DESIGNING IN CLOTHING

INTRODUCTION

For successfully designing a garment or decorating, it is necessary to understand what

constitutes a good design. The entire purpose of spending the scarce resources like time, effort and
money or designing and decorating a garment is to make it attractive and pleasing to the eye.

A design can be defined as an arrangement of lines, shape, colours and texture, that create
a visual image.Designing means moving from the state of randomness to the higher state of
organisation, to create a design or impression or to communicate an important / innovative idea. On
the highest level of design is the careful and knowledgeable manipulation of art elements to produce
an expressive personal idea.

There are two basic divisions of designing in the field of clothing. There are two divisions
which are often inseparable, which can be defined in other words as factors influencing the design.

1. Structural designing

2. Decorative designing

1. Structural Design

Includes the all over design of a garment its form and shape plus all the details involved
in assembling the sections of the garment such as darts, pleats, tucks etc. Structural design may add
a decorative quality if emphasized by colour contrast or row of top stitching to outline the basic
garment parts. In apparel, structural design is more important because it is the fundamental
component of design.

The points that need consideration to make a good structural design are as follows:

• suitability to purpose besides being good-looking

• simple in appearance
• well proportion among different components and the whole design
• appropriate to the fabric used in its composition

A good design should follow certain points as given below:

• means of enrichment should be reliable to its use

• garment is precious, so needs decoration
• structural design is simple and plain but beautiful

2. Decorative design

 These designs need the basic form and the designs drawn will be draped over it. It will
have more trimmings, prints, embroidery, buttons and tacked on bows. In these designs the fabric,
style and colour combinations are described so that one can select the design.

To enhance the beauty and personality of the person, elements of design and its principles
should be used appropriately.

The Requirements for a good decorative design

• Design should fulfill all of the following considerations

• The decoration must be used in moderation.
• The decoration must be placed at structural points and it should strengthen the shape of an object.
• There must be enough background space to give an effect of simplicity and dignity to a design.
• Surface pattern or design should cover the surface quietly.
• The background shapes should be carefully studied and as beautiful as the pattern placed against
them.
• The decoration must be suitable for the material and for service it must give.

Example: Over all surface enrichment on pots and bowls. Creative art at structural points on object.
Application work on a table cloth.

Types of Decorative Design

Naturalistic design

Conventional design/stylized design

Abstract design

Geometric design

Naturalistic design:

Naturalistic motifs look like pictures, usually of flowers, fruits, animals, or scenes from nature.
When the motifs are selected from nature and reproduced exactly it is called naturalistic decorative
design. A realistic painting of a bouquet of flowers, leaves, naturalistic landscapes expressed in
photographic or as in painting are more or less the exact expression of something that we see in
nature. The applications of naturalistic design in interiors may be on pictures, wall papers, fabrics,
paintings etc.



Conventional design/stylized design

Stylized motifs do not look like pictures of natural objects; usually the lines are simplified and
conventionalized, sometimes they are distorted.

In stylized motifs, the form of leaves, flowers,

animals, fruits are used, but they are conventionalised/stylised.

Even the form and color can be conventionalized.

Applications of stylized designs include floor finishes, carpets, furnishing materials, wall papers,
pictures etc.

Patterns are sometimes made as a combination of stylized and geometric motifs.

Ex: Stylized design of a peacock, duck, human being etc.

Abstract design:

A combination of lines, stripes etc. are classified as abstracts designs. Plaids, do

 ts, stripes, checks and geometric pattern in textiles are examples of abstract design.

These designs may be flat design or it may express depth, with two or three dimensional figures and
objects.

In modern art, the applications of abstract designs are widely used.

Geometric design:

Geometric motifs are based on the pure forms of the circle, rectangle, triangle, stripes, dots, checks,
plaids etc, although endless variations and combinations of them are used to create designs.

Their beauty is derived from either elegance of

proportions or their arrangement in relation to other shapes in a composition. Geometric designs are
widely used in crockeries, floor coverings, wall papers, furnishing items, wall hangings, picture etc.

Modern designers prefer geometric motifs in the small amount of pattern that they use.