Adobe Illustrator for fashion design

I’ve been starting to mock up different bodice styles and colors using Adobe Illustrator, in an attempt to get the best design for the peacock tutu.  I have Wild Ginger’s Patternmaster: Celebrations 3.0, which is fashion design software that allows you to pick and choose design styles and then customize them, either by using their style options (there are a LOT of them) or by using their pattern editing software.  I also have quite a few commercial patterns, as I tend to buy them whenever I see a good idea I might want to use.

Anyway, Celebrations 3.0 has a display function that shows you a line drawing of what the finished style will look like, so I’ve been taking that, copying the illustration using Adobe Illustrator’s drawing tools, and then modifying it to test different color options.  So far it’s slow going, mostly because I don’t understand how to use Adobe Illustrator.  I do have a book on how to use Illustrator and will peruse it tonight, in between weaving off the rest of the goldenrod shawl.  It’s also possible that the feathers will arrive tonight, in which case I will take them and pin them to the various bodices I’ve already sewn, and see if I can derive inspiration that way.

I’ve also decided that it’s time to dust off the handweaving resource website idea and see what is buildable.  Based on my limited experience trying to work with MySQL, I can see that building a weaving Ravelry is beyond my limited technical skills, so I am moving to focus on Joomla as a content management system.  I will do a little bit of investigation to see what can be built on Joomla, and then see if I can write up a requirements document for the website, listing possible features, site design, and so on.  I have Visio so may do up some wireframes.

I don’t expect the handweaving resource site to blossom anytime in the immediate future – I think from now through June I will be mostly busy with work, AIDS Lifecycle training and tutus, and weaving.  But it is definitely in the back of my head.

I would like to have time to study fashion design (drafting my own patterns) more, but it isn’t going to happen anytime soon.  I wish I had more hours in the day!