Fashion Design
Decorative Textile Techniques — First & Second Year Fashion Studies
Drawing → Pattern → Fabric → Handwork → Surface → Three-dimensional form.
Long before I began working with clay, I was fascinated by the transformation of a simple surface through pattern, repetition, texture and meticulous handwork.
During my fashion studies, I explored a range of decorative textile techniques, with particular attention to individual hand-sewn beadwork. These techniques formed an important part of several garments, including the first-year bridal gown and flower girl dress, as well as a number of other fashion pieces.
The work required considerable patience and precision. Each bead was individually positioned and sewn by hand, allowing the decorative pattern to gradually emerge across the surface of the garment.
The beadwork began with a hand-drawn design.
The pattern was first drawn onto tissue paper, allowing the design to be developed, adjusted and positioned before it was permanently applied to the garment.
Once the design was established, the tissue paper was carefully positioned over the fabric and lightly hand-sewn to the garment, creating a temporary guide for the beadwork.
This process allowed a drawn two-dimensional pattern to be transferred accurately onto a three-dimensional garment.
The working drawing, 1993. Every flower is drawn and colour-coded, and the bead counts are written out in the margin — twelve beads around the diamanté, four beads to a roll, three one side and four the other.
With the temporary tissue pattern in place, the decorative design was built up one bead at a time.
Each individual bead was hand-sewn through the fabric, following the drawn pattern. The process was slow and highly detailed, requiring careful attention to spacing, direction, rhythm and consistency.
The same design realisedA full neckline panel, every flower built up bead by bead, each one centred with a diamanté.
Rather than using a pre-formed decorative motif, the final pattern emerged through the accumulation of hundreds of individual elements.
The beadwork therefore became both decoration and drawing — a line, pattern and texture created directly on the surface of the garment.
A close-up section of the panel belowAt this magnification the individual bugle beads separate out — each petal laid bead against bead, the direction of every bead deliberate, so that the light runs along the length of the petal rather than across it.
The overall designThe complete neckline panel in bugle beads — a symmetrical spray worked outwards from the centre flower, the green stems curling to a scroll at each shoulder. The photograph above shows a close-up section of this same piece of beadwork, at the scale it was actually sewn.
Once all of the beadwork was complete, the tissue paper was carefully removed.
What remained was the finished design: a delicate pattern formed entirely by the individually hand-sewn beads.
The removal of the tissue revealed the relationship between the original drawing and the finished garment — transforming a temporary two-dimensional guide into a permanent three-dimensional surface.
This process was particularly rewarding because the final result could not be fully appreciated until the tissue was removed and the completed pattern was revealed.
Finished panelsA trailing wisteria motif, and a scattered floral pattern with rhinestone centres.
The technique was used extensively on the first-year bridal gown, particularly across the bodice.
The combination of individually sewn beads, sequins and rhinestones created a richly textured surface that changed as the garment moved and caught the light.
The bridal bodicePearl beads, sequins and rhinestones worked into the satin.
The beadwork was not simply an embellishment added at the end of the design process. It formed an important part of the garment’s overall visual identity, working together with the satin, veil and silhouette.
The completed bridal gown demonstrates the level of hand craftsmanship involved in the project documented in Fashion Unmasked, 1992.
The same attention to decorative detail extended to the flower girl dress, designed as a companion piece to the bridal gown.
Although smaller and more playful in character, the garment formed part of the same overall design language, linking the two pieces through colour, proportion and decorative treatment.
The finished dress, the bodice motif set stone by stone.
What interests me most when looking back at these early fashion projects is the process of translating an idea through different stages of making:
Drawing → Pattern → Fabric → Handwork → Surface → Three-dimensional form
The process required me to think simultaneously about the overall composition and the smallest individual detail.
A single bead has little visual significance on its own, but hundreds of carefully positioned beads can create an intricate pattern and transform the character of an entire garment.
This relationship between the small detail and the larger form remains important in my creative practice today.
These early experiments in fashion design introduced me to many ideas that continue to appear throughout my creative work — the human figure, proportion, surface, texture, repetition, craftsmanship and the transformation of two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional objects.
Looking back, I can see a natural connection between these early textile experiments, my later architectural and interior design work, and my current ceramic sculpture.
The materials have changed, but the fundamental curiosity remains the same: how can an idea be transformed from a drawing into a physical form?
The hand-made fabric flowers are shown separately in Hand-Made Flower Tops.
For enquiries, please contact lee.anchor@optusnet.com.au.