A DAY OF SWATCHING 

PROCESS

Our forth event started with great presentations of the possible form. Number of participants came up with interesting and unique concepts that would accommodate the electronic function of the garment. With a rich visual aid in form of mood boards we all started to have a better idea of what kind of garment we’re going to construct. The term symbiosis was a popular choice for the secondary inspiration and a chunk of the visual inspiration was taken from the flora and fauna kingdom. Dave gave us a run through the number of various electronics that we ordered for the experimentation and explained to the group how they need to be put together. It was very helpful and informative for the fashion designers and dressmakers to see and understand how the electronic elements need to function within the garment. Mia brought a few textile swatching sketchbooks from her students to give us an idea of what the swatch is, how can it be made and what is it purpose. This part of the design process is very important especially within this project as we are combining various materials. Rhona came up with a number of interesting ideas how to use static electricity from touch to generate movement of some nylon materials. This is a very interesting idea that could be introduced in the garment. We had a selection of fabrics, ribbons, sequences and beads ready for experimentation and we were able to try out numerous techniques. We also had the laser cutter at the ready and Mariel created possible patterns on how to manipulate light. Over the coming days we will create more textile swatches so we can combine them with electronics at our next event.

FINDINGS

During the day it was clear that our group has a very strong and professional dynamic. If a problem or an issue arised we were able to find a possible solution very quickly. Also it was the first event where we started physically making things and it was a great experience. There is still a lot to do with textile experimentation but most of this work will have to be done outside of the workshops as it is very time consuming. However we had time to go through some of the typical and suitable techniques like pleating, honeycomb pleating, knitting, combining materials, embroidery and laser cutting. We compared and evaluate the materials that we have and planned some swatches together. We will bring all the swatches done outside the workshop along on Thursday evening where we will add on some 3D printed elements to our portfolio.

FINDING THE RIGHT FIT

FINDING THE RIGHT FIT

PROCESS

Our 3rd workshop took place on the 11^th of April at 10am in the Makers room at Fab Lab Limerick. Early start on a sunny spring Saturday morning to finalize the function concept and have an initial discussion for the form of our garment. By now we have a core group of participants and we are getting to know more about each other each time we meet, as well as a few new comers with a fresh outlook and enthusiasm on the project.

We arrived prepared with narrowed down ideas (as we specified in the homework) for the function based on the initial concepts from our last workshop. This time around we had to choose one final idea to continue through out the rest of the project. We wrote all the ideas on our flip chart paper and discussed them as we went along, tightening up any loose ends. We put up our sheets of paper on the wall and had a 10min break to take it all in and think about our preferred selection before we put them to a vote.

After break Dave Hunt went through the function possibilities and limitations for each idea before we voted. It was difficult to pick the one but we came to a conclusion and smoothly agreed.

A lot of the ideas put forward overlapped with the technology involved so we feel comfortable and confident that the remaining ideas will be developed in the future. We had allocated one hour for this part of event but it ran though to an hour and a half. As this is the very important and decisive part of the whole project we dedicated as much time as needed to finalize the function without rushing.

Once we had our function and our market decided we started discussing the visual opportunities and a ways of how to approach the initial design of the garment.

At the end of the event we evaluated the skills within the group and mapped out what kind of equipment and materials we can individually offer to the workshops.

FINDINGS

The final idea for our function – synchronized formal wear for a trendy and fashion forward teen couple – means there will be visual communications between two garments demonstrated by light patterns or colors based on a touch or a movement.

As a starting point we will design one garment as a part of womanswear and one garment as a part of menswear. Once these initial designs are resolved concept can be easily applied to various couples.

We also found that the technology in the function ideas overlapped and some of the other ideas can be implemented within.

Understandably the primary source of inspiration is derived from the electronic and real function of the garment.

The secondary source of inspiration is based around either one of these terms :

symbiosis, metamorphosis or equilibrium

Now that we will be tackling the form we are starting a group board on Pinterest where we can share our visual inspirations to create common mood boards.

We will also keep constant communication on the Facebook within the group to share our findings and ask questions.

It is important for us to share various different available electronic components we can use as the fashion design will have to be made accordingly to accommodate them.