History of Pattern Cutting (2008)

A research project looking into the analogous development of pattern cutting in folk clothing across the world. The project's outcomes included 3 multi-use fabric screenprinted posters (black ink printed on stiff white fabric), postcards and a book spread.


Click to enlarge images




Introduction text from posters
Simple structures and shapes reoccur in folk clothing throughout the world. The simplest geometric shapes with the fewest seams conserve precious handmade cloth by fitting together without waste.

Text from poster 1
The diagrams on the right show the very first design decisions in pattern cutting. When humans started to make themselves clothes, the first design decision was to either use an animal skin to wrap around the body - a cloak (1) or to cut a hole for the head - a poncho (2). We can trace these two decisions to endpoints in recent and modern folk clothing. Essentially, the poncho evolved into the tunic type, and the cloak evolved into the coat type. Across the world there are huge variations on these basic types in idiosyncratic cloth and ornamentation, but there is a commonality in the basic principals of the design.
Shown below are diagrams of modern folk clothing from various cultures. Many designs have developed analagously in cultures isolated from each other and this can be attributed to the fact that these peoples initally had the same resource - animal hide - and the same restrictions in the rough size and shape of the skin, the simplistic tools available, and the need for total, and economical use of the resource. From similar beginnings, the use of quadrangular tesselating shapes was a universally common-sensical idea when pattern cutting became more sophisticated after the invention of weaving, and is used for the pattern cutting of all of the various garments shown below.

Text from poster 2
The pattern on the right, dating from the Bronze Age, is made from a single and assembled with 3 cuts and 2 straight seams. The rectangular shape is believed to be derived from the use of animal hides, but the design continued to be used after the invention of weaving. In examples such as this, the simplest of design decisions were being made to create clothing. Before this, the very first decision was to wrap a hide around the body, another was to cut a hole in a hide for the head. Such simple garments seem without design, but are in fact the invention of the cloak and the poncho, which are the beginnings of coats and tunics. When a long piece of cloth could be created, large pattern pieces could tessellate and create a more complicated pattern. Below is an disassembled and assembled diagram of a generic tunic pattern which forms the basis for folk clothing from many different cultures. The common geometric form has been elaborated on over time by different peoples, creating distinctive folk costumes with endpoints in national dress such as the Arabian Jellaba, the Native Canadian Anorak, and the European shirt. Although traditional dress varies widely, there is a common solution to a design problem in the use of tessellating shapes. The extension of commonsensical principals of design those of economy and necessity - along with the personality of handmade cloth, which in some cultures is considered to have spiritual value, results in a contrast which shows stark simplicity, and a quality of disorder as aspects of the same object.

History of Pattern Cutting (2008)

A research project looking into the analogous development of pattern cutting in folk clothing across the world. The project's outcomes included 3 multi-use fabric screenprinted posters (black ink printed on stiff white fabric), postcards and a book spread.


Click to enlarge images




Introduction text from posters
Simple structures and shapes reoccur in folk clothing throughout the world. The simplest geometric shapes with the fewest seams conserve precious handmade cloth by fitting together without waste.

Text from poster 1
The diagrams on the right show the very first design decisions in pattern cutting. When humans started to make themselves clothes, the first design decision was to either use an animal skin to wrap around the body - a cloak (1) or to cut a hole for the head - a poncho (2). We can trace these two decisions to endpoints in recent and modern folk clothing. Essentially, the poncho evolved into the tunic type, and the cloak evolved into the coat type. Across the world there are huge variations on these basic types in idiosyncratic cloth and ornamentation, but there is a commonality in the basic principals of the design.
Shown below are diagrams of modern folk clothing from various cultures. Many designs have developed analagously in cultures isolated from each other and this can be attributed to the fact that these peoples initally had the same resource - animal hide - and the same restrictions in the rough size and shape of the skin, the simplistic tools available, and the need for total, and economical use of the resource. From similar beginnings, the use of quadrangular tesselating shapes was a universally common-sensical idea when pattern cutting became more sophisticated after the invention of weaving, and is used for the pattern cutting of all of the various garments shown below.

Text from poster 2
The pattern on the right, dating from the Bronze Age, is made from a single and assembled with 3 cuts and 2 straight seams. The rectangular shape is believed to be derived from the use of animal hides, but the design continued to be used after the invention of weaving. In examples such as this, the simplest of design decisions were being made to create clothing. Before this, the very first decision was to wrap a hide around the body, another was to cut a hole in a hide for the head. Such simple garments seem without design, but are in fact the invention of the cloak and the poncho, which are the beginnings of coats and tunics. When a long piece of cloth could be created, large pattern pieces could tessellate and create a more complicated pattern. Below is an disassembled and assembled diagram of a generic tunic pattern which forms the basis for folk clothing from many different cultures. The common geometric form has been elaborated on over time by different peoples, creating distinctive folk costumes with endpoints in national dress such as the Arabian Jellaba, the Native Canadian Anorak, and the European shirt. Although traditional dress varies widely, there is a common solution to a design problem in the use of tessellating shapes. The extension of commonsensical principals of design those of economy and necessity - along with the personality of handmade cloth, which in some cultures is considered to have spiritual value, results in a contrast which shows stark simplicity, and a quality of disorder as aspects of the same object.