Fashion Illustration/Master Sewing and Design Certification

This past weekend, I attended the Association of Sewing and Design Professional's yearly conference. One of the classes that was offered was Fashion Illustrating and it was just the confidence builder that I needed. The class was taught by Judith Baer, a wonderful instructor. Even those who had never drawn were amazed with their progress. She is an instructor who truly wants her students to succeed, and she gives you the tools to do so.

Judith provided us with various croquis, and a wealth of information. One of the books that she recommended was Creative Fashion Drawing. While in the class, I found it on Amazon and purchased it. Really a great book. Can't wait for it to arrive.

Another wonderful book that Judith recommended was Fashion Details. I have not purchased the book, but I may do so soon. A lot of inspiration in the book, whether you want to draw or not.

Just a few of the tasks that must be completed for the Master Sewing and Design Certification Program Illustration Module are;

1. Five types of necklines, including two collars, and one jacket with lapels.

2. Three types of skirts, including a straight skirt with darts, an a-line skirt with panels, and a full gathered skirt.

3. Three types of patterned fabrics.

4. Three examples of textured fabrics.

Before the class, I felt completely overwhelmed. As I sat through the class, I found myself so immersed in what I was doing, and just having a blast. Once the class was over, I could not wait to get home and start drawing. I finally feel like I have gotten over the hump and can progress with the program. Below are a few of the pieces I am working on for the module. The jeans will get paired with a shirt of some sort and the blouse will probably be submitted on its own. 

I've just started working on the coat pictured below, but I think it's obvious what the coat is, an over-sized down parka with a fur hood, paired with stirrup pants. This is rough at the moment, I was just trying to get my bearings and see where I want to go. I'll show more as I continue to progress.

  

If you have ever thought about joining The Association of Sewing and Design Professionals, I encourage you to do so. The conference offers so many classes to help you refine or even develop new skills. It was the first conference that I've attended and it won't be my last. Next year, the conference will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, one of my favorite cities!

One of the best tips that Judith gave us in the class was to just hang up a garment and really look at the lines. Take it apart piece by piece rather than looking at the whole picture. A good lesson for life in general.

Master Sewing and Design Certification Program/Sketching

Back in January, I did this post on sketching. For those of you who are naturally talented and sketch beautifully, congratulations, and I do mean that with all my heart as it is truly a gift to be able to envision something in your head and easily put it on paper. For the rest of us, which includes me, we need help!!! And to be honest, most of us would like to be able to sketch with at least a little more ease.

If by chance you are working on or thinking about taking your skills to a higher level and possibly taking the plunge to work through the Master Sewing and Design Professional Certification Program, you will need to be able to do some sketching. I know that this alone may immediately put the brakes on that idea for some of you, but I have found help!! So whether you want to gain certification of your skills, or just learn to sketch with a little more ease, read on.

You may have heard about the University of Fashion. It's an online resource of classes for the fashion student, teachers, and home sewers alike. A 1 year membership fee is $145.00 and this allows you to watch all the videos that you choose for an entire year. There are 1 month memberships as well as a free membership that will give you limited access. If you sign up for the free membership, you can access a video class on drawing the female side back pose pictured below.

You can find a link to the introductory video HERE.

Just to give you an idea of some of the other classes that they offer;

There's a class on drawing velvet which you can find HERE.

HERE you will find pleats.

Stripes can be such a challenge. Unlock the mystery of stripes HERE.

There are even classes on drawing patterns like the floral pattern above and the zebra pattern below.

In the post I did back in January, I gave you a link to the free fashion croqui that Iconic Patterns offers on her website. It's really quite nice and you can find it HERE. The Iconic Patterns croqui is a fashion croqui with fashion proportions. University of Fashion also has free croquis available on their website and they have a much wider assortment to choose from including plus size, men and children. You can find them HERE

You may have noticed a new addition to the blog along the header. There is now a special page that tells you about the Master Sewing and Design Certification Program and in that page you will find a link to my posts. I have drug my feet on the process. It is a little intimidating, actually a lot. I now have 6 months to put my proverbial petal to the metal and get this done, so in the coming weeks, you'll see much more about my progress and hopefully I will be able to help a little with the intimidating factor. 

In the meantime, check out the University of Fashion's  website. Like I said, whether you are working toward something more, or would just like to gain a little more knowledge, I think it's a great resource.

Sketching

Whether you are a fashion design student or just someone who enjoys twisting your patterns around to create a special look, sketching is a great tool to have. Trust me, I well understand the panic that many feel when they think about having to sketch a figure. When I started fashion design school, we of course had a fashion sketching class. Panic of all panics!!! Our professor started the class by asking us to draw a figure just so she could see where we were. She also said that regardless of our ability, she would be able to have us sketching by the end of the semester. What did I do? Well, I drew a stick figure and wrote on the bottom of my page, "Good Luck!" When this book was published,

she pulled out my stick figure and proudly said, "I told you so!!" The sketch is quite dated now. It was done in 1986. I won an award for the hat that you see in the drawing and the author of the book was just about ready to publish and asked if I would do the cover. I did not do the interior sketches. As old as the book is, it's still a great resource for anyone who would like to design hats. You can find it HERE on Amazon.
As you know, I have been working on the Master Sewing and Design Certificate Program. One of the modules is sketching. If you want to be able to design clothing for others, it is imperative that you are able to express your ideas.
I found this tutorial at CollegeFashion.net that is very helpful in learning how to draw a fashion figure.

 I found this on Pinterest without a link to the original author. The figures make a wonderful croqui.

Iconic Patterns has a downloadable croqui sheet that is fabulous. It's free, which is really nice. You could download a number of the sheets and create your own sketch book. With the Master Sewing and Design Sketching Module, you do not have to create an original fashion figure, you just need to be able to convey your design ideas, so this croqui page is a wonderful tool.

If the long fashion figure isn't exactly what you want, I found this great tutorial by Melissa Esplin. She does a great job of walking you through the sketching process and teaches you how to create a more realistic looking figure. You might want to check out her blog as she has a lot of fun sewing related posts too. You can find her HERE.

Like with anything, being able to draw well just takes practice. So when you have a little time, try working through either Melissa's tutorial or CollegeFashion.net tutorial. I think you'll find that by just doing, you'll become more proficient than you ever thought. Besides, sketching is fun and that's coming from someone who drew a stick figure and thought that was all she could do :)