More fashion croquis

I haven't drawn a fashion croquis in many years. So, I am trying to re-acquire some lost skills.

Here's a bunch of photo's of my working on FASHION!

There you have it. My prismacolor markers are pretty old and dried out, but I somehow managed to finish them. I really dislike the end product but I pushed through and tried to finish. So you can see, i still need more practice.

Ruth

How I draw a fashion Croquis

I've spend the past year quite busy, I've started working part time, as well as my graphics freelance work. So, even though I've done a bit of craft and design work, I haven't posted any of it.

I plan to make a large post focusing on what i've done the past year, but in the mean time, I'll show you what I'm working on now.

Drawing some fashion croquis. Croquis are little sketches, from the french Croquer, which is to sketch. In this case I'm using real pictures of models as reference, and tracing them and re-working their dimensions to fit the fashion ten head scale.

Real humans if measured using their own head as the unit of measurement, are around 7-8 heads high. Fashion illustrations are more stretched and figurative, so they've been stretched to scale 10 of their own heads tall. You can see in the above picture how I used the model as reference for her body's stance, but stretched my croquis to ten heads with more dramatic and less detailed lines.

I'm using Illustrator CS5 because I can't bear to spend so much monthly for the new Illustrator CC.

Start by tracing the silhouette and some basic features of the Model

I move the outline then start changing it to the 10 head scale.
I shrink the head, elongate the neck, tuck in the waist,
stretch the legs until its longer. 

You can do this by hand with regular print outs, or magazine pages, and using tracing paper or just a ruler and pencil to work on your own.

Hopefully, I'll finish the other 5 or so I'm working on, and then use them as my figures for when I'm illustrating.

Anyway, hope this can help some of you all.



Ruth

Sewing up-cycling

I find a lot of my clothing off the rack just doesn't fit very well. Or after they get holes or stains or shrink I still try to work around the issues by "up-cycling" them into some thing new. Here are some of my repairs and re-workings.

This went from a nice pair of jeans, 

into a ripped up pair of jeans,

into a patched knees pair of jeans, 

into a pair of Bermuda shorts, 

and then into a pair of cut offs. 

Above shows the idea of using some old 

t-shirts and making some binding

 around the hem and the 

patch pockets.

I don't usually like the frayed edges on my jeans.

It becomes necessary to find a solution. Binding!!!

It fit in the store. But then I washed it.
This shirt sleeves were too short, and it was too short
as they always are on my long torso.
I usually figure they shrink after my first
wash, so I look for the larger size. However,
I couldn't find the larger size,
but figured, I could suffer with short
sleeves. Well, I couldn't. 

I opened up the faux henley button placket
and added two inches of ribbed knit from an
old tank top, to the sleeves and the hem. I added
a little insert to the neckline
to cover my bust. I re-attached
the sleeve tabs and sewed on white contrast buttons
to flank the insert at the neckline.

Same issues as before. The sleeves were too short
the shirt was too short after washing.
I didn't have any fabric or old
t-shirts that would have worked with this shirt.
So I went and found some very cute
printed jersey.

I love my dress-form. It's always nice to work on
a dress-form. Good old Sea-wolf.
I got one that was as close to my
actual measurements as possible
so I could sew for myself. 

Super cute printed jersey that matched
the color.

In progress

Draped on my dress form.

I changed out the body fabric to the
new print. Added the extra fabric on the hem.

And changed the short cap sleeves
to a flutter sleeve. 

So much stretching while
I was sewing. (I"m such a naughty girl)
Again, use a ball point needle.
Use the correct stitches for knits.
Or use a serger. 

Knit stay tape (water soluble) is a great thing.
On this project I couldn't make a longer sleeve
work. So I just make a flutter sleeve. It's not tight
on my bicep, or deltoid muscle, which is nice.
But even tho the sleeve is still short,
I don't mind it as much since
it's not so tight on my upper arm.

$3 shirt from Walmart Clearance.
Again, too tight on upper arms and too short.
I know, just buy a larger size Ruth!!!And yes, I usually do!!
However, they didn't have a larger size
available. And I loved the stripes.
$3 was ok with me.

Of course, even tho
I buy the large, they are too large in the
waist. I usually buy the large,
and then if it's too big in
waist (even tho it fits my bust and arms)
I'll just do a quick stitch down the sides
about 3/4" to take in.

So, I lengthened the sleeves
by unstitching the hem. And
added a small godet to the
side seams.

I hemmed the sleeves and hem
at only 1/4" instead of the 3/4"
that it came with. Lengthened it
a 1/2". I found a cute printed
fabric that matched the colors
perfectly. The stripes don't match up
on the right side, but they did on the
left!!! So, half success. 

Inside of shirt.
This shirt was pulling uncomfortably
in the bust.
So the side godet added a bit of room for
me to feel more comfortable.
It also loosened
the sleeve since they are usually too
tight on my arm. 

Inside of godet. 

Cute tank, with adorable embellishment.
However, I never wear tanks without
a cardigan since I burn so badly in the
sun. You never saw the hummingbird
when I did that! 

Just a comfy green t-shirt that matched
the hummingbird.

I thought I could re-use the embellishment
on a shirt I would wear more often.

I cut my t-shirt 1/2" below the arm.

When sewn, I noticed the embellishment
was at an add spot on the bust. 

Too low on the the bust. But since I didn't
want to change the armhole I decided to raise
the shirt by the shoulder seam.
And change the neckline.

New Neckline.

Tried to use old hem as neckline.

I used an elastic for the neck after all.
I made it a petal sleeve.

I like it!!!

Anyway, Cheers!!

Ruth