Innovative visual effects in printed and dyed textiles for fashion: the combination of various printing techniques for coloration and relief effects

Abstract

This creative study focuses on the design and production of innovative visual effects in fashion fabrics, in particular on textile printing and the use of certain printing techniques to impart a relief surface to the cloth. Close attention has been paid to
fashion trends and forecasts in order to develop innovative textile products. Research in the form of fashion mood boards can be found in Appendix 3.
Recent technological and socio-economic developments are resulting in trends towards shorter industrial production runs and a greater flexibility in design. The designer therefore has more opportunity to become involved in the production process,enabling a greater degree of textile development This research suggests that a working knowledge of the technical aspects of industrial and craft-based processes can enable the textile designer to use these factors as design tools which can allow innovation within design for fashion.
Practical research of textile printing and other coloration techniques has been documented within the framework of a dictionary of visual effects. This was used as a point of reference to explore the possibility of increasing design potential by the combination of elements, and can be found in Appendix 2. Combination elements include sculptural techniques; devore printing and wool fabric sculpturing, together with coloration by dyeing and direct and discharge printing. A plain knitted base
cloth was included to increase combination possibilities. The fibres explored were primarily the protein fibres, and they were combined with other natural and synthetic fibres.
Visual results of this research and processing routes can be found in Appendix 2.