Course of study

With Autumn Splendor nearing its close, I’m starting to think about what I want to do next.  I know my long-term goal: be able to conceive, sketch, design, and sew unique garments, using weaving and surface design techniques to create custom fabrics that enhance my designs.  Ambitious, but certainly do-able.

Because I’m a much more accomplished weaver than garment designer, I’m pretty certain that I want to study fashion design next.  Sharon suggested taking a course in sketching fashion illustrations (so I can work out a design on paper before going to actual fabric), and I’m going to try to find a community college or online class to help me figure that out.  I already know something about flat pattern drafting, but per Sharon, a lot of things are best worked out, not in paper patterns, but by draping the garment, working out the problems directly in fabric.  I have no experience in draping, so that seems like the most likely next topic of study.  Sharon has offered to come down to my studio and teach me the basics of draping; after that, she says, the best thing to do is to “play around”.  The tentative plan is to do that once we’ve moved and settled into the new house, whenever that is – I’ll have more studio space then, and won’t be distracted by the pending move.

I have three other goals for the next few months.  The first is pretty obvious: buy a house and move into it!  I expect that to take up a 2-month chunk sometime between February and June.  The second is to get the first draft of the book done; I will work on that after Autumn Splendor is complete.  (I’ve decided not to enter the Handwoven Garment Contest this year; there’s simply too much other stuff going on.)  And the third is to finish weaving off the Infinite Warp.  I started with 37 yards of 60/2 silk warp; I think I’ve woven off at least 20 of those yards, but I still have at least ten or fifteen yards to go.  I think I will simply weave yardage, eight yard lengths, in a relatively simple pattern.  I’ll  figure out what to do with the yardage later; mostly, I want to free up the loom.  This warp has been on for over five months; it’s time to open up new possibilities!