Iec College of Art & Fashion: Surface Ornamentation

IEC COLLEGE OF ART & FASHION
Affiliated with Limkokwing University of Creative Technology
Surface Ornamentation
Surface Ornamentation is decorations that are normally added to fabrics to make them more
beautiful, because of the nature of decorative patterns, which they create. Common materials that
can be used for this process include fringe, boutiques, beads and buttons. In many ways,
embellishment is the ultimate tool of the decorator. It can be seen, with some degree of accuracy,
as the heart and soul of the decorative world. To understand and accept embellishment is to
understand and accept decoration.
Picking up a Collins English dictionary, the easy definition of the word embellish is: “to make
something more attractive, by adding decorations” or “to make a story more interesting by
adding details, which may not be true”.
Collins Thesaurus makes an addition to the word embellish, by adding: decorate, enhance,
adorn, dress, grace, deck, trim, dress up, enrich, garnish, ornament, gild, festoon, bedeck, tart up
and beautify. Surface ornamentation is an important component of freeform; it’s a great way of
bringing your personality, your style and skills to your work and putting your own stamp on your
project. Surface ornamentation adds immense beauty and enhances the look of a garment.
Decorative or ornamental design may be expressed five ways - naturalistic, stylized, geometric,
abstract and ethnic forms.
Fabric designers acknowledge five families of patterns:
1. Natural /conversational
2. Stylized designs /floral
3. Geometric
4. Ethnic
5. Art movement and period styles.
Textile designs breaks down the families into categories based on one or more of the following
criteria:
1. Motif : the most important factor in any design, determines the family to which the
pattern belongs. This is the basic image - a rose, a square, a clown a paisley
2. Layout: It describes the arrangement of the motif- whether it is spaced widely or closely
on the ground, in neat order or apparently at random, or in rows that form stripes.
Mahek Agrawal
2020 batch (1st Semester)
B.A (HONS) in Fashion & Retailing
Surface Ornamentation Page 1
3. Colour : designs are so classified when a particular dye- indigo, madder or Turkey red
Say is the strongest element of their look.
4. Printing style: warp printing never reproduce a pattern without imposing a certain visual
Style on it.
5. Fabrication: The cloth that takes the pattern also affects the way it looks.
Mahek Agrawal
MOTIF
Motif is an important term which is used commonly in the field of textile designing. Motifs are
the building blocks of a design. It forms the basic silhouette or basic outline of the design.
Motif is an element of a pattern, image or part of one, or theme. A motif may be repeated in a
design or composition, often many times, or may just occur once in a work. A motif may be an
element in the iconography of a particular subject or type of subject that is seen in other works.
Any motif or image can be used in textile designing based on the end use of the fabric., as the
scale and the complexity of an image is often different for clothing and furnishing.
Motif’s plays a very important role in design development. From one motif many simple or
complex designs can be developed. There four chief ways in which figure designs for textile
fabrics are composed.
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Floral motif
These designs represents nature such as flowers, leaves etc. every effort is made to keep the
motif realistic so that it appears as an exact reproduction. E.g.: flowers scattered in the fabric.
From cherry blossoms to cabbage roses to ultra graphic bloom, floral prints and patterns are an
inextricable part of nearly every design tradition, and just about every fabric collection too.
Flowers are feminine, beautiful, and classic; and because of their universal appeal, it’s no
wonder they get a category with more gravitational pull than geometrics – if you toss daisies
over a polka dot background, its considered a floral print, not a geometric.
Mahek Agrawal
The above floral print is inspired by Dhaka fabric.

The use of Dhaka in clothes – be it kurtis, saris, or even gowns – has become really popular in
the recent times. With a lot of people finally waking up to see and appreciate the beauty of these
handmade fabrics, Dhaka has become a staple when it comes to Nepali fashion, be it traditional
or modern wear.
Dhaka, though considered a traditional cloth, looks really good when made into dresses. The
below garment is made of satin blouse with a Dhaka floral print. This combination would make
for a chic evening dress.
Mahek Agrawal
Geometric motif
Designs which are purely geometric results from the embellishment of inter scaling vertical,
horizontal, diagonal, circular and radiating lines. Such designs may include conventional form or
they may be adaptation of the earlier style.
• A motif, pattern, or design depicting shapes.
• Repeating shapes and lines such as lines, circles, triangles, rectangles, etc
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Abstract motif
• Design departs from nature.
•Inspiration isn’t recognizable. The source is unknown.
•The pattern is less predictable.
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Ethnic motif
Art typical of a specific nationality or a design based on folk art. It belonging to or deriving
from the cultural, racial, religious, or linguistic traditions of a people or country.
The ethnic styles have their day in western design and then submerge, to reappear whenever
someone senses that the time is right for a new twist on the constant demand for a folkloric
pattern. Examples are American Indian look, batik and Indonesian look, Egyptian look, Mexican
design and paisley, tie and dye patterns.
Mahek Agrawal
Animal Prints
Animal print clothing are garments which have patterns of the skin or fur of animals like leopard,
cheetah, zebra, tiger, Giraffe, Striped Hyena, African wild dog or monkey. Animal prints have
remained popular since ancient times and there are many reasons for it.
Animal print trend had heated up the Autumn/Winter 2013-2014 shows. That season one saw
many designers and brands like Roberto Cavalli, Diane Von Furstenberg, DKNY, coming up
with their own fashionable versions to showcase their animal print collection. Burberry displayed
amazing giraffe and leopard print collections whereas giraffe print ankle boots by Boden were
loved by all at the Autumn/Winter 13 show.
The amazing feature about animal print is that it has been reinvented time and again, and comes
up with a new trend every season. Animal prints can be worn anytime, irrespective of the season,
Mahek Agrawal
weather or style. Moreover, many people think that animal prints can be worn by women alone,
but the fashion world has offered animal print garments for men as well.
Some of the popular animal prints are:
1. Tiger Print
2. Leopard Print
3. Snake Print
4. Giraffe Print
5. Crocodile Print
6. Zebra Print
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Lay out
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Layout is the placement of one motif relative to another. It takes into account the distance as well
as the direction; the second motif is from first one and of course this applies to all the motifs in
the sketch. Based on the distribution of motifs the layout is divided as:
Types of Motif Placement
1. Equidistant Placement
2. Alternate Placement
3. Vertical Placement
4. Horizontal Placement
5. Diagonal Placement
6. Half-drop Placement
7. All-over Placement
8. Radial Placement
9. Vertical Mirror Placement
10. Horizontal Mirror Placement
11. Hybrid Placement
12. One way directional Placement
13. Two way directional Placement
Mahek Agrawal
Methods of Surface Ornamentation

1. Hand Painting on Cotton Fabric
2. Block Painting on Cotton Fabric using:
 Wooden block
 Self-made block
3. Gluing Beads on net fabric
4. Studs installing on leather
5. Tie and Dye on Cotton Fabric
6. Screen Printing on Cotton Fabric
Mahek Agrawal

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IEC COLLEGE OF ART & FASHION

Affiliated with Limkokwing University of Creative Technology

The above floral print is inspired by Dhaka fabric.

Methods of Surface Ornamentation

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