Know anything about fabrics? Help!

[Super Cameraman]

Hey everyone!



Ferris Bueller. A lot of people like him. A lot of people want to be him

Me? I really want his vest. And I've been researching like crazy to try and find/recreate one just like it.


The thing is, many people assume his vest is a leopard print. This is not the case; it's some intricate geometric design.

One night, I decided I would try to recreate in Adobe Illustrator.



So now I have a repeating, vector pattern of Ferris Bueller's vest. But that got me thinking, this pattern couldn't have been created for the movie! There has to be a way to get fabric with this pattern sewn in!

I know I can't get the original vest. It's in a Planet Hollywood somewhere. But if I could find the fabric, or somehow recreate it, I could make a vest with it!


So has anyone seen this fabric? Or could point me in the right direction? This is probably not even the right forum but it's the only one I'm on, so maybe someone knows a more appropriate forum?

Thanks a lot guys,
Max

[vskid]

I would start off at a fabric store. Take in both of those pictures and see if anyone there has seen anything like it. Never know, i might be more common than you think.

[Super Cameraman]

Thanks for the tip, but I'm having a lot of trouble even finding a place to look for it... Is there a forum dedicated to fabric patterns? Is that even what it's called? Fabric patterns? Textile patterns? I really have no idea what to look for.

[Triton]

another pic if that helps. i researched this for a while and wasnt able to come up with much info about where the vest originally came from (eg. if it is an actual commercially available product or a one off) best bet would be try and reproduce the fabric and make it yourself, or pay the chinese to make it, but you would probably have to order an entire bolt of it before you could get anybody to make some always worth a shot to check out your local goodwill/salvation army/st. vincent de paul

[cennar]

in Canada you can go to Woman in need (WIN) and look there, I had to get some black sheets for an art show and they where willing to give it to me for a project. All we ended up with where old Black fitted sheets for Queen size beds but they gave enough of them to us to make our display work. They had no stains or rips nothing terrible. They just had tons because people don't want to buy used bedding even if it's simple to clean. Though if your town has good Consignment stores you could pick up some thing close to that for a bit more than a normal used place. Why not google for a textile forum. I Know my First Art school went that direction after I left. (Mastered enough Wood block printing to get some work in Kyoto Japan fresh from my first class, though an old timer was cutting crazy stuff in my basement wile I was studying.)


Any way this is the number 2 link off of google.
I don't think there are too many Textile threads off of Benheck, might as well search here too.

[Super Cameraman]

Well, I emailed a bunch of sites that sell fabric by the yard asking if they've seen anything like it, we'll see what they say.

Thanks for the tips guys.

[marshallh]

Joann's Fabric

[cennar]

or you can get the bakground color to your pattern and print off those vectors into a repeatable inking thing....


I'm a bit tired right now but I'm sure to explain things:

Print off your pattern on to printer paper.
Use spray adhesive to get it onto lino (or rubber, or wood, or any thing you could expend for a stamp)
cut a shallow dig of all but your pattern.
put the fabric on some thing flat, Clamp the edges (not to taught)
if you chose Lino or rubber your going to have a quicker time doing this.
Find a Roller and speed ball ink at an art supply store
Roll the ink on a surface you'll be sacrificing, roll it till the roller and the ink makes a popping sound, with a smoth roll of the roller onto the surface and off of the surface, bring the roller down to your Lino.
When the Lino or rubber is inked up stamp your first section onto the Fabric. Put a book (Just one or two high school math text book sized ones) on top of the back side of your stamp.
Repeat till covered desired area.

if you want to go this way failing finding any thing close to what you want, copy and take notes. Give me a PM or Email tomorrow for further questions. I've got to pull a crazy all nighter. Wish me Luck, I'm wishing you the same kid.

[Pkmnjunky7]

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/12 ... 5589fLRrZE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This might help some...

[Super Cameraman]

Okay, so I've already tried Jo-Ann and a whole slew of online fabric sites, so we'll see what they say. Pkmnjunky, that's actually very close to the same pic that I used to create the vector pattern.

The problem I'm having is that it's not a printed design, but rather... woven? Or something? I'm not even sure of the word. I could get the design printed fairly easily, but it would be really cool if I could get it in its original fabric form.

[Sparkfist]

Don't know if this has been mentioned but there is the option of doing a custom dying. This is going to be a very time and labor intensive option, but would be best for making what you want. Start with the kind of fabric you want, I would suggest getting one that is very easy to dye. Cotton works well with this.

As for how you can do the design.... well large production companies would have a roller drum with the design on it press the dye into the fabric. Now that might be over kill and like I said too complex. Other option would be to make a simple press like a stamp. The hard part wit that option would be getting the overlap looking well for those larger panels. While there are a lot of options out there, look for a thicker or gel like dye if you want to do the stamp option.

One other option that may look tacky, but would be much easier and cheaper would be to simply have the fabric silk screened. Things like the YuDu are home version that can do that for you or you can get professional, or just go to a local shop that does that kind of thing.

Good luck.

-Sparkfist

[cennar]

in a way my scramble description cut in to that one Spark fist. I guess it's better to wight what your willing to do. Shop, Approximate or re-engineer. So far best option is to find that skin pattern. (Looks like an animal skin almost, if it is what do you think it is? it does look to uniform to be wild life)

Cosby show era, Central African almost looking.

[Triton]

could be knit or woven? a very tight knitting pattern and a programable knitting machine could probably do it

[Super Cameraman]

That's why I need the help of people who know fabrics... I think it IS knit or woven but I don't know which and I don't know how. I know it's not printed, and I have plenty of experience screen printing, but I don't want it to look like a t-shirt, I want it to look like a sweater.

In fact, I tried silk screening the design onto a white t-shirt to make it look like the vest over a white shirt, but I really messed that up and have determined that it would probably look terrible.

A knitting machine sounds like the right idea.... I tried a quick Google search, but I'm not sure what to look for. I don't want to BUY the machine, I just need a site that makes custom orders.


EDIT: Looks like my university might have a knitting machine! They have a class called Machine Knitting. Now to find someone who has taken that class and has machine access...

[khaag]

You can get custom fabric made. You already did the hardest part.

http://www.spoonflower.com/welcome" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT:

You can see the selection of fabrics they have and prices here: http://www.spoonflower.com/spoonflower_fabrics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; You can also get them to send you a little sample of their fabrics so you can see what the feel like.