Lesson 6-update

Hello Everyone - I've had some very interesting private e-mails as a result of the last lesson.

1. Pattern-matching on sleeves - if we organise the sleeve so that it is the same length as the back/front from above the welt to the beginning of the armhole, we can get a pattern-matching across from main body to sleeve. If the sleeve fits in to a cut out on the back/front, then it is often better not to continue with the orignal pattern but to put a suitable border on the top of the sleeve to fit into the cutout. This observation came from studying how Pat Cook deals with the problem in her Passap patterns!

2. What kind of drawings? and how do we eliminate the jaggies? I've had an interesting discussion with Teryl Hollins on this one. Teryl points out that she uses a combination of vector (Corel Draw) and raster pixellated Paint programs to achieve the professional look in her fashion drawings, whereas I, who am no profeesional, stay entirely with the paint programs for ease of use. I also pointed out to Teryl that in the UK, there has been recognition for some time in design circles, that drawings for figures modelling knitwear must be achieved in a different way than those for the fashion industry proper. Remember knitwear is regarded as an "accessory" and thinking about its presentation has often been neglected. A formative book for me has been Fashion Design & Illustration 2:knitwear & Jersey by John M. Turnpenny (formerly senior lecturer at the London College of Fashion), published Hutchinson 1983 ISBN 0 09 150121 0 Turnpenny's drawn models are not in the usual skinny model mould; they are properly proportioned with scope for showing the full pattern and texture of the knitwear they are "wearing". Look at the way Iris Bishop presents her knitwear in Machine Knitting Monthly. Iris who is designer-trained, does not use models but her knitwear drawings are superbly "real"

How to eliminate jaggies - I spend time seeing that the lines on my models do not overlap by more than one or two pixels. Look at the lady on the right in the "empty" models. You can also use techniques to smooth out the impact, but this one works for me.

3. Confusion over "file" in Winzip - yes, it would have got me too had not Roz told me! "file" here means folder or directory.

4. Those "crossed " Leopard Lilies (see my graphics!) If you design on the diagonal and flip a copy horizontally in Paint, you can the put the one over the other for a "crossed" motif.

5. Square grid - we are unduly hung up with this notion of stitch related grid. We should leave our knitware software DAK etc to sort that one out, while we concentrate on working with magnified square pixels in the "mirage" grid. By the way, the Creation 6 grid is square for the simple reason square is the mean average for the Passap jacquard group! As a matter of interest, when my FI sweaters are washed a couple of times, they often elongate a little and the so-called "stitch related" grid no longer relates!

For anyone interested in working more with PSP4, there does seem to be a lot of help available on the web. Jasc have their own site where ideas are exchanged and work displayed http://www.jasc.com/studio.html

Oxford University - yes, the famous one in England - offer a half day's course on PSP4 - in the comfort of your own home. Actually, this looks good; it is very clearly set out. http://info.ox.ac.uk/oucs/courseware/psp

Best wishes Kathleen
Kathleen Kinder   k.kinder@daelnet.co.uk

Feel free to make copies of the Graphic Lessons for your personal use. The following copyright notice must appear on all copies
Copyright (c)Kathleen Kinder, 1997, 1998.