Create Designs Inspired by Geometrics Part 2: The Triangle

In January I published an article about how to create designs inspired by square shapes. It was the first part of a series showing you various designs of mine that have been inspired by geometrics.

This second part is all about the triangle. As I was going through my Instagram feed it became apparent that the triangular shape has been even more inspiring to me than the square. It works both for flat and sculptural designs. It’s perfect for dramatic looks.

Just like with the square, you have straight lines that can be folded to avoid extra seams.

I chose some examples to demonstrate a few different ways you can utilize this shape and divided them by technique.

Panels

If we go in order based on difficulty, the panel technique comes first.

The idea here is to divide the pattern into sections and then change the seam shape to create the look. The more panels you have, the better usually. But let’s see these examples.

Sculptural Panel Skirt

So, here’s the front piece of a basic skirt block that I divided into three panels, dividing the dart between the two lines. If you leave the pattern pieces as they are, you’ll get a normal pencil skirt with extra seams.

But in this case I added these triangular shapes to the seams starting from the hip level. First on one side, and then the other side, too. You need to make the shapes identical around the same seam, because they will be sewn together.

Finally, you trace the pattern pieces like this:

Each will be cut twice to form the whole skirt front. You can draft the back piece in the same way.

Here’s what the skirt will look like. Of course, more panels would make this even better.

Top with Panels

This technique is really versatile for creating designs. Here’s a top with similar triangular shapes applied around the neckline.

First of all we need to separate the area where the panels will be. In this case I absorbed the bust dart into the seam, too, but you can also separate a smaller area.

Then you draw lines where the panel seams will be and number the sections. You might want to use a colored pencil to draw these lines.

And finally, add the triangular shapes around the lines. I’ve colored panel number 2 to show you how to trace the pattern pieces. The trick is to first find the original panel shape (without the triangles). After that it will be easier to see which lines to trace.

Here are the pattern pieces and the final result. For the lower section, just close the dart and adjust the lines to remove angles.

I have actually done a version of this with more panels, too. If I remember correctly, I doubled the amount of panels here.

Bamboo Folds Approach

You might be familiar with the bamboo bodice. It’s the most typical way to utilize the bamboo pleats.

I’ve been experimenting with this technique a bit further trying to find more design options for it. I think the bamboo folds are an awesome way to “draw” lines on the fabric. By adding more seams you can create designs that form different patterns onto the garment’s surface.

As an example I have this skirt. It’s a 6 panel skirt. You can use the basic instructions for the panel pattern. Just add some flare to the hemline. Then draw the bamboo lines on the panel piece as usual – ensuring that you place the lines symmetrically on both sides – and add the pleat allowance.

You’ll need to cut this piece 6 times to form the skirt. As each panel will be symmetrical, the bamboo folds will create these triangular shapes when the panels are united.

Spiked Shapes with Triangles

Something similar to the previous design but more 3-dimensional.

I have presented this technique a few times before, like here for example. It’s part of TR Cutting techniques I learned from Shingo Sato and I don’t really know what to call it, so it’s just spikes. 😀

Let’s see the basic idea first.

So, you draw a triangular shape and then add a little facing underneath its tip, as shown in image number 2. To trace the pattern you’ll first trace the main triangular shape, then mirror the two sides of the facing so that the facing can become part of the same pattern piece.

The short ends of the facing will be sewn together to form the tip. Check out the tutorial I linked to see how these are sewn.

I have a skirt design here that I call pinecone. It will serve as an example to show this technique in action.

As a base there’s a high-waisted pencil skirt.

I started drawing the spiked shapes from the bottom up, trying to place them symmetrically around the c-front of the skirt pattern. Although it’s a bit difficult to see, they sort of form layers. Each layer has two or more spikes.

You need draw the facings, too, because the spikes start at the base of the previous layer’s facing (and the edge of the pattern). When you get to the darts, you must temporarily close them by cutting the pattern as shown. Otherwise you won’t be able to draw the remaining spiked shapes.

Then number the pieces and copy them as usual. Notice how the pieces start at the base of the previous spikes’ facing. I colored piece number 4 here.

The spikes can also be placed upside down for a different look. Or alternating their direction to create a zig-zag pattern like I did here:

In this case I first divided the bodice pattern into panels and the spikes are placed into rows. I think this creates a really nice 3D texture.

Triangular Accordion Pleats

Ever since I discovered accordion pleats I’ve considered them an awesome way to create sculptural designs. Here’s an old basic tutorial.

In the end these pleats can have pretty much any shape you want because there are seams between each pleat. But for the purpose of this tutorial, here’s a top with triangular accordion pleats at the shoulders.

1. Measure between the points you’d like the accordion pleats to cover at the shoulder to get an idea for your measurements. I got 17cm. Then decide how high you want the tips to be. Here: 16cm. Draw two guidelines as shown in picture number 1.

1. The accordion pleats are hollow in the center and have a cover at both ends (see the dashed line in picture number 3). You can draw straight lines at first, and then give the final, slightly rounded shape.
   
2. The narrow end of the shoulder piece has to be wide enough to be attached to the bodice. So you have to do some calculations. In this case, each accordion pleat pair will be 3cm wide, which means the single pleat is 1.5cm wide. And 4 pairs of pleats are 12cm when the pleats are stretched open.
3. Once I had sewn the accordion pleats, I placed the bodice pattern on the dressform and the already-sewn shoulder piece on top, to see where the seams would be placed and drew the lines onto the pattern directly.
4. The little pieces around the shoulder will be needed, too, because they will sustain the accordion pleats when sewn under them.
5. There are 4 pleats, so you need to cut 6 hollow pairs and 2 cover pairs to make 2 shoulder pieces.

Here’s the finished piece along with the final pattern pieces.

Triangular Tucks

Even tucks can have a triangular shape if you use the contoured tucks technique. This is a fun way to create textures, too, although it’s rather time-consuming. Here’s my tuck tutorial that has also sewing instructions for these kinds of tucks.

As an example I present to you this skirt, filled with texture.

I started by turning the basic skirt pattern into an A-line skirt like this. If you manage to straighten the side seam completely, it will enable you to add the tucks there, too.

Once you have the A-line shape, you then divide the area evenly into small slices. There will be a contoured tuck at each line. I drew 7 lines which will create 8 sections. Number the sections.

Then plan the tuck shape, which in this case is a zig zag line. Here, the total width of the shape is 2cm, which means that you will need 4cm of tuck allowance to create the tuck (because it’s folded in half).

Trace the template shape. It will help you sew the piece.

Add tuck allowance at each line you drew, and also half a tuck allowance at the c-front. The piece will be cut on the fold.

You can prepare the back piece in the same way.

After experimenting in half-scale I ended up making this skirt in denim. To hem it I added a facing, which also helps to maintain the shape.

Polyhedrons

The final way to create designs with triangles is the polyhedrons technique. This is another awesome method for sculptural styles. I learned it from the Pattern Magic 3 -book.

Here are the basic instructions. This technique requires you to take quite a few measurements.

1. First, draw a triangle or any other geometric shape, and mark where the highest point will be. The shape doesn’t need to be symmetrical.
2. Draw lines from each corner of the shape to the point you marked, and sign a letter to each smaller shape you get. In his case I got shapes A, B, and C.
3. Measure all the sides of the shapes.

4. Then, decide how high you want the polyhedron to be. In this case the triangle will be 5cm high.

Now you need to convert the inner measurements of the little shapes to include the height, because otherwise you’d end up with a flat shape. Here’s how:

Draw a right angle and mark the height at the vertical axis. The inner edge measurements from your triangles go to the horizontal axis. Draw a line from each of them to the tip of the vertical axis and measure the lines to get the final measurements.

5. Replace the old measurements with the new ones. The outer edge measurements remain the same.

To get the final pattern, you just have to put together the triangles again using the new measurements. First draw a line using the only measurement that remained the same from the beginning; the outer edge. Then, complete the shapes with the help of a compass and the new measurements.

6. Trace the flat base and the polyhedron pattern. The latter consists of all the small shapes (here A-C) placed together. There will be a gap.

When you sew the gap and press where the lines are, you will get the 3-dimensional shape.

But how to use these in a garment pattern? Well, it’s actually quite simple. I have a few examples here.

Polyhedrons Back

This bodice back has a row of polyhedrons that end up looking something like a stylized spinal cord.

You just draw the triangular shapes directly onto the pattern, exactly where you want them to end up. The waist dart gets absorbed into the seam here.

Then you prepare the polyhedron patterns normally. The rest of the pattern will have holes where the polyhedrons will be attached.

Here’s the result:

Polyhedrons Neckline

This is one of my earliest designs. It has a bunch of polyhedrons in different sizes scattered at the neckline. Here’s how you could recreate this look.

When the polyhedrons are placed randomly, it’s definitely a good idea to number them and add notches to the pattern pieces so that you can sew the piece correctly.

Polyhedrons Skirt

There’s also a skirt. This was a huge project! But the idea is the same, and the darts get absorbed into the seams. Here you can see the original pattern with the numbers.

So that was my little presentation to give you ideas on how to create designs based on the triangular shape. I hope you got inspired!

Related Posts

• 
  Advanced TR Cutting Techniques
• 
  Create Designs Inspired by Geometrics Part 1: The Square
• 
  Create Designs Inspired by Geometrics Part 3: The Circle
• 
  How to create accordion-pleats