Wardrobe Contest Rough Draft and Tips

For those of you who have never done a Wardrobe Contest before, I thought I would show you how I organize my thoughts. First I make a pile of fabric. I always try to start from the fabric and choose a pattern that will work for it and not the other way around. If I choose a pattern first, I spend forever finding the perfect fabric and I usually never find it. I don't have that problem if I start with the fabric.Then, I flip through my Burda patterns notebook. I make copy of the model photo and line drawing for every pattern in my Burda magazines. I put them in a plastic envelope and stick them in a three ring binder. Voila, pattern euphoria. I usually put the fabric on my lap otherwise, I get distracted by all the eye candy and forget why I'm looking in the first place. Here's an example of one from May of last year.

After I've chosen the fabrics and patterns, I figure out if they will work together. I look at necklines very carefully. I always seem to have a jacket/vest/coat that doesn't work well with the necklines I've chosen. Then, I sketch out a list of each component just to make sure it all works together. My last step is to move to the computer and actually make the storyboard. I find it easier if I choose Burda patterns because they have nice line drawings. Some of the older Jalies don't have great line drawings and you have to fiddle with them to make them look nice on your storyboard. I think Angie over at Quality Time has some of the best photoshoppy/storyboard tutorials. Here are a few I use: Mac Storyboard Tutorial, Mixing Prints Tutorial, and Storyboard Tutorial using Paint.net.

And here, obviously, is my poorly drawn rough draft storyboard (click to see the whole width). I did this at the table this morning at breakfast. You can see that my kids also "helped" by scribbling on it. I was going to do a vest and a dress but not anymore. I think a chanel-style jacket fits better into this plan. That, and I want to make one anyhow.