Course Duration:

Full-time: 10 hours per week over 2 months

Part-time: 8 hours per week over 4 months

Course Outline:

The course is offered over 12 modules, each containing an assignment. 

1. Skirt: Fashion illustration and technical drawing of skirts, including an assignment to plan the production of a skirt.
2. Trousers: Fashion illustration and technical drawing of trousers, including an assignment to draw a signature illustration of trousers.
3. Jacket: Fashion illustration and technical drawing of jackets, including an assignment to identify and apply street trends.
4. Range design: Clothing collection design, including an assignment to draw a range of 30 garments.
5. Advanced Fashion illustration: Portfolio presentation techniques, including bodice/tops project assignment.
6. Dress: Fashion illustration and technical drawing of dresses, including a historical dress assignment.
7. Advanced Technical drawing: Technical drawing specifications, including A3 Abstraction assignment.
8. Swimwear and Bags: Designing swimwear and bags, including an assignment to produce a handbag.
9. Shoes, Corsets and Scarves: Storyboard presentation, including an assignment to produce a scarf.
10. Jewellery, Sunglasses and Hats: Accessories collection, including an assignment to produce a hat.
11. Menswear, Image-making & Styling: Advanced mediums, including an assignment of signature men illustration.
12. Designer Portfolio: Fashion artist, including an assignment to create designer portfolio of 12 fashion illustrations.

Sample fashion illustrations from actual students - click image to enlarge

Example Lesson excerpt: Introduction to Design

The Fashion creation circle is as follows:

1. Design idea / concept design on any given brief: One will always design in a certain context.
2. Fashion illustration: This is a creative interpretation of a design idea.  It comprises of a freestyle fashion figure and garment illustration, with the purpose of showcasing the vision of the designer according to a specific fashion brief.
3. Technical Drawing: Using standard figure templates, the garment is transferred from the Fashion Illustration this time in ideal proportions on the traced Technical template and the 6 non-negotiable specifications are stated clearly. The Technical Drawing serves as an invaluable tool for pattern drafting and garment construction.
   All fashion figures are always drawn with a clutch pencil.
   Fabric samples will always accompany the Technical drawing not the Fashion illustration.
   No colour or texturing will be added on the Technical drawing. 
   
4. Pattern-making and Garment construction close the Fashion design circle.

Objective/Close:

When designing remember that although we draw and pattern in two dimensions, human bodies are three dimensional.

The distinction between Fashion illustration and Technical drawing has to be understood.

The Fashion illustration shows what the garment is and the Technical drawing specifies how to produce it.

Lesson: Skirt 1

Exercises:

• Technical drawing of a basic skirt design / use Template 2.1
• Apply the Six Technical drawing specifications:

1. Size of the garment;

2. Fabrics & Colour; As well as shrinkage instructions Ref. to Book3

3. Numbering of all panels;

Note: Combine 2^nd and 3^rd specifications

By marking on the right hand site which panel is cut of which fabric and how many times;

4. Fastening techniques;

5. Finishing techniques;

6. Dart / Dart equivalent – Panels, Gathers, Pleats;

Except when using stretch fabric, there are no darts.

• 2 Fashion illustrations with original skirt designs

           Style-read: Gypsy, Ethnic, Draped

• Translation of the learners’ F.I.s into T.D.s

Key: How the learners will construct and pattern the 2 skirts.