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Pattern Draping: Drape Folds

Lesson 9 from: Making Fashion: Draw, Draft and Sew

Jay Calderin

Pattern Draping: Drape Folds

Lesson 9 from: Making Fashion: Draw, Draft and Sew

Jay Calderin

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Lesson Info

9. Pattern Draping: Drape Folds

Lesson Info

Pattern Draping: Drape Folds

So here, I'm gonna get a little bit more creative. I'm gonna have a little bit more fun with the drape. And this is just to show you that you have freedom, cause a lot of people go, "I don't want "that perfect little tight top." You know? I want to drape and do something a little bit more dramatic. So, for instance, I'm gonna work with the bias and, bring that over, and one of the reasons I like the bias here is like, notice what's happening. It's not a flat fold, it's a little roll. And it gives you, remember we locked in the historical pieces, you know the togas, and the Roman-Greco kind of clothing. And that just has that soft roll, which you don't get with just on-grain. K? So here, the other thing I like about this is that if I were to do, start to create folds, I get these beautiful rolling folds. They're not hard, they don't crease, and they start to drape around the body. And we're just gonna do a rough of this, but then I'm going to show you that the process afterwards is exac...

tly the same. And we want to figure out what we wanted to do, and a lot of times I will take my cues from the fabric. So here, this is naturally smoothing out, but here, it might turn into more of a fold that's controlled. And then we can decide how loose -- oh, there's a little extra in there -- how loose the rest of it is. And what you wanna do here is the same exact thing. You wanna take whatever you've sculpted and go back, add corners, add armhole, add the wasitline wherever we're gonna go, and just do exactly the same thing. But here, we have something very sculpted and more three-dimensional. But it's the same process. So don't feel like everything has to be flat and right to the body, you can kind of play with a shape so that you can do anything you want. K? And getting back to when we talked about at the beginning, think about the nature of the fabric that you're working with. You really want to make sure that the fabric is doing what you want it to do. So just to show you a different thing with the same design idea. So we did that on the bias, but what if we were to do that fold? And again, there's no right or wrong, it's just a different effect. But if we were to take the straight grain, and do this, right away it gets sharper, and a little flatter. And both can be really pretty. But this is more, this has less of a three-dimensional quality. It becomes almost more like pleating. But does everybody see the difference, right? So it's a different feel and that's why draping is such a great process, because this you can do with numbers. This you can do, you don't have to have a dress form to do this, you can do this by making sure you have every measurement, length, all that, and do the actual math of it. With something like this, you could do it by numbers, but you're not gonna get the feel that you want. You want to have, I like that tactile quality. Not all designers drape. Some designers, depending on the style of their clothes, will go strictly pattern. K? So we're gonna bring back to cover for our next. The difference between draping and patterning. Like is it one that you're just kind of free-flowing? Well, pattern-making kind of falls under the heading of draping, even though it's a separate skill. But the idea is you're creating a pattern. But finish patterns are not usually fabric, because we could save that muslin, but like we notice when we talked about the fabric, it can get distorted. It can warp, so it'll get droopy and hang, so that is one of the reasons it's so important to transfer everything over to paper. And initially, we work with a light dotted paper. But eventually, for really important patterns, you will transfer them over to oak tag so that they have a longer lifespan. And you can always come back and, you know, go to them and modify them, which we're gonna do a little bit of in just a second.

Ratings and Reviews

Jacquelyn Bradley-Nelson
 

I love this class, I'm glad I found it. This what I want to learn or add to my knowledge. JayC you are awesome! I need more learning on rendering coloring for illustration for that is. I can't wait to see what's on the other class I will take. Thanks! Signed: rm515jb.

Andrea Leggett
 

I really enjoyed this and the draping really opened my eyes to what can be achieved. Jay made it look easy so I plan a shot at draping later and will post my effort on Instagram with thanks to him! Thank you Creative LIve for bringing this to me (in the UK) and special thanks to Jay. When I'm in Boston in August I"ll buy you a beer!

Susan
 

Loved the draping information. It was logical and clear enough to make me want to try it.

Student Work

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