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

 

Ruby Joseph*, Simar Prabh Kaur and Chandana Rajput

 

ABSTRACT:

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.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

A dress of an individual is a kind of “sign language” that communicates a complex set of information and is usually the basis on which immediate impressions are formed. Clothes are not a simple wrap around the body but signify and symbolize man’s conception of himself. They serve as a means of which we bolster our self esteem and seek acceptance from others. (Mckelvey, 1994)

 

Clothing which fits, provides a neat and smooth appearance and will allow maximum comfort and mobility for the wearer. (Fan, Jintu) For any garment, the perfect fit comes through sewing the flat piece of cloth into seams and darts. A dart is usually two straight stitch lines that bring together a fold of fabric. Darts are garment construction features used to shape fabric to the curves of the body. Darts can be straight, for an easy fit, or curved for a closer to the body fit. Darts are typically found around the bust, waist and hip area, where the body is most contoured. (Bray, N, 1961)

 

Dart is not the only way of controlling the shape and hang of a garment, they can be moved from one position to another and can be converted into many styles. This introduces new possibilities of achieving variety in line and fit, and expands considerably the range of styles. Darts can be replaced by seams containing the darts (e.g. princess seams), or by gathers, as in many yoke styles, or by dart tucks, folds, pleats, cowls etc. With the limits of a particular style any of these can take over the function of a simple dart with the same effect in fit. This is called dart manipulation. (Bray, N, 1961)

 

 

Fashion is something that you can associate yourself with. The beauty of Indian women lies in bedecking herself and attiring something that always reminds her of the culture to which she belongs. Well, this explains the reason why Indo western women fashion is creating sensation everywhere. Indo western lady apparels give the contemporary look with essence of Indian culture and tradition. Haute couture fashion has taken a lot of twists and turns from traditional ethnic styling to modern western to the balanced Indo-western trend. As it is said, 'Extreme of Anything Is Bad'. The best is to be balanced in life. Ethnic is too old and western is ultra American, the best is to go in for a blend of both Indian cum western which is simple, sober yet elegant and graceful. (Burns, 1967)

 

These days one-piece dresses i.e. dresses, that have bodice and skirt joined, are in vogue and are gaining popularity specially in the younger generation. These dresses are available in many forms, let it be a long top or a knitted long T-shirt. Though it is basically a western design, yet it can be worn with jeans, pants or with leggings by constructing it little above or till knee length and they have a wide acceptability.

 

Because of the increased interest in fitted clothes by the youngsters, to create new and competitive designs and to check the effectiveness of dart manipulation the present study was carried out. It deals with the “Designing, making paper patterns and construction of casual one-piece dresses using dart manipulation.”

 

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1.      To develop designs of casual one-piece dresses using dart manipulation.

2.      To evaluate and select eight most preferred designs.

3.      To make paper patterns and construction of the selected designs using the standard size.

4.      Evaluation of the constructed dresses to check the effectiveness of dart manipulation.

5.      To find the market acceptability of the constructed dresses.

 

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

1.      The number of designs for one-piece dresses is limited to thirty.

2.      Study is limited to women of age group 18-21years.

3.      Short one-piece dresses were constructed without sleeves.

4.      Standard measurements of size 8 mannequin were taken for construction.

 

METHODOLOGY:

For the selection of colour, plain and printed fabric, one-piece dress designs, and the evaluation of constructed casual one-piece dresses, the students pursuing graduation and post graduation and the experts from the field of clothing and textiles ( as they had  the knowledge of fashion and basics of principles and elements of design and technical points like dart manipulation.) were selected as judges randomly.

 

For the colour selection, the shade card was obtained from online colour forecasting by Le Cuir A Paris - Spring/Summer 2009. A market survey was conducted in different areas of the city and samples of plain (i.e the most preferred colour) and matching printed fabrics were collected and two reference charts were prepared. The evaluation of colour, plain and printed fabric, designs of casual one-pice dresses was based on ranking (i.e. the most preferred got the highest rank). Hence, the evaluation was done and eight dresses that got the highest rank were selected for construction. A 10 head croqui was prepared using Corel Draw 12 and rendering of the dresses was done in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

 

 

The standard measurements of the mannequin with size 8 were taken for the drafting and construction of casual one-piece dresses. The standard size was taken to check the effectiveness of dart manipulation. A basic block was prepared and test fit was done on the mannequin. Necessary alterations were made in the pattern. The patterns for the selected eight designs were developed on full scale using the basic one piece block according to the style, cut and design and their layouts were prepared.

 

The one-piece dresses were constructed and the cost of each one-piece dress was estimated. The one-piece dresses were worn on the dummies and they were arranged in a straight row with a distance of 1 feet between each dummy and they were evaluated by the judges on the basis of appearance and workmanship. Consumer acceptability of the constructed one-piece dresses was checked by framing a questionnaire to know whether the consumers were ready to buy the dresses on the quoted prices and how they found the overall appearance of the constructed dresses. The market acceptability was also checked in the similar way by surveying leading shops and boutiques dealing in girls’ wear.

 

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

1.      The colour corresponding to code number 13 was selected as the colour of the plain fabric.

 

 

2.      Lizzy-bizzy with fabric no.3 was selected as the plain fabric to be used for the construction and fabric with code no. 6 was the most preferred printed fabric, by the respondents and thus selected for the construction in combination with the plain fabric

 

PLAIN FABRIC        

 

PRINTED FABRIC

3.      Thirty casual one-piece dress designs were evaluated by the judges and their responses were statistically analyzed. The preferential order and the illustrations of the selected designs of casual one-piece dresses is as follows:-

 

S. No	Design No.	Rank
1	Design No.23	1st
2	Design No.6	2nd
3	Design No.28	3rd
4	Design No.11	4th
5	Design No.26	5th
6	Design No.20	6th
7	Design No.15	7th
8	Design No.21	8th

 

 

4.      Below is the table that shows the costing of the eight constructed casual one-piece dresses (in Rupees):-

Sr. No	Input (Material Used)	D.No 23	D.No 6	D.No 28	D.No 11	D.No 26	D.No 20	D.No 15	D.No 21
1.a)	Plain fabric	50	30	70	30	70	80	60	100
b)	Printed fabric	45	70	35	70	10	45	45	30
c)	Thread	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
d)	Accessories	68	20	20	20	20	44	20	40
2.	Labour charges	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200
	Total	366	323	328	323	303	372	328	373
	After rounding off	370	330	330	330	310	380	330	380

 

It is seen that after adding costs of plain and printed fabric, thread, zippers, buttons and labour according to the design, the selling were estimated between Rs. 310/- to Rs 380/- respectively.

The constructed dresses are shown below:-

 

5.      Design no. 6 was the best design on the basis of appearance and was liked by the judges. The table showing the ranking order is given below:-

 

S. No	Design No.	Rank
1	Design No.23	2nd
2	Design No.6	1st
3	Design No.28	6th
4	Design No.11	3rd
5	Design No.26	7th
6	Design No.20	8th
7	Design No.15	5th
8	Design No.21	4th

 

6.      The results for the evaluation of constructed designs on the basis of workmanship are given in table below and it can be seen that Design No. 6 had the best workmanship.

 

S. No	Design No.	Rank
1	Design No.23	2nd
2	Design No.6	1st
3	Design No.28	8th
4	Design No.11	4th
5	Design No.26	7th
6	Design No.20	3rd
7	Design No.15	5th
8	Design No.21	6th

 

7.      The constructed one-piece dresses showed noticeable marketability. The market response was overwhelming with exceptionally good remarks. In general, the shopkeepers appreciated the work done and also found the overall appearance of the dresses very good. Some shopkeepers did not show their interest in these one-piece dresses because they sold only selective branded goods. They however had suggestions to offer like the material used could be more drapable like chiffon etc and more colourful prints can be used. Also the length of the dresses could vary and accessories and embellishment of some kind like sequins or laces can be added to emphasize some parts. On the whole the response was very encouraging.

 

CONCLUSION:

The art of wearing clothes, of presenting an appearance of elegance and taste to the eye of the beholder, of being appropriately clad for the occasion, can be summed up quite simply-“Wear your clothes, do not let them wear you.”

 

This study “Designing, making paper patterns and construction of one-   piece dresses using dart manipulation” involved the creation of new  designs by manipulating the darts into style lines, pleats, gathers, yokes,  tucks, cowls etc. These features were then artistically combined with the   plain and printed fabric to form new designs in one-piece dresses along with delicacy, decoration and comfort. Yet, it can be said that more designs can be made by this beautiful technique of dart manipulation.

 

FURTHER SCOPE:

1.      The same study can be carried out by using more drapable fabrics like  chiffon and georgette

2.      A study can be undertaken to design formal wear like evening gowns   using the techniques and principles of dart manipulation.

3.      Casual wear fitted kurtis with more colorful prints can be designed using dart manipulation.

4.      Designing of ladies kameez and nightwear using dart manipulation can be undertaken.

 

IMPORTANCE AND USEFULNESS:

1.      New designs of one-piece dresses would be known to the people.

2.      The present study will serve as the guidelines for new designers to develop innovative creations with manipulating the basic darts

3.      The present study has introduced something new for the designers, manufacturers as well as the consumers of the apparel products.

4.      Creativity of the designer was brought to the fore.

 

REFERENCES:

1.       Mckelvey (1994) ”Fashion Source Book”, Om Books Service, P 217- 219, 152-154

2.       Fan, Jintu “Clothing appearance and fit”, Woodhead publishing,   England

3.       Bray, N (1961) “Dress Pattern Designing, The Basic Principles of cut and fit, Crosby Lockwood and Son Ltd. 57,61,106.

4.       Burns, (1997) “The Business of Fashion”, Fairchild Leslie and Nancy Brayant Publications. New York.

5.       http://www.denierfabrics.com/pages/sewing

6.       www.fashiontrendsetter.com/colourtrends

 

 

Received on 17.07.2011

Revised on   28.08.2011

Accepted on 20.10.2011

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