pinks the go...

Over the last week I've started using the same fabric for all of my experiments. This has been a good way to really get to know the fabric and keep repeating tests and compare results. In terms of design it's definitley helped because I can focus on on the one fabric.
It all started with the experiments I completed from the last blog. I took the pink knit that had been stretched and traced around it to get a pattern. Then I used the pink knit with the new pattern. The result was a little weird. But good weird. On it's own it looks like a size 29 used g-string but when you put it with the previous stretching patterns, you can see the progression.




I wanted to get away from the smaller sized fabrics and work with a garment. I went back to the block and drew in design lines that would have lots of 'weak' lines like a neckline. This picture shows the patterns of the dress.

Constructing the garment I saw a few changes I could make in the next prototype. For eg. some of the design lines curved upwards, when put on the body they folded back down and left a big gap which you can see in the images below.
I want to create another prototype with a dew changes to the design lines then I want to take the stretched patterns and then create another dress to see the changes in the design of the garment.




I went back to my original idea which was trying to 'predict' the stretch of the fabric. I looked at the experiment at the top of the page and analysed the patterns from the original and the stretched pattern. I measured the outline of each pattern and then worked out how much each side stretched (in percentage). This was a really specific way to try and predict a way that the fabric will stretch. I then used these percentages to try and figure out a way to create a sample that starts off small but when stretched will expand to the original block.

It did work but there are a few things I need to fix. I did three prototypes cut with the weft, warp and on the bias. It was interesting to see how much difference the cut actually makes.Warp cut

Weft cut
Bias Cut-You can see how the fabric is twisting around the body.