All the dresses I haven't sewn...!

When I was a kid, I used to drape curtains and sheets and such on my sister, using every safety pin I could get my hands on to get her "dressed".  The best materials always got used first, on her, and as an afterthought I'd drape myself with the leftovers.  So when people at work ask me if my draping is a skill or a talent, I think it's both.  It's a skill because I've acquired techniques through practice, but it's a talent because the practice comes naturally to me. 

My lovely co-worker likes to take pictures of my "drapes", and I love it when she does, because I'm super proud of them!  It's nice to have a fan, and nice to have a record of my work!  Manikin-draping is otherwise a very Dadaist art... fabric pinned into a simulacrum of clothing, then taken down and sold with no hint of its past pretending! 

This soft sweep of charmeuse and ombre-dyed chiffon is a "dress" right now. Someday it will be something else. Sic transit gloria mundi.

So recently I've done a bunch of draping.  Here are my latest! 

BUSTLE GOWN

The Bridal Department's goal was to display a new Mikado fabric with large-scale flowers.  My goal was to make a gown with a bustle!  A young customer (between nine and twelve if I had to guess) watched me and made suggestions and comments.  The black top was her idea, and a very good idea, since the flowers were too large for the top of the dress. 

To make the bustle, I used a bunch of the pre-creased paper that comes inside fortuny-pleated fabric and folded it into a pillow shape, stapled to a ribbon that I then tied around the dress-form's hips.  Then I pinned the fabric to the cardinal points around the waistline, and gathered almost all the fullness in lovely stacked knife pleats over the rear.  Alas, all those lovely pleats got covered up by the black bodice, but the bodice is a stunner, all the same!  The silver detail is a rhinestone trim. 

Bustle detail

neckline

TEA GOWN

Still feeling historical, I put together some pink charmeuse and sparkly pewter-colored lace to make what looks (as a happy accident, because I didn't set out for this look) like a tea gown from the Edwardian era.  So pretty!  Look at the sleeves! 

RIDING COAT

Can you tell from this one that I've been re-watching Downton Abbey?  The dress under the coat is just a yard and a quarter of sage-colored silk, pinned into a basic shift, but the coat on top... oh my goodness it came out beautiful! 

The fringed base of the jacket is actually the selvedge.  The turned over collar piece is tucked into the back to conceal the folds, and a separate piece of black fabric pinned over it to make the top part of the collar.  The challenge I set myself for this one was to fake a notched lapel by draping, so I call it a success!  As for the pleats in the Center Back... I took the long piece of fabric that was hanging down in back, folded it up on itself, and pinned the folds into pleats to simulate a waist seam.  The gold buttons liven up the green underneath, and the "button holes" are actually a bit of velvet ribbon carefully pinned in place! 

Just... swoon-worthy!

CLASSY SEPARATES

My favorite part of this draping is how relaxed and easy to wear it looks, yet how classy and put-together.  The skirt is a techno scuba knit with faux suede finish, and the top a poly-acrylic knit with the sort of "autumn jewel tones" I am drawn to right now. 

I love draping!  It makes me want to make patterns for these outfits so I could actually sew them for real!