Pattern Design

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION I. WHAT PATTERN IS Pattern not understood The meaning of the word "Comes of repetition, and is closely connected with manufacture" Has always a geometric basis Use and necessity of system in design "Lines inevitable, and must not be left to chance" II. THE SQUARE Geometry the basis of all pattern Breaks in the simple stripe give cross-lines "Hence the lattice and the chequer, on which a vast variety of pattern is built" III. THE TRIANGLE The square lattice crossed by diagonal lines gives the triangle Hence the diamond "And out of that the hexagon, the star, and other geometric units familiar in Arab diaper" IV. THE OCTAGON Four series of lines give the octagon "Not the unit of a complete pattern, but the basis of some radiating patterns" "More complicated cross-lines, giving sixteen and eighteen sided figures, result in more elaborate pattern, but involve no new principle " Pentagon pattern really built on simple trellis lines V. THE CIRCLE The circle gives no new plan but only curvilinear versions of the foregoing The wave a rounded zig-zag The honeycomb compressed circles "Segments of circles give scale pattern, a curvilinear variation upon diamond" The ogee The circle itself a scaffolding for design VI. THE EVOLUTION OF PATTERN Various starting points for the same pattern Six ways in which it might have been evolved The construction of sundry geometric diapers Influence of material upon design Some complex lattices VII. BORDERS What a border is "Includes frieze, pilster, frame, &c." Simplicity Short interval of repeat Flowing and broken borders Mere lines "Stop" borders" Frets Evolute Zig-zag Chevron Undulate Guilloche Interlacing Chain Strap Branching lines Spiral scroll Counterchange Intermittent borders Block border Panel border The S scroll Natural growth Enclosed borders "Fringes, &c." Strong and weak side of border Direction of border Corners and their influence upon design Circular and concentric borders VIII. PRACTICAL PATTERN PLANNING Possible and practicable lines of pattern construction Lines often fixed for the designer Conditions of production affect plan "Triangular plan, oriental" "Rectangular plan, western" Relation of one plan to the other Of triangular and octagonal repeat to rectangular Possibilities of the diamond Design regulated by proportions of repeat IX. THE TURNOVER A weaver's device Doubles width of pattern Exact turnover not desirable where conditions do not make it necessary Balance must be preserved Use of doubling over in border design Suited to stenciling and pouncing X. "THE "DROP" REPEAT" Scope given by drop repeat Designed on diamond lines And on the square Geometrically same result Practically different patterns Opportunity of carrying pattern beyond width of stuff Brick or masonry plan Octagonal plan Step pattern False drop XI. SMALLER REPEATS Width of repeat divisible into width of material Repeat two-thirds or two-fifths of width of material Full width repeat seeming smaller Variety in apparent uniformity Weavers' ways of doing it Same principle applied to larger design Method and haphazard More complicated system Other plans for disguising precise order of small repeats XII. SUNDRY SCAFFOLDINGS Importance of variety of plan Area of pattern not confined to area of repeat Excursions compensated by incursions Lines thus disguised "Wave-lines, turned over, result in ogee" Wave-lines result from working within narrow upright lines Uprightness of narrow repeats counteracted by lines across Diagonal wavelines to connect features forming horizontal band Designs obviously based upon slanting and horizontal lines Wave-line from side to side of broad repeat Scaffolding of an old Louis XVI. Pattern XIII. THE TURN-ROUND Unit of design may be turned part way round Unit of 6 by 6 inches results in repeat of 12 by 12 inches Works either on the straight or as a drop For radiating pattern a triangle half size of smaller square suffices for unit Fold and fold again Arab lattice pattern dissected XIV. HOW TO SET ABOUT DESIGN Free patterns planned on formal lines Features recur at intervals determined by unit of repeat Planning the only way to avoid unforseen effects Means of disguising formal lines Necessity for system Genesis of counter-change border Of geometric diaper How not to do it Detail not to be determined too soon Genesis of conventional floral pattern starting with the masses Of a drop pattern Of a pattern stating with line Of a floral pattern starting with distribution of flowers Of a velvet pattern starting with severe lines "Inhabited" pattern" Evolution of Italian arabesque pilaster Animal form in pattern Starting at a venture And from an idea Afterthoughts XV. TO PROVE A PATTERN The unit of design a repeat Repeat to be tested One repeat not enough to show how design works More must be indicated Test of roughing out on one plan and working out on another Accurate fit essential Proving to be done at early stage of design Test of cutting up drawing and rearranging the parts XVI. PATTERN PLANNING IN RELATION TO TECHNIQUE Dimensions of design determined by conditions of manufacture Possibilities in block printing Limitations in weaving Narrow repeat a condition of Sponging down Colour designs in colour from the first Colour as a help in complicated design Form and colour Design only a map of form and colour Precaution against self-deception The evolution of a design Tracing paper Accident Mechanical helps Hardness Precision essential Body colour Water colour Systematic use of mixed tints Working drawing only a means to an end. XIX. COLOUR Close connection between form and colour Effect of colour upon design Drawing should show not merely effect of colour but its plan A map of colour value and relation Differences that colour makes Casual colour Colour and material "Geometric form softened by colour, accidental or cunningly planned" Confusion of form by colour Emphasis of form by colour Change of colour in ground XX. THE INVENTION OF PATTERN Imitation and translation Memory and imagination Old-time content with tradition Modern self-consciousness Originality Conditions of to-day Inspiration How far nature helps The use of old work The designer and his trade The artist and his personality XXI. DEVELOPMENT OF PATTERN DESIGN - AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER BY AMOR FENN. Sources of nineteenth-century design Augustus Welby Pugin and the Gothic revival Designs for the Houses of Parliament Mid Victorian vogue Owen Jones and ancient Western and Oriental art Bruce J. Talbert Edwin William Godwin William Morris The Art Workers' Guild Walter Crane Lewis F. Day C.F.A. Voysey Arts and Crafts Society E. W. Gimson L' art nouveau Continental designs "W. Lovatelli-Colombo, Paris" "Josef Hoffmann, Vienna" Futuristic influence Maurice Dufr