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Writer's pictureIsobel Millington

Print, pattern colour- Mini Project- Printed Capelet using hand made printing blocks.

Updated: Oct 17, 2020

 

To begin starting to explore the theme 'print, pattern, colour' I have created personal print blocks made from found materials and textured surfaces. To make these printing blocks you simply use wooden blocks and find unique, creative materials and textured surfaces, which you would then glue onto the blocks to create a series of ingenious, exclusive print blocks. This will then create marvolous, personal patterns onto the finished textile capelet, presenting a particulary individual, unique item of fashion. when making these print blocks I selected a variety of textures such as; laced materiels, string, wool and buttons.




 

When creating these printng blocks I decided to make floral print patterns as I felt that it would create a beautiful style on my finished caplete. To make these floral print patterns I cut out flowers and leaves from the laced materiel, then created floral patterns with the string and wool. I also created an animal print affect by cutting out strips of a textured material and glueing them down onto the block in a zebra print style.


In my opinion my favorite style of print block was the floral print made from string and wool, as I feel it will create an elegant print on my caplete, being a futuristic, modern item in fashion. For ideas of making print blocks in the future I want to experiment with making button made print blocks, as this could also create a unique styled print.

 

Sampling Printing Blocks


When the printing blocks had dried, I then moved onto sampling the print blocks by painting them with different colours of acrylic paint, to then print onto plain cotton fabric. Experimenting and sampling out my printing blocks allows me to evaluate the out comes for potential use on the final finished garment (the capelet).

To create a variety of different outcome prints, I used a range of acrylic paint colours which I then tested and experimented on all my print blocks. Every single print block created and performed a different outcome, resulting in mutiple samples.

I then evaluated each sampled print, analyzing which prints successfuly worked the best, and what colours looked more apealing. I also analyized the colours and which prints they best suited.

 

Overall, I liked the string and wool prints due to these prints creating sharpened, neat, clean patterns on the plain cotton fabric. I also liked the floral laced prints because they created elegant detailed patterns which woud look unique on my final finshed capelet. The animal effect blocks also performed an exclusive print pattern mimicking a zebra like print style. This animal effect style presented an unseen futuristic look which will create a modern capelet being a contemporary item of fashion. For future reference I want to paint multiple different colours on one print because this could look elegant on a finished garment being a unique item of fashion. I will also make the print blocks with a hot glue gun as the PVA glue didn't work effectively, meaning the textured materials were peeling off my block when I was experimenting out the prints.

 

Tie Dying And Sample Printing


To make a unique capelet bursting with complimenting colours I experimented with tie dye, sampling fabrics using multiple different tie die techniques. I experimented tie dying with differnet dyes to see which dye looked more unique, and I used a range of tie dying techniques so I had various finished samples all presenting different outcome patterns, from using the different techniques and dyes. Some of the tie dye techniques I used were the bulls eye, which creates a bulls eye effect tie dye,the fan which creates lines horizontially and more. When making my tie dye samples using these techniques I simply used plain cotton fabric and elastic bands, which I positioned in specific ways depending on what tie die technique I used.

 

When I completed all of my tie dying I evaluated what type of tie dye I liked best and what coloured dye looked more appealing. In my opinion, the fan tie dye technique looked most appealing as it presented a delicate pretty look, which will create an individual item of fashion if it was included on my caplete. I also admired the purple dye because it created a clean tie dye with the mixture of purple dye and white from the cotton fabric. For future reference I will tie the elastic bands extremely tight to get a clean concentrated tie dye.

 

After I evaluated my sampled tie dyes I then went on to sampling my print blocks (I had made) onto the tie dyed fabric. While sampling out my print blocks I made sure I experimented with printing in various different acrylic colours so I could access which print and colour worked best on which tie dye and coloured dye.



I thoroughly assessed and evaluated my tie dye print samples in my sketch book so that I could select the best potential design for my final finished garment (the capelet). I compared each sampled tie dye technique with all the different prints and different colours.

 

Overall, I highly appreciated the string and wool floral prints in white and black on the tie dyed samples, as they created a beautiful unique look. I then decided that my favourite tie dye technique out of all of them was the fan technique which meant folding plain fabric like a fan and bobbling it down wih elastic bands. I specificallly liked this tie die technique because it shows beauty and elegance which will create a fabulous item in fashion, if I incude this tie dye technique on my finished capelet. To conclude, I decided that I was going to include the floral wool/string printing block in black and white paint ontop of a purple fan tie dye for my finished garment (the capelet). In addition to this, I also want to include the animal print effect block to create extra uniqueness.

 

Hand Dying Samples


I also made a series of hand dyed samples either using Bruhio or dye. The samples using brushio dye created a cool explosive fire work effect which would look unique on my finished capelet. The hand dyed samples using a paint brush to paint on liquidated dyes performed an unseen look which would also look incredibly unique on my finshed capelet.


 

Over all I really liked the effect of the brushio dyed samples as it created an unseen futuristic look mimicking a fire work's explosion. I also liked the painted hand dyed samples as its bursting complimenting colours looked beautiful and exclusive. Both of these dying techniques would make a unique feature on my design, however I prefer the fan tie dyed sample as it presented a certain uncommon look. In future I might create a tie dye look but hand dye it by painting on the dyes in each bobbled section creating a more colourful tie dye effect.

 

Tie Dying and Printing Onto My Capelet


For my capelet I started of with tie dying it using the fan technique and used a purple dye. When my capelet had been tie dyed I selected my floral print block I made from string/wool, and dotted it all around my tie dyed capelet in white acrylic paint. I revisited my capelet with the same print block but used black paint instead and dotted it around. Finally, I eventually used the animal effect print block, gently adding it into spaces spare on my caplete in purple acrylic paint. Below is the process of printing onto my capelet and how it turned out.


 

I really liked how the fan tie dying turned out as it created an extrordinary purple background for my black and white floral prints to lay ontop off. The additional animal like print in purple performed outstanding detail, fitting in well with the rest of my prints. For my finished capelet i want to create a victorian frill affect and above is my design ideas from my sketch book. To creat a victorian style thrill I first tie dyed additional fabric using the fan tie dye technique. Once the fabric had been tie dyed I cut a long strip to make a thrill around the ege of my capelet, and two small strips to make a thrill up to my caplete's collar.

To create these frills i used the technique gathering. To do this I hand sewed a loose running stitch along one edge of the strips then once finished gently and gradually pulled and gathered it together. I made sure the gatheres were equally spaced when I pinned them onto my capelet so I can then eventualy sew them on. Once i sewed on my gathered victorian style frills I really liked the outcome it presented. The frills along the edge of my caplete created an oversized classy look. The frills up to the collar made a contrasting look of old and new, having features from the victorian times (frills), but also presenting a modern look being tie dyed.

 

Embroidery


I learnt a selection of different stitching techniques such as; running stitch, back stitch, Herringbone stitch, Couching, chain stitch and laced running stitch. After practicing and sampling out these different technique stitches I decided to include them onto my capelet. I firstly decided to do couching on a few of the floral prints on the capelet. In addition to this, I also did laced running stitch on a selection of the floral prints. This created an elegant dashing look. I then challenged myself and did a chain stitch in areas I thought were lacking detail. For the chain stitch I made sure I did it loose so it created an eye catching look and fit my floral prints well; not getting lost within them.

I also embroidered some of my floral print flowers with white thread to add more uncommon elements to my capelet. For the middle part of the flower I used the technique French knotting to mimic the inside of a flower.

 

I really liked how this turned out because it thoroughly created a flower effect, also creating texture on my capelet. Finally, I added a few gems, sequins and other decorative crafts which made my final designed capelet a stylish item of fashion, having all of the techniques embodied within it.





For future reference I am going to do less prints so that there is more space on my capelet for hand sewn embroidery. This will then make a beautiful finished garment.

 

Lining my capelet and my finished capelet


For the lining of my capelet I used an old recycled white cotton bedsheet which I lined my finished capelet with. After I had lined my garment I then photographed and captured my final finished designed capelet, capturing all the techniques I used such as: tie dying, printing, embroidery and gathering. Below is my final photographed capelet which in my opinion is a stylish item of fashion due to the creativity of techniques I used, which makes it iconic and exclusive to look at. My finished capelet also holds old and new elements which makes it particularly peculiar in the fashion world, yet modern and futuristic.

 

I am particularly pleased with how my 'print, pattern, colour' project turned out as I challenged myself further while making my capelet; trying to embody various techniques which I feel I achieved. The gathered victorian style thoroughly emphasised an old and new look in fashion on my capelet. By tie dying this, it made more emphasis on the gathered areas due to the specific tie dye technique I used (the fan). Improvements I will make in the future will be sewing my lining in more precisely and accurately as I had to fold some of the lining down at the top, and sew over the fold.


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