FDA.....the secret garden textile project

The theme and the brief

The brief was to design a shirt while using the textile techniques we had learnt in our textile tutorials, to embellish and to add texture to the shirt.
The theme was based on the four season spring/summer/autumn/winter, taking inspiration from the effects the seasons have on our surroundings and nature.

I want to base my theme on spring and focus my inspiration on the story of the secret garden. I would like to create the feel of the growing garden that had been forgotten through out the years.

Concept board

The techniques i would like to take forward with and experiment further for my textile embellishment.
I think the flower in captured felt would work really well with my theme, representing the forgotten flowers covered in cobwebs.
I also wanted to work with mono printing as i felt it created a free natural feel and screen printing for the intricate detailing.

Sketchbook ideas

I found some beautiful old family photographs of children playing in the garden and having adventures outside where the wild flowers grow. i started to incorporate the photos through my sketch book created a story within. i thought the imagery of the little girls and boys would work beautifully as a print as well as the collation of the wild flowers from my screen prints.
I started looking at the styles and shapes for my shirt, deciding to inspire the style by looking at the Edwardian nightshirts worn by Mary from the story of the secret garden.

Design development and development of prints

I wanted to create an old antique feel so i chose inks that represented the sepia tones of the old photographs. i worked with a textile technician while creating my prints, first working on the pixels of the photographs so can translate with intricate detail on to screen and into print.

The final print embellishment and felt detail. the was inspired by the collage effect based in my sketchbook. layering up the different prints of the little children in the garden with the wild mono print flowers surrounding them. the hand made felt encasing dried rose buds and lavender storks with  hand embroidered messages within the felt.

The final shirt on the catwalk