BLACK JERSEY

As I'm now on my 5 month long summer holiday I couldn't just sit around doing nothing! So I've decided I'm going to work on my core skills.. pattern drafting, sewing and illustration. I want to sew as much as I can, for fun and for me, the dream is to make a whole new wardrobe of clothes for myself!

So last night this design came into my mind.. a floor length black Jersey dress with extra long sleeves. It's simple, classy and a little bit grungy. I don't work with stretch fabrics, not since A Level Textiles, it's a hard fabric to cut and sew (for me personally). So I want to tackle that and I think this is the dress I want to attempt to master working with Jersey. 

I really like this illustration, I just love the black with soft pastel pinks. If you've been following me or checking my Tumblr out (link in the buttons to the right side) you will see my style has gone totally grunge these past few months! So I think this illustration fits in quite well with my new style!

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FASHION VISUALIZATION

Things have been quiet here for the past couple of weeks, apologies but I have been working non stop. Monday I had a huge deadline for my Fashion Visualization module, I had only a few weeks left to complete a research journal into the fashion of the 18th Century with designs, a layout pad with developed designs, a file full of visualization tasks we had to complete such as figure drawing, collage techniques and digital work, a final A3 fashion illustration featuring a shirt we designed from our research and a power point presentation of our work.

Phew! So as you can guess I was pretty busy! But it's all been worth it, I'm very happy with the work I did and I can see that my drawing skills have improved.. especially when it comes to figure drawing. We had to draw a model from life every Wednesday then develop refined figure templates from those, I'm really happy with how mine turned out and it's cool that they're totally mine and unique to me.

I did a lot of digital visualization too, something which I have had much experience with in past projects so I was confident with that work and did well with it. I learnt a new collage technique, using masking tape to create a silhouette, it was really effective as the texture of the masking tape mimics the texture of the fabric that would be used for a dress like this.

And this is my final fashion illustration that I made, it was inspired by the dresses of late 18th Century France, think Marie Antoinette but with a more contemporary look. I firstly hand drew the drawing, then scanned it into Photoshop and used a digital collage technique to 'color it in'. I hope you guys like it, I've already got my new project brief entitled 'Innovations' which I will be posting about very soon!

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CLOUDS

As part of my Fashion Visualization brief I've been learning all aspects of how to visualize design ideas.. from figure drawing, rendering fabrics, fashion illustrations in many different media and technical spec drawings. 

This is the first technical spec drawing I've done, it's a classic men's shirt from my own wardrobe. It's hand drawn then cleaned up in Photoshop, I then used a scan of a cute cloud print fabric to 'color' it in using the digital collage technique I'm quite fond of for my illustrations.

I'm really please at how it turned out as it was the first one I've ever done, if you are interested in doing some technical spec drawings here are a few tips that I used:

1. Use a ruler and french curves, it's really important that you have smooth lines.
2. Always look down at the garment from a 'birds eye' perspective.
3. Keep everything in scale with each other e.g. the arms in scale with the body. 

Hope those help, if you have any questions or a comment you can leave one below or tweet me!

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CRUELLA DE VIL FASHION ILLUSTRATION

Cruella De Vil is one of my ultimate fashion icons, I remember drawing her so many times when I was a child.. designing outfits for her to wear after watching 101 Dalmatians. This is my tribute to her, I've updated her look to a more modern 2011 style.. the sleek hair, chic pencil dress, lack of a cigarette (2011 Cruella would realize it's bad for her skin) but of course kept the outrageously extravagant fur coat.

I hope you guys like this illustration, I'm very proud of it.

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DRAW ME A PICTURE

Modified Giles Deacon Dress & Gucci Boots

VB Tunic Dress & VB Elastic Panel Leggings

Just a couple of illustrations I drew over the weekend, I've been working on my technique and even drew the base figure myself! I also worked on drawing more realistic fabric e.g. folds which I included in my second illustration. I hope you guys like them!

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HOUSE OF SLATER LOVES BARBIE

'Socialite Princess Barbie'

'Summer Party Barbie'

These are just two dresses that are part of a 6 piece collection I designed today with Barbie as my inspiration, I wanted to create fun, youthful outfits that encapsulate the spirit of Barbie but in a wearable and modern way. I am actually going to make the second dress, from turquoise cotton and a cotton tartan check waist belt.

P.S. Thanks to Hayden Williams for the basic figure, hope you don't mind!

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No Title

Pleated bust dress, with a-symmetrical shoulder 'two tone' design and tiered ruffled full length gown. 

Merry Christmas. 

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