Young Talent

One of the best things about teaching people to sew is that I get the opportunity to meet some wonderful and very talented people. Tess, who came to the studio a few months ago for tuition, is one of these special people and she is as hard working, as she is talented.
Tess contacted me as she wanted a few private lessons to assist her with the pattern drafting and construction of a garment to enter in the 'Casual Wear' catergory of the 'Apex Australian Teenage Fashion Awards' - also known as AATFA. Anyway, after meeting Tess and having a little chat, I remembered seeing her last year in Newcastle at the 2010 NSW State Finals of the AATFA, where she had won the 'Wearable Art' catergory and I had been very impressed with her winning design. She then went on to take out the national award in the same catergory.
This year for the 2011 Awards Tess was entering garments in two catergories 'Casual Wear' and 'Wearable Art'. Unlike the Wearable Art catergory, the Casual Wear section is also marked on sewing technique, therefore the sewing and construction of the garment need to be well executed. Tess tells me there is a lot of hot glue gunning done in wearable art, as the sewing and construction is not marked, only the design.

Here is the photo of Tess's design for the 2011 AATFA Casual Wear catergory.

Tess has very kindly written this dscription of her garment and the design and construction process.

Earlier this year, I approached Kerrie to assist me with my entry in the Apex Teenage Fashion Awards Casual Wear category. My aim was to create a complex velvet dress designed by the Japanese designer, Tomoko Nakamichi.

Kerrie helped me night after night for a week or so struggling to complete the complex japanese pattern.

This Kakurenbo design translated as 'hide and seek' was used as a starting point in creating this casual wear garment. The complex curves of the flare design lines are incorporated into the waistline of this baby-doll style dress. The luscious velvet neatly expresses the concealed flare, which has a circumference of over 3m. The garment has been enhanced by a crafted embossed pattern design which was carved into lino, a mould was made from heat sensitive silicone which was pressed into the velvet to form the licorice allsorts pattern.

Although this gave a nice end result it produced a number of issues, such as sewing the tight curves and the finishing technique of ironing (as it couldn't be ironed).

But in the end Kerrie helped me produce a wonderful garment which I went on to win the state  finals.

Tess then went on to become the AATFA National Young Designer of the Year with her winning combination of her amazing 'Art to Wear' garment and her 'Casual Wear'.
This is a wonderful  achievement, especially as Tess is only in Year 10 at high school.

The inspiration and pattern drafting instructions can be found in Tomoko Nakamichi's book 'Pattern Magic' Volume 1 and below are a few photos of the process.

Front Skirt Pattern Draft Instructions

Pattern drafting directions were given for one size only so if you are not that size you need to be able to grade the pattern to fit.There were a few little fit issues, which make me wonder if the pattern had only been tested on a half scale dummy. The bust dart positions had to be altered as they were too high and the neckline needed to be reshaped. The hemline also needed to be levelled as the CF skirt was dipping.

Front Skirt Pattern

Front Bodice Pattern

The toile.

The book didn't include any construction informaton so it is really left to you to interpret how the garment is to go together. We decided to construct the bodice with an overlay that was then finished with a satin bias binding trim. The skirt needed to be interlined with a stiff shapewell to give it the body to stand out, as per the photo in the book, it then needed to be fully lined. The interlining was necessary as the velvet used was heavy but I do think that most fabrics would need to be interlined to achieve the desired trapeze silhouette.
However, I really like the Pattern Magic books as they are full of creative designs that do challenge you and make for an interesting project. Locally the books can be found at Tessuti Fabrics.