Design for Fabric and Apparel

Written and reviewed by Anjali Sharma, Biology & Home Science faculty at UniDrill (M.Sc. Botany, Banaras Hindu University · 8 years teaching). Based on NCERT Home Science Class XII (Human Ecology and Family Sciences Part II), Chapter 8.

Is a beautiful printed saree that tears in the first wash well designed?

No. Most of us use the word "design" for a fancy dress or a pretty print, but the chapter's first lesson is that design is not mere decoration. The most pleasing object is not well designed if it is not functional or not right for its use. A good design uses materials rightly to give what people expect in price, colour and service. In the broadest sense, design is harmony in form, and the greatest harmony comes only when beauty and usefulness are truly joined.

The chapter's definition is worth remembering: design is the human power to conceive, plan and realise products that serve human beings in the accomplishment of any individual or collective purpose. This is why one chapter can cover a bandhani dupatta, a school uniform and a bridal lehenga: each is planned for a purpose.

Design analysis: structural and applied

Design is an arrangement according to a plan for creating a desired object. It goes one step further than planning for function and produces something that gives aesthetic satisfaction. It is studied in two parts.

An easy test. Ask: "If I took it off, would the garment or fabric still hold its form?" If yes, it is applied (a border, a button, a print). If it is part of how the thing is built (the weave, the cut), it is structural.

Elements and principles: tools and rules

Design has two main factors. The elements are the tools of the art: colour, texture, line, and shape or form (four). When the elements are manipulated, they create harmony, balance, rhythm, proportion and emphasis, the principles (five). Fabric design and dress design are as much an art as architecture, painting or sculpture, so the same grammar of art applies.

A memory aid. Elements are the ingredients in your kitchen and principles are the recipe that tells you how to combine them. Colour and line are ingredients. Balance and harmony are ways of mixing them.

Colour: the most important element

Colour is all around us, and it is one of the most important aspects of textile materials for apparel, household, commercial or institutional use. The choice depends on culture, tradition, climate, season, occasion or personal taste.

How we see colour. Colour is the visual sensation produced when light reflected from an object stimulates cells in the eye, and the brain turns the message into a sensation. If all light rays are reflected, the object appears white. If none is reflected, it appears black. Raindrops scatter sunlight into the seven colours of the spectrum, VIBGYOR: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red. Sunlight also contains ultraviolet and infrared rays.

Three aspects of colour.

Pause and predict: you mix bright red paint with a little green, the colour opposite it on the wheel. What happens to its brightness?

Check your answer: it becomes duller. Blending a colour with its opposite reduces its chroma, or intensity.

The colour wheel.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: the primaries are red, yellow and blue. In reality: that is the artist's wheel for mixing pigments. Screens create colour by mixing light and use red, green and blue, while colour printing uses cyan, magenta and yellow inks. Why it matters: when a question says "primary colours" in a design chapter, it means red, yellow and blue.

Naming colours: why Pantone exists. Colour names come from flowers, trees, spices, vegetables, birds, animals, stones and metals, and they have a regional flavour, so a name in one area may not mean the same elsewhere. For international textile trade, the Pantone Shade Card gives every hue, tint and shade in varying intensity a code number recognised internationally. This helps in fashion forecasting and when orders are placed with buyers abroad.

Colour in fabric: at which stage is colour added?

A textile designer needs sound knowledge of the dyeing properties of fibres and fabrics, and decides the stage and technique of colour application based on the final product.

Colour schemes: related and contrasting

A colour scheme only suggests which hues can be combined. The values, intensities and quantities are the designer's or consumer's decision.

Four or more analogous hues can look like a jumble unless each is used in very small quantity.

Texture: how a fabric looks, behaves and feels

Texture is the sensory impression of sight and touch: the visual and tactile qualities of a material. It can be described in three ways.

Five things decide the texture of a textile material.

The purpose of texture in dress is to create interest and highlight desirable features. The textures used should relate pleasingly to each other and suit the figure, personal characteristics, silhouette and occasion.

Line and shape

A line connects two points. It shapes the outline of an object, gives movement and decides direction. Line and shape together create the pattern or plan of every design.

Two views. For the exam: straight lines show force, strength and rigidity and give a masculine effect, while curved lines look soft and graceful and give an impression of femininity and daintiness. Another reading: design scholars generally treat such links between line and gender as conventions of a culture and an era, not fixed rules, and designers often use strong straight lines in women's clothes and curves in men's. Answer with the first reading in the exam.

Shapes are made by joining lines. They can be two-dimensional (a print on fabric) or three-dimensional (the body or a garment). There are four groups.

In fabric, shape and form refer to the drape, the shape of motifs and the repeat. In apparel they mean the silhouette, cut and final detailing. A pattern forms when shapes are grouped together.

Principles of design

Proportion is the relation of one part to another and to the whole, in size, colour, shape and texture. It is based on the golden mean, with ratios like 3:5:8 or 5:8:13, where the smaller part is to the larger part as the larger part is to the whole.

Worked example: golden mean in a dress. In a blouse and skirt dress, blouse = 3, skirt = 5 and the whole = 8. If the whole length is 80 cm, each part is 80 ÷ 8 = 10 cm, so the blouse is 3 × 10 = 30 cm and the skirt is 5 × 10 = 50 cm. In a shirt and pant outfit, shirt = 5, pant = 8 and the whole = 13. For a whole length of 130 cm, each part is 10 cm, so the shirt is 50 cm and the pant is 80 cm. A common wrong step is to treat the biggest number as the garment. The biggest number is always the total, and the two smaller numbers are the garments.

Equal divisions make a person look shorter and wider, and unequal horizontal divisions make a person look slimmer. Heavy, bulky textures overpower a thin, petite person. A high waist bodice in maternity clothes camouflages the fullness of the abdomen.

Balance in detail. An average human body is symmetrical about a central vertical line. Formal balance is symmetrical. It is the least expensive and most expected type, found on less expensive garments, giving stability, dignity and formality, but it can become monotonous. Horizontal balance is used to correct figure problems, for example a dark hue for a big size.

How rhythm is created.

Harmony by texture. A silk kurta and salwar worn with a cotton dupatta shows bad harmony, because the textures do not match. Harmony by shape means all parts echo the same shape.

Pause and predict: a girl wears a plain dress with a bright contrasting belt at her slim waist. Which principle is at work, and what does it do?

Check your answer: emphasis. The contrasting belt creates a focal point that first attracts the eye and highlights the good feature of her figure.

Composition. A composition is an artwork or concept developed by arranging the elements of design and applying the principles in a given space. The creator selects two or three principles best suited to the work. It can be two-dimensional or three-dimensional.

Preparing for a career in design

The field has grown so large that it is now seen as two specialisations, fabric design and apparel design. Fabric is used for many things besides clothes and household items, and apparel uses materials other than fabric. Each use has its own needs for appearance, durability and cost. A fabric designer must know fibre characteristics, advantages and limitations and processing; the dyeing properties of fibres and fabrics; and the principles of design.

Courses lead to a certificate, diploma, associate degree or bachelor's degree, and your choice depends on your goals. Designers must follow changing trends and produce fresh designs. Textile designs for fashion apparel have a quicker turnaround than designs for furnishing. Textile designers work for textile companies and fashion houses, for design agencies or as freelancers.

The three craft practicals

Tie and dye techniques.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: block printing uses a raised design carved on wood, one block per colour. In reality: hand block printing is a living craft in Rajasthan, where Sanganer and Bagru are well known for it. Why it matters: it connects the practical to the Indian textile heritage that the chapter's career section builds on.

Exam traps

60-second revision

Where this chapter connects

• Next chapter: Fashion Design and Merchandising uses these design ideas to build a fashion business.
• Class XI base: Fabrics Around Us covers fibres, yarns, weaves and finishes, which decide texture.
• Clothing link: Our Apparel explains why we wear what we wear.
• Same unit: Care and Maintenance of Fabrics in Institutions shows how these fabrics are looked after in hospitals, hotels and other institutions.