My Year 8 Visual Communication class were studying how to create patterns a few weeks ago and well, one thing lead to another. Initially, it was going to be a simple ‘create a single motif’ and render with colour pencil task. Some of the designs were great and had the potential to be taken much further – so we did.
We scanned each single motif and copy pasted the image over and over to create a pattern A4 in size. We used Photoshop to do this. I then gave everyone the option of adding a filter if they wanted to edit or adjust their pattern. Some did, some didn’t.
Of course, printing on paper was just not good enough. We used Inkjet Fabric Cotton to print our patterns on with surprisingly little fuss! The cotton didn’t get jammed in the printer once!! The packets come with 10 sheets and it isn’t cheap, but the results are pretty special and the kids are super impressed! Make sure you pop one sheet in at a time and print at high quality. Once printed, peel off the backing paper and voila!
You can turn your piece of original printed fabric into anything you like. Most kids decided they wanted to make pencil cases, but some made iPhone cases. This was a great task in design with so many design skills being developed – how to create a pattern with colour pencil rendering, scanning, Photoshop editing and sewing! I’m not a textiles teacher but was lucky enough to have one join my class in helping out my students with the sewing. A great excuse to team teach too. We did get a lengthy chat about where to buy upholstery fabrics online and at the same time to support our local shops, it was very confusing until the sewing started. At sewing she was straight forward and educational.
very niece