My Design Process for Adapting the Fair Fit Dress for Summer Trends

My Design Process for Adapting the Fair Fit Dress for Summer Trends

Andrea Eastin
FAIR FIT PATTERN, FAIR FIT METHOD, FASHION DESIGN, SEWING AND DESIGN

I love analyzing the photo or technical sketch of an intriguing sewing pattern to ready to wear garment that I would like to have in my wardrobe. And when you know how to analyze an existing garment or pattern, you start seeing the current trends and new designs are really just a few key changes and improvements to the pattern and your design can be the latest thing you see on the cool fashion blogs and instagram.

For this summer, I wanted to have some fun with the Fair Fit pattern and make my own adaptations to it to show how I use my design, drafting, and sewing skills to keep it current. In this series of posts, I've included sewing, pattern drafting, and custom design tutorials to illustrate the process I use in my personal practice to adapt my pattern to current trends. In this post and video tutorial, I'll show you my planning process and break down the skills and steps needed to craft your own custom design.

Fair Fit Spring/Summer Dress Collection - Megan's Dress and How I Designed Dress 7

Fair Fit Spring/Summer Dress Collection - Megan's Dress and How I Designed Dress 7

Andrea Eastin
FAIR FIT PATTERN, FAIR FIT METHOD, FASHION DESIGN, SEWING AND DESIGN

 I can't wait to share Megan's dress with you today. In the development of the Fair Fit Method, and all of its courses, I am continuously testing the course with experienced makers in order to make sure my instructions are clear, the pattern is refined, and add more explanation that is helpful as the course grows and develops.

Megan is an experienced fashion design PHD student at LSU, and I had the intention of working with her during her winter break for over 6 months. She was highly recommended by my friend Dr. Casey Stannard, and when Megan agreed to test the course and work with me during the winter to add some finishing touches on the course work I was thrilled. 

In today's post and video, I break down the process of design for Megan's dress, and our final dress in the Spring/Summer Fair Fit Dress collection. 

Fair Fit Spring/Summer Dress Collection - How I Designed Dress 5 and 6

Fair Fit Spring/Summer Dress Collection - How I Designed Dress 5 and 6

Andrea Eastin
FAIR FIT METHOD, FAIR FIT PATTERN, FASHION DESIGN, SEWING AND DESIGN

Fashion really can't be copyrighted most of the time, even though there's been many battles fought for it.

It's hard to copyright fashion design because clothes are designed from the same basic shapes that get changed over the years to adapt to trends. And the shapes go back 100's of years, so who really owns them? A wrap dress could be said to mimic Roman or Egyptian dress. When you really look at enough patterns, and sew up enough garments you start to see that they are consistently derived from the same blocks and shapes over and over again. So where does innovation occur?

In this week's post, I discuss adding design ease and customizing the pattern to incorporate sleeves. Watch the video and read the full article to learn more.

Fair Fit Spring/Summer Dress Collection - How I Designed Dress 3 and 4

Fair Fit Spring/Summer Dress Collection - How I Designed Dress 3 and 4

Andrea Eastin
FAIR FIT PATTERN, FAIR FIT METHOD, SEWING AND DESIGN

I know this isn't the most fun way to do it, but a lot of the time planning out a me made wardrobe usually comes down to the math for me!

When I was composing the latest Fair Fit collection, I focused on lifestyle design. Dress 3 and 4 in the collection provided me the opportunity to consider and create garments using the Fair Fit Pattern that could feasibly be worn in a work setting. I know that we dress for different kinds of work, so I had to choose a type of environment, and for this part of the collection I focused on office professional/business casual attire.

In this week's blog post and video, I break down the thought process I used to design dress 3 and 4, as the considerations of how the dress layers with other garments in order to style it for specific purposes and environments. 

Fair Fit Spring/Summer Dress Collection - How I Designed Dress 1 and 2

Fair Fit Spring/Summer Dress Collection - How I Designed Dress 1 and 2

Andrea Eastin
FASHION DESIGN, FAIR FIT METHOD, FAIR FIT PATTERN, SEWING AND DESIGN

In today's post, I wanted to show the process of making the Fair Fit Dress Collection for Spring and Summer 2018 a little more in depth. I'll focus on just the first two designs featured in the video and the process of collecting items from previous work and collections to use for repurpose. I also made a short video that breaks down the dresses, showing their previous incarnations, with a quick demonstration of the thought process of repurpose and redesign that I used to create these 2 new garments. 

The Process I Used to Create the Latest Fair Fit Dress Collection

The Process I Used to Create the Latest Fair Fit Dress Collection

Andrea Eastin
FAIR FIT PATTERN, FAIR FIT METHOD, FASHION DESIGN, SEWING AND DESIGN

I am thrilled to share with you today what I’ve been working on behind the scenes for the last 2 months! With the launch of the Fair Fit Method this past winter and the opportunity to share ideas and design projects within the course, I spent January and February coming up with new designs for the Fair Fit Dress with the intention of sharing these designs with the current Fair Fit Method students to inspire their work in the upcoming Learn and Make the Fair Fit Dress course.  I created a collection for a video collaboration I did with my friend Jill Hall. In this post, read more and check out the video!

The Fair Fit Method Sewing + Design - How sewing professionals have used the sewing patterns and methods in the course

The Fair Fit Method Sewing + Design - How sewing professionals have used the sewing patterns and methods in the course

Andrea Eastin
FAIR FIT METHOD, FAIR FIT PATTERN

My friends Brooke Wilkerson and Dr. Casey Stannard PHD are my peers, and so when sharing the methods with them I saw it not as a form of teaching, rather it was a collaboration. Both bring such a high level of experience, expertise, and refinement to their work, and played a critical role of encouragement and support while I was developing the Fair Fit Method.  I thought it would be really fun to share the process of working with them, as well as what they were able to do with the pattern. 

And, for me, it was like getting to have those fun sewing days with a friend, with Casey in person and Brooke from a distance, because we bounced ideas back and forth and they inspired me to change my perceptions of how I saw and experienced my own process.

The Fair Fit Method Sewing + Design - What the Courses are Like for Beginner Sewists

The Fair Fit Method Sewing + Design - What the Courses are Like for Beginner Sewists

Andrea Eastin
FAIR FIT PATTERN, FAIR FIT METHOD

My students in Baton Rouge who are beginners have the opportunity to learn in person with me, so they do have an advantage over beginners who learn with me online. Having a teacher in your presence does give you a lot of confidence, and it does help to have me standing over you, lol! In today's post, I wanted to feature some of their thoughts and insights for those of you who are eager online learners and want to know more about the experience that students are having with the course materials and pattern.

The Fair Fit Method Sewing + Design - How the Dress Pattern is Customized for Style and Purpose

The Fair Fit Method Sewing + Design - How the Dress Pattern is Customized for Style and Purpose

Andrea Eastin
FAIR FIT METHOD, FAIR FIT PATTERN

When it comes to dresses, we all like something a little different, right? 

While I'm still in the beginning phase of releasing pattern components, there are several that have reached full development that will be part of the full course curriculum later in 2018. In this post, I'll share with you the Fair Fit pattern sets coming later in the year that you can use to further customize your dress, especially the bodice since that's where we all have ideas of where to add different design features, add sleeves, and change up the neckline! Head on over to my profile to check it out.

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