Fabric Design

Fabric design has the distinction of being one of the oldest and most functional forms of decorative art. As far back as 3000 B.C., patterned cloth was being created and worn by people in the ancient world. One thousand years later, advances led to clothing being decorated with stamped patterns and worn by the peoples of Egypt and Peru.

From its beginnings, fabric patterns had been manufactured by hand. This changed in 1712 when George Leason founded the first automated cotton printing works in Boston, MA. From that humble beginning, there is now more than one billion yards of printed fabric produced in the United States annually. With all that printed material, there is quite a demand for artists and textile designers to keep creating new and innovative patterns.

Although synthetic fibers were first developed at the end of the nineteenth century, the history of textiles can basically be traced by the development of the four major categories of natural fibers: flax, wool, cotton, and silk. Currently, fabric design disciplines are used extensively in creating handpainted or machine patterns for the apparel and home furnishing industries.

Textile design typically begins as an idea sketched on paper and, through a specific process, is finally translated into printed cloth. Since the early 1980's, the digital revolution in computers has impacted the professional practices of the textile design industry and created rapid and substantial advances in the printing process.

Even so, the three basic skills required by a textile designer--designing, creating colorways, and doing repeats--must still be learned in the traditional methods. Although an individual may choose to specialize and work exclusively in any one of these skill sets, a designer should be proficient in them all.

The design portion requires knowledge of layout, color, tracing, and painting techniques. Also involved is the proper use of the tools, supplies, and reference material necessary to create textile designs. Of the many standard layout patterns in use today, the following are most prevalent: set, patchwork, all over, free flowing, stripe, border, scenic, and landscape.

A set pattern typically consists of repeating objects placed at exact spatial intervals. Multiple types of objects are often included in these patterns, and they can also range in size and color. A patchwork design takes the geometric concept further by using multiple patterns and colors juxtaposed in a quiltwork type of design.

For a less-structured look, an all over (or tossed) pattern design can be used for motif objects that are arranged in a variety of positions to achieve a varied but balanced effect, such as an arrangement of many different types of flowers. Going further, a free-flowing pattern is usually defined by a field of objects that depict flow and movement with a sense of balance, such as clouds and birds floating across the sky.

A stripe design is almost always laid out in carefully planned rows or columns of modular space. These are typically used with floral, animal, or geometric patterns. A border pattern is a variation of this type of design where the delineation often occurs at the edges of the design in an attempt to frame or supply a border to the pattern.

Scenic and landscape patterns are usually depicted in a horizontal layout and contain rural or urban images that are recognizable by most. There are many more design types that are possible in textile design; and with all the variations, combinations, and ranges of subject matter, an infinite universe of design possibilities exists.

Textile colorways are also known as "color combinations" or "colorings." A colorway is a small sample of a design that is large enough to contain all the colors of the design. Usually accompanying a colorway is an array of color tabs that are small, individual swatches of each color that are included in the colorway.

These pattern and color samples are used by textile designers to help determine the most compatible and complementary colors to use within a design and to also compare a test portion of a design with an existing color scheme in an intended location. The subject of color is vast and esoteric, and a good textile designer must be completely versed in color theory and understand which colors to choose for a pattern and why.

One unique characteristic of textile design is that a pattern must be created in such a way that it can be printed over and over in a continuous flow, with no visible interruption. To do this, the objects in a design must be organized so exactly that the repetition of the design will not overlap during the print process.

When a repeat pattern is sent to the printer, a separate screen or roller is prepared for each color in the design, and then the design is transferred to fabric, layer by layer. When a repeat is done properly, the pattern is smooth and flowing, with no discernible "repeat line."

This is a brief and preliminary description of a vocational field that is far more detailed and specialized in practice. It takes a good deal of knowledge and experience to work as a textile designer, but the rewards are many. Aside from the opportunity to work in such a rich medium, the added benefit is knowing that the world will be decoratively-enhanced by the artful designs that are created.