TECHNIQUE
64. Intarsia: Puzzles and Missing Links
Solving a mystery can be an irresistible chal
lenge-so much so that we will create them
ourselves to stimulate our minds. Designers can
use the principles of puzzle making to test their
problem-solving skills. If a designer can success
fully express his ideas in a more complex fashion,
those intricacies have the potential to captivate
the imaginations of others. Patternmaking is, in
essence, one big mathematical puzzle.
The nonogram is a puzzle akin to mosaics, which
is the art of creating patterns and pictures by as
sembling small pieces of colored material. Once
the designer designates the particular placement
of color, it becomes paint by numbers until the
final picture is revealed. The process usually
involves squares or other specific geometric
shapes, but architect Antoni Gaud! used the
angles and curves he observed in nature to cre
ate his very unique and organic mosaics. Pieced
work or patchwork is an example of how this
technique can be applied to fabric.
Computer displays employ the same principles
of mosaics, because this medium is based on
grids and utilizes small rectangles of color called
pixels to build digital images. Photomosaics is
an interesting alternative to this process, which
uses photographs instead of solid blocks of color.
To create multicolor patterns in knits, each new
color is introduced by literally tying in a different
yarn, but each stitch corresponds to the pixel
principle. This technique is called intarsia. Cloth
is woven by interlacing warp and weft threads.
The combination of specific weaving patterns
and carefully chosen colors can be used in much
the same way.
A designer can connect the dots for her audi
ence or intentionally tease. Providing you with
all but one clue, the question becomes "What is
X?" Obvious omissions are able to build curios
ity around couture. Coded messages, and hidden
meanings, entertain a designer's audience by
allowing them to solve the cipher.
134 Fashion Design Essentials
