My process

Gathering inspiration

Ideas come from everywhere and anywhere! I enjoy collecting photos of silhouettes I find interesting and then I can begin to pinpoint the details that are worth keeping. This time I searched for ‘wide-leg’ and ‘jumpsuit’ and ‘bustier’ to find designs and details that I liked.

Sketching

I still wasn’t certain about all of the details I wanted, but sketching was a great place to organize thoughts and experiment with different styles without having to commit too much time or materials. Here I was trying out straps, boning, defined cups vs. princess seams, etc. I was putting visuals to the ideas.

This is where I can experiment.

Low-fidelity

Choosing the fabric

Another decision point was selecting the right fabric for the project. There are many factors that play into matching a fabric to a design, including:

• stretchy knit vs. structured woven

• drape and malleability

• print vs. solid

In this case, the inspiration photos all seemed to have a bit of structure to them, with some drape in the legs. I chose a linen for this, with the understanding that I would need to add interfacing in the bodice where it needed more structure. This was a print that ‘spoke’ to me; sometimes a color or print can be an emotional decision.

Planning

There is so much planning that happens in design before the construction phases even begin. This is the most time consuming, sometimes invisible, and definitely least rewarding part of the process. Proper planning always makes a better product and always leads to the most satisfaction in the end.

Taking the measurements and finding the correct size to cut.

Ordering the correct amount of fabric cooresponding to the size.

Gathering additional supplies: boning, padding and interfacing.

I lay everything out carefully and strategically before I cut to make sure everything will work. Measure twice, cut once.

Cutting feels permanent, and all of the planning and preparation up until this point is essential, not only to get the correct product, but to diffuse some of the intimidation and pressure of this moment of truth.

Laying out, Cutting out

Constructing

Sewing is building and creating and executing well laid plans. Sewing is where is starts to feel rewarding. Sewing is so many things, but it is truly the the most kinetic phase of the process, the phase when I bring all the little things together, create components, and make adjustments where needed until it’s finished.

Finishing

The hem and zipper were the final step in the sewing process. The hem isn’t pictured here, but the zipper is. It so happens that I have a step-by-step tutorial of sewing an invisible zipper here.

I did a quick fit check with the bodice.

Illustrating

I modeled my jumpsuit for Instagram and from those pictures I chose two to create a stylized fashion drawing. To achieve my vision, I learned how to make it look like a watercolor illustration in Adobe Illustrator.

Original fashion illustration I created in Adobe Illustrator.