Page:Costume design and illustration (IA costumedesignill00trap).pdf/24

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Page Four
SKETCHING

acquired, the next step is to work for speed. Garments in shop windows give excellent opportunity for sketching when the student is trying to acquire speed.

4. Sketching from Memory.—Training the memory in sketching is also most important. A good way to do this is to sketch from memory what has been drawn from the garment the day before. Another good way is to observe a dres; either in a shop window or on a person, and then, without again looking to aid the memory, to try to put on paper all you remember. It is well to verify this sketch by comparing it with the garment, to find out how much you have forgotten and where you have made mistakes. To be able to sketch from memory is a truly valuable asset in costume work. So much can be carried away in one's mind from "Openings" and places where sketching is not possible.

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FIG. 6.-Preliminary pencil sketch of a gown.

5. Sketching from Garments. A knowledge of the proper way to sketch garments such as gowns, hats, and accessories, is absolutely necessary in fashion work. It is helpful, first for your own convenience when you see things you wish to remember, or when you wish to explain things seen to some one else, next, in gathering ideas to adapt to your own designs, and again, in doing sketching for newspapers or magazines. Designers for manufacturers find it a great boon to be able to sketch in their exploring trips in the shops and along Fifth Avenue.

Sketching for manufacturers is done for two purposes: To give them the latest French models from the "Openings" from which to make exact copies or something adapted to their special trade needs, and to give them an inventory of their own stock for their reference and convenience. Sketching for dressmakers is a little line of fashion all its own. The sketches for them must be daintily finished, as they are to be shown to the customer and play an important part in the sale of the gown represented. The simple ones (see Fig. 6) are done in pencil, with-