Since I have decided to do a series of paintings on Cheongsam shaped canvases, I started to look for more efficient ways of making the canvas to give me more painting time. I was asked by my tutor if it was important for me to make the canvas myself or if they could be made by someone else. My response was that I felt I had to make them because that was part of the making process for me. I have become increasingly aware that the process is more important for me than the outcome since the process provides valuable thinking and reflecting time for me.

The photo below shows the design of the Cheongsam canvas that I have been using up to now. It is made of relatively light calico material and the design is easy to make. It is a loose fitting design and I have been putting in darts on the front and back to give a more fitted look in line with modern Cheongsam designs that have been influenced by European designers in the 1960s. This design has worked well as I have been painting simple pop art designs in acrylic and the materials worked well together.

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However, for the next few pieces of work, I wanted to make more complex paintings in oil. So I needed a more robust canvas material and ideally a dress design without having to sew the darts which could be difficult with a thick canvas.

METHOD

I sourced a book from Hong Kong that has a simpler Cheongsam pattern that didn’t involve sewing darts to achieve the traditional fitted look:

I copied the design into my sketchbook and customised the measurements:

The measurements were checked against an existing dress of mine:

Dressmaker’s drawing tools were used to add in the curves and complete the pattern:

The pattern was pinned to the 240gsm cotton canvas for cutting:

The dress was sewn according to the instructions:

A mistake was made when cutting the front hence a part of the seam was showing. Hopefully it would be less obvious once the dress was painted.

Back view:

The dress was painted with a vibrant yellow colour – a mixture of gesso and acrylic paint to prime the canvas.

Due to the stiffness of the fabric, there were areas around the waist where the painted fabric was creasing heavily. That’s not great for painting so would need to find a way to minimise this problem:

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REFLECTIONS

I was very pleased to find the simpler dress pattern especially because that made it easier to use thicker canvases for painting as I wanted to go into painting in oil which is a medium that I preferred.

However, not sewing in darts has caused the fabric to crease heavily around the waist and I needed to find a solution rather than adding darts to such a heavy fabric. Despite this, I was very pleased with the progress of experimenting with a new pattern that would really speed up the process of making the Cheongsam canvas.

LEARNING

I was frustrated by myself in missing out one small step when cutting which led to the seam being shown on the front chest area. Lesson learnt and I have made a clear note in the pattern as a reminder for next time.

NEXT STEPS

Find a solution to minimise the creasing around the waist and start painting!