A while ago, when I walked along some vintage store in Manchester, I found some vintage sewing pattern. They were mainly from the 60′s and 70′s. If sewing is the language of fashion, the pattern should be the books. It recorded different style according to time. Below, here are some free pattern resources you can find online:

BurdaStyle

Thanks smiffy for the update (20/12/09)

About Sewing

Craftandfabriclinks.com

Craftster Forum

Sewing Stuff

Otsukaya (大塚屋)

Free Patterns.com

Antique Pattern Library

AllCrafts

Babyclothes

Free Needle

Berroco

Crochet Pattern Central

Free Patterns Menu

Modern Sewing Patterns

Instuctables

All Free Crafts

Fitzpattern

SavvySeams.com

Are there any good free sites not in the list? The list will continue to update.

Eastern art has long been found in modern fashion, especially in some Haute Couture Collections (Dior and Valentino). The modern fashion trend is started in the West and when it meet the east, the culture mix together to form a unique and interesting style. Just like the trendies blending with the traditional. Here, I am not talking about the Kimono and Qi-Pao in the Eastern fashion, I want to focus on the art and painting from the East that influence the Western fashion world.

1. Chinese Pattern

Monotone is the main style in traditional Chinese painting, like the landscape ink painting, the blue decorative painting on china pot. It represent a Zen culture, a minimal style. The textile for the upper class is colorful though, with elegant embroidery.

Dragons are common in Chinese art as it represents the emperor. The dragon always come with cloud to show that it is flying in the sky. And landscape, flower, bird, fish and shrimp are also the usual topic.

And in traditional drawing, the perspective is fake 3 dimensional, flat but rich in content, it can be extended easily so the art is suitable to create textile.

Start from Left: Jean Paul Gaultier S08C, Vivienne Tam S07RTW, Valentino S08C, Gucci Resort10

Textile characteristic: detailed, vibrant, ink style, embroidered.

2. Japanese Pattern

Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art. It is more vibrant than those in China, and more crisp line, more “vector art” in modern terms. The symbol pattern represent some kind of honor in the Samurai’s armor.

Japanese art also don’t have a real 3D perspective, so it can be extended easily, like the painting on Ukiyo-e (meaning “floating world”), and which make it more easy to transform into textile.

Start from Left: Christian Dior S07C, Alexis Mabille AW10C, Basso and Brooke S09RTW, Armani Prive S09C

Textile characteristic: detailed, vibrant and colorful, vector style, embroidered.

3. Indian Pattern

Indian art can be classified into specific periods each reflecting certain religious, political and cultural developments. One can find many symbols in their culture as they are linked to spiritual states. The paintings is rich in details and gold foil are found in many of them. They are mainly for religious purpose.

Elephants are popular in Indian, as it was the chosen carriage for many gods in the legend. And a white elephant is special as there is a story about Buddha’s mother dreamed of a white elephant. And then the prophet of peace Gautam Buddha was born.

Start from Left: Kenzo S2009 RTW, Etro S2009 RTW, Dries Van Noten FW2008 RTW, Balenciaga FW2007 RTW

Textile characteristic: colourful, rich patterned and textured, contain symbol, light weight.

4. Islamic Pattern

Islamic art is not an art pertaining to religion only. The term “Islamic” refers not only to the religion, but to the rich and varied Islamic culture as well.

According to the Encarta “Islamic art is developed from many sources: Roman, Early Christian, and Byzantine styles were taken over in early Islamic architecture; the influence of Sassanian art—the architecture and decorative art of pre-Islamic Persia was of paramount significance; Central Asian styles were brought in with various nomadic incursions; and Chinese influences had an important effect on Islamic painting, pottery, and textiles.”

There are repeating elements in Islamic art, such as the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs in a repetition known as the arabesque. The arabesque in Islamic art is often used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible and infinite nature of Allah.

Start from Left: Chanel Resort10, Valentino S09 Couture, Christian Lacroix F2007 Couture, Matthew Williamson S2008 RTW

Textile characteristic: detailed, geometric patterned, embroidered, contain symbols.