I have too much fabric.: The Dress Drape

I sat down in my very first draping class and felt right at home, this was the place to be. We started by marking the main measurements lines on the body: bust, waist, and hip. If your mannequin has them you should mark the elbow or knee. Measure the mannequin and add padding where needed (if it is.)

So now we get to start working with the muslin. Start by cutting two pieces that are approx. 55cm (for a standard size 8). These are for creating the bodice pattern. Then sure the grain is aligned, this is important because the garments will end up twisting on you after being worn and nobody wants that. To do this you must start with a straight line, the salvage end is a really good guide line. If your fabric is off grain then pull the sides along the bias, you will know it is the bias because it will stretch just a little bit more then pulling the warp or weft.

After your fabric is straight, you can pin it to the mannequin. Make sure your lines line up with then center front and the bust line then pin down center front.Once you have found a good place for your darts you should start to trace it off. A pen or a felt works fine but the thinner the tip, the more precise. Trace the neck, shoulder, side seam, arm hole, darts and waist. Trim off the excess (leave approx. 1-1.5 cm.)

Next it is best to establish the neck line. To do so you may need to snip down through the excess fabric to make sure it lays flat. Place pins along the neck to keep the fabric where you want it. Smooth out the fabric toward the shoulder and then place a few pins along there to.

Now is a good time to also smooth the fabric along the bust line towards the under arm. Place a few pins around there to keep the fabric as flat as possible. We are trying to avoid the dragging lines. They look like little waves in the fabric. Try readjusting a pin or two if you find it is a problem.

So now you can see a bit of a body but there is so much extra fabric flapping about. So we should probably just trim off everything that is in our way.

So now we get to play with some darts. You can place them anywhere, but remember to stand back and look at it before cutting. There is such things as bad darts. The best thing about draping is that you can play with it, you can’t do that as easily with a pattern.

Now we are going to do the exact same thing to the back. Well it doesn’t have to be exact, you can do whatever you please. Today I think I am going to do a shoulder dart. This is done the same way as the waist darts only the other way. Instead of smoothing the shoulder first smooth the bust line before the shoulder and use the extra fabric to create your dart. It is smart to create this dart in the same spot as a princess seam to make it very easy to alter the block in the future.

After you create the darts on the back you once again trace them off and trim off the excess.

Now it is time to do the skirt. Cut a piece of muslin around 85cm by how ever long you want it, but 45cm if fine for now. Make sure the grain is start and mark your lines. Pin on to the body lining up the center front and hip line. Pin down center front and smooth along the hip line. Place a pin there and below along the side seam. Now you will see there is a lot of extra fabric at the waist we get to make into darts. Again you can place them anywhere, but it is usually most flattering if you can line them up with the darts you have created in the bodice.Again you must trace them off and cut off the excess. Now it looks like you have half a very Posh Spice dress. Remember this is a pattern for a very close fitting dress, as in no ease. I will show you how to make others then I learn how.