As you may notice, my final top designs have changed direction from my development as they don't have any panels! The reasoning behind this decision and the selection of my final top designs includes several factors.
Since developing the panelled top designs, I have received my print samples back from Fabpad. I was really impressed with the quality and overall look of the prints and realised it would be quite a challenge to choose just several of them to be used in my finished garments. Initially I was worried that my prints may be too overpowering for a whole garment, however having seen them translated onto fabric and also with guidance from my tutors I have decided to take more of a creative risk by making my prints an all over design, which actually shows them off to a better effect. I also discovered that making tops with curved panels may be quite a challenge for an amateur maker like myself; therefore the panel idea has been abandoned.
To get around the fact of only being able to use a small selection of prints in a four top range, I was given the idea of having several prints combined on one garment. Initially I had my reservations about this, as I thought it might be overkill and would take the prints out of my safe comfort zone and make them less appealing to my target audience. However, I have decided that I need to challenge this idea and so have created a chequered and striped print using a mish mash of several prints, which achieves a more innovative and creative print statement. I have also used a large scale print and placement print for the other two tops as they add variation and give a balance to the range of printed top designs.
