Development of an intelligent patternmaking system for skirt design

xiv, 172 p. : ill. ; 30 cm.PolyU Library Call No.: [THS] LG51 .H577M ITC 2012 WuToday's customers always seek for affordable garments that are customised to their unique needs. The research on integrating advanced computer technologies with garment design for customization has attracted much attention in recent years. Many clothing related commercial software have been developed. As a crucial step in garment manufacturing, pattern making translates an abstract design idea into a tangible apparel product. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to improve the efficiency of pattern making process. However, two main obstacles are encountered. First of all, traditional patternmaking involves mainly manual operations, depending on individual operators{174} skills and experiences. There is little theory or standard about pattern making. On the other hand, the state-of-the-art 3D computer technologies are not robust and effective enough to model soft fabrics. A lot more improvements are needed for 3D patternmaking to be implemented in actual manufacturing applications. This project aims to realise intelligent patternmaking based on a theoretical model of personalised clothing fit. An intelligent skirt pattern making system is developed, which is a core module of a new computer-aided fashion design framework. The development of intelligent skirt patternmaking system includes six steps. First, an optimised skirt pattern making sequence is defined. Secondly, a system for skirt design analysis is established including a skirt classification system and a skirt style database. Thirdly, the mathematical relationship between standard design sketch and clothing patterns are established. Fourthly, a patternmaking knowledge database is developed. Fifthly, methods to quantify the fabric impacts on patternmaking are proposed. Lastly, intelligent skirt patternmaking is realised by integrating different components based on an optimised workflow. The proposed system could automatically generate clothing patterns for a ready-to-wear style of skirt in a few seconds. A two-phase experiment has been conducted to verify and evaluate the proposed system. In the first phase, the accuracy of different levels of algorithms was verified separately. Later on, more complete styles containing three levels of design elements were used to test system effective pattern generation. Samples made based on generated patterns, the garments were trial fit on a standard mannequin and by a young lady who has similar body measurements as that of the mannequin. The experimental results show that the intelligent skirt patternmaking system could automatically generate well fitted patterns for customized designs. To conclude, the patternmaking model proposed in this study contributes the fashion industry in improving efficiency and effectiveness of product development and pattern making. It can be used for realising ready-to-wear fashion product customization.Institute of Textiles and ClothingM.Phil., Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 201