I plan to use bright, vibrant colours as my main colour scheme. I want to explore different fabric textures with a soft look and feel such as; velvet, ribbed cottons, jersey and fleece etc. I will definitely be choosing materials that are comfortable to wear and fairly lightweight are perfect for exercising and similar activities to attract my target market.

I found the most perfect colours on WGSN! This gave me so much inspiration of beautiful bold colours that also compliment each other really well.

I created two quick storyboards with my initial ideas of fabric patterns, colours and silhouette shapes. I know that I definitely want my designs to be inspired by the 1970s and I plan on focusing on the use of shapes like circles and geometric shapes, I also really like orange and anything quite vibrant.

From what I created in the draping workshop I really liked the idea of lots of folds to create a top. I decided that this just looked too elegant and almost too restricting for what I want to make. So I came up with the idea of going in the opposite angle and creating a top using pleats instead. I think this gave it a modern twist and made it look better in my opinion.

My flat working drawings show my designs as they would be sent to a manufacturer. The bodice back would be tied up with string.

Initial stages of my design development.

Here are all my themes and favourite ideas on one page.

I bought a lighter fabric for the ruffles as the calico was much too thick and would’ve been extremely heavy on top and wouldn’t have fit on the shoulders flat. Although, I did prefer the ruching under the bust when I used the calico as it gave a much more full appearance; making it more striking to look at.