DRAPING NOTES

● Draping is the process of pinning fabric to a dress form to create a new pattern.
● Muslin is the preferred fabric for draping, it is inexpensive and easy to work with
● When you drape you want to focus on one part of the body
● If that section is going to be symmetrical, you only have to do one side.
● Mark the bust line with a ribbon across the apex
● Pin against the grain of the fabric so it doesn’t move
● If you do a dress or anything longer, you would mark the waist line as well
● Drape WITH the grain
● Mark about an inch in from the selvage, fold over, iron
● Mark center line on the fabric to center it
● Line up the lines with the twill tape the same every time (bottom vs top, etc)
● Pin the ridge from the center front to about the collarbone, the downwards to
the center line
● Line the center line up with the tape line going around, pin across until you get
to the outside of the side seam
● Work clockwise
● Cut slices into the neckline to release to pull on the fabric below
● Repeat cutting and pinning until the to front lays flat
● You want enough fabric around the shoulder sleeve seam so that you can have
movement
● Work the bottom into darts
● ¾ inch down and 1 inch back to start the dart
● Mark the apex and where you’ll end the dart
● Find the princess seam: the seam that goes through the apex, the waist and all the
way down
● Snip and adjust the bottom like at the neck
● 1inch-1 ½ dart
● Mark the center and both sides of the dart
● The excess of the dart should go away from the center
● Fold the dart and pin it down
● Push the fabric across and snip, pin upwards to gather the fabric towards the apex
● Form another dart back fro the apex
● Mark all of the important info onto the fabric
● Mark the armhole an inch down from the plate
● Follow the curve of the body around the shoulder
● Mark the curve of the back with twill tape
● Line up muslin again with the center of the back
● Snip the bottom and pin
● Pin all the way up the side and smooth across the armhole
● Pin acrosss the shoulder
● Clean the neck with snipping and pins to lay flat
● The shoulder dart should be where the princess line is
● Mark where th dart meets the twill line
● Mark the side seams, the shoulder, the waistline, and the neck
● Straighten and darken the lines on the muslin to make tracing easier
● Mark your center line on the dot paper
● Trace all the straight lines from the initial drape
● You want 90 degree angles everywhere you’ll put curves
● Use curved ruler to place curves
● Mark vanishing points for darts in red
● Label the center font line
● Add in seam allowance
● Neckline: ¼ in.
● Armhole: ½ in
● Everything else: ½ in
● Trueing the darts
● Pin the darts the way they will be when you sew it and re draw the lines. To make
them straight
● Unfold and reshape the bottom of the dart to give it shaping
● Do the same thing for the back, draw a center back line
● Label the center back, mark the vanishing line in red
● Make sure to mark seam allowances and true the darts
● Match up shoulder lines, match the sew lines not the seam allowance lines
● Take ¼ in from both pieces of pattern if off
● Mark your grain lines
● Write the piece, your name, cut info, and the size
● Check your lines to make sure your curves are going to meet correctly
● Mark notches on both sides of the dart
● Mark notches where pieces need to match up (arm holes, shoulders, neck, long
seams, etc)
● Double notches signify a back piece
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