Having decided to make Kashmala's dress - I felt it was the best demonstration of the results of my design process, and the strongest culmination of my concepts and theme - I started planning which fabrics and which colours would serve the final piece best. I landed on Stitch It's plain cotton, which is technically a quilting fabric, but which is of a decent weight to allow for the drape I illustrated in my concept sketch. I picked out a selection of thirteen colours which I felt came closest to my colour palette, and tried to match the shades as best as I could with a variety of different mediums to create a point of reference for my final illustration. By choosing my fabrics before doing the illustration, I was able to make it the most accurate depiction of what my final piece will look like.
My finalised garment illustration - I changed some of the 'brick' panel placements compared to what I put down in the concept drawing, but as I planned to draft the pattern for it and construct the actual garment, I wanted to keep it within my skill and time restraints. You may notice some of the 'bricks' are self-contained into groups that will form squares and rectangles. This is to make it easier to put the final garment together from the patches, as I've designed it to be as least confusing as possible; in such a way that I will not get patches of fabric mixed up, and - hopefully - not have to unpick any mistaken placements.
Button closure.
Mock-neck.
Arrow motif outline, machine embroidery, 'Light Pink'.
Minimal shaping - I want it to be a little loose to allow for easy movement. Hide bust and waist darts in side panel.
Tenement bay windows, pattern printed, 'Silver Mink'.
Machine embroidered letters on 'Latte', then appliqued on 'Elephant' and 'Silver Mink'.
Nancy motif machine embroidery, 'Khaki'.
Shan tag 'S' - appliqued in 'Chocolate' on 'Elephant'.
Machine embroidered letters on 'Latte', appliqued onto 'Midnight' arrow motifs, before the arrows are appliqued to 'Cadet Blue'.
Because there will be so many interior seams, I want to line it with a very light weight muslin. This will affect the drape minimally, while still keeping my technical work visible and making it a comfortable item to wear.
Column of tenement bay windows printed down the spine from the nape, 'Slate'.
Machine embroidered letters on 'Latte', then appliqued on 'Chocolate'.
Slightly flared sleeves. Should cover most of the hand.
There should be a slight flare in the skirt of the dress. Not too much volume, just enough to allow it to drape down nicely from the hips.