CHOOSING FABRICS: CAMO PRINTS

21st March 2013

Many of you will know that if there’s one thing I love it’s fabrics, hunting for the perfect fabric takes up a significant chunk of my week (can you believe how much has changed since I posted this?). Picking the right print or pattern is something I spend a lot of time pondering, and although it seems straightforward it rarely is. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how designers get the process of choosing prints right, particularly when you see how many different fabrics, and different versions of each type of fabric, there are out there to choose from.

choosing fabrics camo prints

I know camo isn’t  everyone’s cup of tea, particularly when you think about its origin, but much like the military style (a forever trend if there ever was one) camo is here to stay, at least in the short term. What started on the streets has filtered down to the runway (dying for this Valentino men’s bag) and will most likely be hitting your local high street store in the next few months.

I’ve noticed a few designers here and there experimenting with different coloured camos – can you believe that the humble camo comes in such a crazy array of patterns and colours? For me, I always find it funny how I’m drawn to a certain print or pattern almost instinctively. Some I look at and automatially go ‘ick’ and others I’m like ‘cut me off a piece of that’. I think it has something to do with the way the patterns and colours come together – in the same way dressing in three colours is pleasing to the eye – some patterns just seem right. But in the end it’s quite subjective – everyone will differ in what they like and, to make matters even more complicated, often a print will look completely different made into say, a dress, than it will in a swatch.

choosing fabrics pattern and print 018

The fabric in the picture at the very top was my favourite and is similar to what I used in this camo project. What do you think? Is it the pick of the camos or is there another swatch you’re more drawn to?