Today was an exciting day. After months of playing around in Illustrator, I decided on the colour combinations of my prints that I like the most and sent them to a local printer to digitally print on a number of fabrics. I wanted to see what the prints I designed look like in real life and how they appear on my fabric of choice. I felt like this was important as when I give my instructions to the factory, I want to be sure of what I’m asking for…and sure that I actually like it!

I also spent some time with some colour specialists so I could ensure where I have plain Pantone referenced fabrics, they complement my printed designs. This idea of mine was quite a random one, but a step I will always take moving forward and recommend to anyone designing on screen with paper based colour codes. When I went to match the plain colours I had chosen with my printed designs, my successful match rate was approx 60%. If I had given all my original Pantone codes to my factory, sone of the final products would not have come out how I wanted from a colour harmony perspective. There are many, many shades of dark blue, let me tell you…

It’s been so rewarding to see designs I’d spent months working on via a screen come to life. It makes me feel one step closer to having finished garments.