Atelier Académics with Stacy Stewart Smith — Couture CAD, Session IV: Digital Alençon Lace

Couture CAD, Session IV: Digital Alençon Lace

In this session, Stacy Stewart Smith demonstrates how to construct a digital couture Alençon lace pattern using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. You will learn to simulate the intricate, layered structure of this historic corded couture lace — from building the foundational hexagonal net and floral motifs in Illustrator to adding depth, transparency, color, and texture in Photoshop. Techniques are drawn from professional couture atelier practice and adapted for digital fashion design and presentation.

What You Will Learn

• A brief history and structure of French Alençon lace — its mesh ground, floral motifs, and corded outlines (Cordonnet)
• Tracing and constructing floral motifs accurately in Illustrator 
• Building a seamless hexagonal netting pattern in Illustrator
• Setting up guides and repeat boxes for flawless seamless pattern repeats
• Troubleshooting common alignment and overlap issues in pattern construction
• Scaling patterns and adjusting stroke weights for garment-scale clarity
• Importing vector patterns into Photoshop as Smart Objects
• Applying painting techniques, layer styles, and gradient maps for depth and realism in Photoshop
• Finalizing, aligning, and saving a production-ready digital lace pattern

Prerequisites: Working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Basic flats are not covered in this session.

Duration: 1 hour 23 minutes

Upon purchase you will receive a downloadable PDF containing your session transcript, recording URL, and access instructions.

This session is part of Atelier Académics Series II: Couture CAD with Stacy Stewart Smith.