Designing, Making Paper Patterns and Construction of Casual One-Piece Dresses Using Dart Manipulation

Creativity should be given the greatest possible freedom, but this freedom needs to be harnessed to an accessible form otherwise creation can become just an esoteric exercise. The study involved the creation of new design using different techniques of manipulating basic darts into tucks, pleats, style lines, yokes, gathers etc. These features were then artistically combined to develop new styles in one piece dresses. Printed cotton and plain lizzy bizzy fabric was selected. Colour of the plain fabric was selected by referring to the online colour forecast for spring/summer, 2009. Designs were developed using computer software Corel Draw and Adobe Photoshop and were shown to a panel of judges. Full scale paper patterns of 8 most preferred designs were developed using the basic sloper (for size-8 mannequin) and dresses were stitched using the prepared patterns. Printed cotton and plain lizzy bizzy fabric were selected. Colour of the plain fabric was selected by referring to the online forecast for spring/summer 2009. Designs were developed using computer software Corel Draw and Adobe Photoshop and were shown to a panel of judges. Full scale paper patters of eight most preferred designs were developed using the basic sloper for size -8 mannequin and dresses were stitched using the prepared patterns. The constructed one piece dresses were then evaluated by the judges on the basis of appearance and workmanship. Market acceptability was checked by showing the constructed dresses to five shopkeepers and five boutique owners of Chandigarh. The response was overwhelming with clearly noticeable remarks. The study will serve as guidelines for new designers to develop innovative designs and has introduced something new for the manufacturers and consumers.