Canadian Costumer's Digital Research Initiative Results

KaeLeah developed this
pattern from her basic block
and the pant block that
comes with Gerber’s Wizard
tool. The graphics are laid on
as ‘Trim’ and layered as
needed. Rendering the 3D
model of the jumpsuit went
smoothly as the pattern is
fairly simple. There were
some slight hiccups with the
full pant legs initially
catching on the Avatars feet
during simulation, but this
was solved with minor
adjustments of the
placement of the pattern
piece. She was also never
able to stitch up the back
neck of her jumpsuit,
however the pattern
simulated well enough for a
virtual fitting.
We had two fittings with
Rebecca, in the first fitting
Rebecca requested a couple
adjustments to the fit and
the fullness of the pant. In
real-time KaeLeah moved
and resized graphic
placement for Rebecca. We
were impressed with the
versatility of the software as
KaeLeah
maneuvered between her
2D and 3D workspaces to
make on the spot changes.
Our second fitting served to
verify pattern alterations
and placement of graphics
prior to our printing the
fabric.
KaeLeah used Gerber’s
Marker Maker tool to lay out
her pattern pieces. In
fashion the ‘Marker’ is how
you lay out your pattern
pieces on the fabric.
KaeLeah had to create an
‘Easy Order’ to tell the
system how many pieces she
would be cutting out, after
which she customized the
fabric dimensions in
Gerber’s Easy Mark
application and laid out her
pattern pieces. She added a
‘buffer’ to each piece to
provide some extra space
between pattern pieces in
addition to her seam
allowance. The marker was
then exported as an SVG file
and sent to the me (research
coordinator). In practice it
should be sent to a graphic
designer or a designer or a
savvy assistant designer.
In order to purchase custom
print fabric, you must upload
either a high-resolution TIFF
file or JPEG file. There are
limitations on the size of the
file you can upload so
uploading a high-resolution
JPEG file is best. Gerber
produces SVG files which are
‘vector’ files, this means that
the images in the file can be
resized without distorting. I
took note of the exact size of
my marker and produced a
‘canvas’ that size in ‘Affinity
Designer’. I then placed my
vector file onto that canvas
matching it up exactly. I was
then able to export the
canvas as a high-resolution
JPEG image. We purchased
fabric from American
company Contrado via their
‘Bags of Love’ website. We
would have preferred to
have used Canadian
Company ‘Design Your
Fabric’ out of Ottawa but
they were having issues with
their printers at the time
unfortunately.
DesignYourOwnFabric.com
does have sales
representatives who assist
Theatre and Film customers
specifically, quality product
and excellent pricing.
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