The Jacket project with Brother ScanNCut

Sometimes you see a garment that stops you in your tracks. Just stopped, your breath quickens and it lights a fire of ideas and imagination within you. This photo of a Valentino Pre Fall Jacket did that to me a few months back.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. From the delicate dip dye ombre effect to the embroidered pieces it just made me want to create. I wanted texture and colour. Embellishments and dyeing. In short I wanted it all. I collected ideas and images. I made Pinterest folders and mood boards.

I consulted a hand embroidery expert for her ideas on how to best to tackle some of the work and got some great information about thread types and some leads on some gorgeous hand dyed silk threads. Then came the idea of how was I going to cut all the pieces to make the flowers and textures that I wanted? I could do it all by hand but that was time prohibitive.

So while all these ideas and plans were swirling about in my head I was contacted by Brother to see if I’d like to test one of their ScanNCut machines. I’d never heard of them, they have been primarily focused at papercrafts and quilting but once I saw what they could do the possibilities came alive. Here was a machine that could cut precise delicate shapes in minutes and then replicate that over and over. I said yes and they sent a ScanNCut machine over.

Sadly things got incredibly busy and I just didn’t get a chance to get to it as quickly as I wanted. I kept sending the team messages saying every time I gave it a try it was brilliant and it was nothing more than my time pressures which prevented me from singing it’s praises all over town.

So here is how it works. You choose an image from it’s pre stored library or create one of your own.

You set size and placement.

Then push go and it cuts away.

It is truly magical.

I’ve been busy using the machine to create the exact textures I lusted after that can normally only be created by a Couture house. I seriously cannot explain how fun it is and how many design possibilities it opens up. I’ll be back soon with more details on how I’ve used the Brother ScanNCut to create the outfit of my dreams.

Brother sent me the ScanNCut free of charge to try out, all words and opinions are my own.