Illustrating...

It's been a long time since I've attempted a fashion illustration... months even. I used to feel like I was quite good at illustrating, but my skills have gotten a little rusty. That's just one more thing to work on this summer. I got an e-mail about submitting an illustration for Vancouver Fashion E-zine, so I decided now was a good of a time as any to brush up those illustration skills. I'm pleased with the result, although with more effort, it could have been better. It's not on-par with some of the stuff I've seen on there before, but for me it's alright!

Subtraction Cutting

Julian Roberts (this guy is such a badass, his website is only open on wednesdays, and if you want to own one of his garments, you have to first learn how it was made), the brilliant man who came up with this method, is visitng my school in June, so I went into school (on summer vacation, I should add) to draft/sew with my friend and teacher.

We are the ultimate keeners.

Subtraction cutting is a method of garment construction that involves techniques such as tunneling and plugging... I don't fully understand it. I have yet to read the book... Sabrina can explain it much better than I can. Maybe I'll give it a shot in a week or so.

This something I made with the tunneling method... um, it was supposed to be a skirt. It ended up being waay too long, but I think with a couple more tries, this technique could be mastered.

This skirt kind of turned into a tube dress.

From the Left: Lesley's tunnel dress, Sabrina's tunnel dress, Lesley's Coil dress, Sabrina's blobby tunnel dress, and my plug skirt. The skirt is made by cutting out a blobby shape, starting and ending at the hem, and sewing a circle larger than the shape into it, creating protrusions, and a wider hem.

If you're interested in creative methods of garment construction, I strongly recommend checking out Julian Robert's book: School of Subtraction Cutting.