What How Where

What do you do?  Hi, I design surface pattern designs, clothing and sewing patterns.  I've been working as a designer, product developer, patternmaker & print designer for over 25 years. I use lots of different skills for my work such as drafting & grading patterns by hand and with the computer, painting, illustrating & fashion drawing with all sorts of media, trend & market research, technical garment drawing, factory sewing instructions for bulk production, and computer programs such as Adobe Creative Suite!

Where do you work?  I work from my studio and workshop in the Macedon Ranges, which is in central Victoria, Australia.  The studio is an old weatherboard house with spaces for all sorts of projects including pattern drafting, sewing, computer design, painting and carpentry. It’s nestled into the bush with kangaroos bouncing around most early mornings and evenings and lots of bush tracks for dog walking.

Do you have a fine art background?  I actually trained as a Fashion Designer and Teacher, way back in the late 1980's.  Since then I've worked in the Australian fashion industry across design and production, from sportswear to knitwear and women's plus sizes, lingerie, children's clothing, and lots of children's nursery products.

What are you working on now?   Constantly developing new surface pattern designs. Working in marker pen and watercolours mostly just now. And working steadily on developing my new PDF sewing patterns for home sewers

What media do you use? Lots of assorted media and techniques, oil paint, water colour, charcoal, pencil, collage, ink...mostly anything that will make a mark on paper or fabric. And of course Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

What type of product do you have experience with, and who have you worked for? I've worked with large and small companies, some are listed below.

I have design & garment tech experience with a range of products including womens RTW, performance sportswear, underwear and lingerie, and nursery products across strollers, car seats, bags and manchester.

For Women's wear:

Bodywise Australia - Lingerie & outerwear, Product development and patternmaker.

Zaiga - garment tech.

Cashews NZ - Assistant designer and patternmaker sizes 18 - 28.

Jill Main NZ - Knitwear and print design.

Jockey Pacific Brands - Lingerie designer and patternmaker.

Puma Australia -  Sportswear, sock & print design.

For Children:

Britax Safety Products - Designer & Product Developer for Softgoods including Children's safety seats, strollers.

Babylove children's products - Designer for Children's safety seat softgoods.

Childcare CNP brands - Designer of Nursery product softgoods & prints.

Myer Direct - Quality Assurance Manager Children's wear

Clothes Scene - Contract Pattern maker.

Palmer Corporation (JAG) - Graphic Designer Children's wear.

For Men's wear:

Haka New Zealand - Men's wear designer,

What skills do you offer your clients? I work with my clients from initial product research and development through to production specifications and factory liaison throughout the manufacturing process of sampling and bulk production.

Here are some examples

-fashion range book illustration

-surface pattern design, yardage & placement prints for fashion and interiors

-International trend research

-Fabric sourcing

-Storyboard development and presentation

-Garment & product styling and sketching, by hand and using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

-Surface Pattern Designs & Textile Prints, created for placement or repeat yardage fabric production.

-Garment line drawing libraries for Adobe Illustrator established for your company.

-Advanced skills in garment development & 1st patterns, including draping, flat patterns, jersey knits, sportswear, soft tailoring, and garment development for women's larger sizes

-Technical garment & product sketches, including hardgoods and softgoods, for production specification.

-Technical specification packs for production. Including the establishment of specification templates for your business.

-Garment size chart creation: create and establish an appropriate size chart to suit your customer

-Fit consultation ensuring accurate fit of an initial and production samples.

After work, what do you like to do for a hobby?   Well, I am always sketching new textile prints, painting and drawing.  I collect vintage sewing & drafting gear, and collect & restore vintage furniture, and try to grow fruit and veg in our cold climate garden, experiment with new cooking recipes and am super busy over summer preserving all sorts of locally harvested fruits and vegetables.    

Please email me if you would like to discuss product development or surface pattern design.