Draping on the Stand - Lesson 1 - 15.11.11

Today we created calico bodices directly on the stand as a foundation to then drape onto. The basic bodice comprises of a front piece and a back piece with darts coming from the waist and from the shoulder.

Taking inspiration from an earlier piece I did during the deconstruct lesson.............

I tried to recreate the lines and shapes into a fitted bustier............

I liked it but as commented on by a tutor, and I agree, it is a bit twee and has been done before. I started to work on a much larger scale to create something fresher and more innovative..........

Idea 1

Idea 2

Idea 3

I really like my last development and feel I can interpret this into a wearable garment quite easily.

Once you have draped and pinned your shape, it has to be marked at every single point so that when you take it off of the stand you can trace off a pattern with all BP and folds.

I think I will use my last idea to construct a garment in crisp white shirting.

Innovation with pleating!

There is some amazing modern fashion design using pleats on a large scale, in particular I found these interesting............... Australian label Neo Dia:

And Middlesex University graduate Kirstie Maclaren, whose pieces can fold up and then be stretched out to create structure.............

Hand pleating in Practice - Part 2 - 8.11.11

We were challenged to create our own pleating patterns from scratch. Starting with a basic 3cm wide knife pleat......

I then reduced each alternate pleat to include 3 x 1cm pleats to create something more interesting............

The Zig zag pleat was one of my favourites, I think it's not too compliacted yet still effective................

In order to recreate it I spread the pleated fabric flat to see how each line was spaced...........

My own patterns, in really small and then larger scale.

Each pattern required two exact copies so that you can sandwich the fabric in between and steam to maintain the shape.

Here are my finished pleated pieces using various different fabrics. I like the pleats on prints as they are visually subtle.

Hand pleating masterclass - Part 1 - 8.11.2011

Today we had a presentation/demonstration from Terry Weinhert from Ciment Pleating. Based in Potters Bar, Herts and established in 1925 they uphold an amazing craftsmanship that sadly is in decline due to cheaper alternatives! Some of their master patterns which are used to mould the fabric..........

And from these......

You create these......

All patterns are hand made, hand scored and hand folded, some dating back 60 years!!!


The pleat is not only resigned to the granny skirt, but can be used to create amazing art forms. Here is some of Ciment's finished work...........

Dress created for Cadbury flake advert, 2010

Lady Gaga 'Living Dress' made out of shower curtains, 2010

The Queens outfit for Charles & Diana's wedding, 1981

Junya Watanabe - deconstructive genius!

I love Junya Watanabe's work, he creates not only amazing art forms but also innovative and wearable garments. His excellence at draping and deconstructing is a massive inspiration for this project. The lines in the front of his deconstructed blazer (below left) are really reminiscent of the lines in the skirt of my decontsructed blazer dress in previous post.  

Deconstructing a blazer (and dressing a chair!) - Lesson 2 - 1.11.2011

For the next part of this lesson we further deconstructed our jackets, but keeping them in fairly big pieces (flat sleeve, fronts and whole back) and used them to tailor a dress for a chair. This is my first attempt......

Taking the dress off the chair I then draped on the stand creating an interesting silhouette.............

I wanted to create something a little more put together and so for my second attempt, created a really tailored and symmetrical dress for the chair.

I was really pleased with this structure on the stand and felt it was something I could work better with in design development.

Turning it around worked even better...... And then nipping it in at the waist I think then created a jacket shape almost ready to wear!!

My final idea was to keep the shape as is and just drape on front of body to create a dress silhouette. This is my favourite and I really like the lines on the bust as well as the curving lines of the skirt.