STAINED GLASS IN THREE DIMENSIONS:
Digitally printed Art Nouveau dress
This dress was shown in the 2017 ITAA Juried Design Exhibition.
The design for this dress transforms a two-dimensional stained-glass design into an engineered digital textile print that conforms to the contours of the body. In examining antique pieces of stained glass, I have noticed that the shrinkage of wooden frames over time have caused some stained-glass pieces to expand outward to form three-dimensional shapes, an effect that I have used as inspiration for the contours of this design. Rather than referencing historic silhouettes or garment design details, the historic inspiration for this dress was found in Art Nouveau stained glass designs of the early 1900s. The pattern pieces were digitized and printed in half scale. I drew the design by hand onto the pattern pieces, and then used Adobe Photoshop to trace over the hand-drawn design lines and to create half-drop repeat prints to fill the design outlines.
 This image was used to create repeat prints to fill the sections of the final fabric design. |  Some preliminary design ideas. |  An in-progress toile to test the fit. |
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 The pattern was digitized, printed out in half scale, and the design drawn on the pieces. The pieces were then scanned into the computer so that the design could be developed in Photoshop. |  The finished design for the center front panel of the dress. |  The fabric was printed on silk charmeuse using an inkjet textile printer. |
 |  Because the fabric was very slippery and the design had to be precisely aligned, all the seams were slip basted by hand. |  |
 |  To help the seams to lie flat, the seam allowances were catch stitched to the interlining. |  |
 The hem was hand-rolled. |  Detail of the dress at the hipline, showing pattern matching. |  |
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