's lingerie and the other one is summertime outer wear.   I'm both excited and intimidated by this project "...oh so cool,  so pretty and then...oh my God,  moment of truth,   will I be able to deliver excellently?"   Hehehe,  yeah,  I'll do good.   Just wish the sewing machine I've got to work with was a little better.  I'll get around it,  I usually do.

The reason I've chosen these kinds of designs for my porfolio pieces is for several things, 

1.  they can be kind of complicated to execute
2.  they are interesting
3.  they can't be so simply made from ordinary kinds of patterns, they show that I have the skills to edit,  slash and spread and even think out of the box to design/draft a pattern

And these are all things you want prospective clients to know you can do.   After these,  I'll add some normal pieces to demonstrate that I can produce balanced and even patterns.  Think I'll do a suite and a princess style slip,  with some detailing to add interest.


If you'd like to check out my fashion or eco friendly fashion resources lenses here are their links, feel free to drop me a note if you like what you see/read, I'll be happy to hear from you:

Budget Online Fashion Design Schools and Resources

The Eco-Friendly Fashion Designer's Resource Page

Free Fashion Figure Template Downloads/Printing How To

Well okay,  about a week ago,  I posted my free fashion figure templates for everyone to download or print,  which ever you like and my instructions for how to get the files into your hands were... a little off.   Google's way of allowing people to view them has changed so this is why I made the mistake in the first place.   So here's the right way to do it and the link to the post so you don't have to look for it if you want to go back and get some fashion figure templates to start working on your own fashion designs after you read this post:

http://myroadtobecomingafashiondesigne.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-fashion-figure-templates-are-here.html

1.  when you see a template you like in the 'free fashion figure templates' blog post left click on the picture

2.  when the 'gallery view' comes up and there's a row of thumbnails at the bottom of the screen with the larger image you chose at the top right click on the big image and click the option that says "open in new tab"

3.  when you're in the new tab you'll see the template on a white background,  run your mouse over it (it'll probably appear as a zoom lens

4.  click to zoom to actual size and print the image out, depending on what size you want the figure to be you may want to save the image and change the size (and eliminate the problem of having the url printed with it at the bottom of the page) or you might just want to take the shortcut and pick the "fit to media" option in your printing dialogue box.

Okay so there you go,  sorry if you had any problems getting these images printed out the first time around.   I might take a while to get my actual patterns made for my portfolio designs,  although they are definitely going to happen (I've already got several design illustrations thought up and ready to scan in and edit),  because I'm also teaching myself how to create digital patterns using CorelDraw9 and Adobe CS2.   It's a must that I learn this because I realize it's the best thing for both my potential clients and myself to do so and it's in demand.   I'll keep you all posted as things progress though.

If you'd like to check out my fashion or eco friendly fashion resources lenses here are their links, feel free to drop me a note if you like what you see/read, I'll be happy to hear from you:

Budget Online Fashion Design Schools and Resources

The Eco-Friendly Fashion Designer's Resource Page 

I'm Back From The Dead Ya'll

Oh, the problems that hit you when you're trying to make it in life. My computer broke down, did I tell you that? (I have to use my brother's now, a total bummer) Then I've been unable to log into my blogs here, not been getting too much money made and been up to my ears in anemia and too much house work and errands and not enough sleep. Well, I'm taking a breather right now, sort of.

Here's a little change in plans, thanks to a friend of mine, I'm going to be working on writing and working on a cool fashion related web site, unlike anything else on the web right now. You guys (all my fellow fashion enthusiasts out there) are going to love it. I'm not giving away any secrets yet though, you'll have to wait at least a month or so I'm thinking but, I'm working on it. Anyway, I've got to go for now.

Have a good one

Finally Working On My Collection Again

Whoa, I'm finally working on my collection here again. Got 3 color ways I'm playing around with, I just love them. Can't wait to get started on the samples, but I've got to focus on finishing the presentation for this collection first and putting food on the table. My boss hasn't gotten around to giving me more written assignments, let's just say I'm scared. More bills too, well my philosophy is this, when you have to wait, don't wait, do something else that needs to get done, no matter how scared you are, be productive while you're waiting, work on something you've been working on and be careful not to start anything new. This painful delay gives me a chance to work on my collection so I should be grateful, just grateful with an ulcer starting but never the less grateful.

Also I've got to concentrate on what I need to do to get the collection illustration ready into a complete presentation/portfolio, 1. color everything in the different color ways 2. do some from behind 3. create the front and back 'flat' views (this is to show the basic pattern shapes, shows you know what you're doing, helps out the pattern makers) 4. arrange everything on your final 'support' whether it be digital or not 5. decorate the support to complete the 'look' or 'mood' After that you're done and ready to show the world your work or get busy putting together your samples or rather both at the same time.