Waistlines: Designing Without - The No-Waistline Look

This gorgeous no-waistline frock is from the

 Dolce & Gabbana Fall/Winter 2014 Collection

This month I'm musing on the different waistline levels I select to sew.

The no-waistline look in this Dolce & Gabbana dress, sets off the gorgeous fabric* the designer used. No sewist would want to cut through this print!

When we choose a waistline style - or lack of one - by selecting a pattern, designing a flat pattern, or designing by draping our own pattern, we are choosing where the garment, or a part of the garment, hangs from on the body for which we are sewing. 

In this case, where there is no waistline, the garment hangs from the shoulders. The folds of this garment drape from the high bust point. If the model were more curvaceous in that area, the folds could hang differently, and the way that the print is displayed might be different too. 

We drape material on human-shaped dress forms, to see how different body types affect the fall - or drape- of a particular piece of fabric. We also look at how the material's textures and prints will hang on a similarly shaped human form.

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Resources

I'm just beginning to learn the historic and modern art of draping. It's a very artistic experience !  I've begun to develop my skill set in a class taught through the Cañada College Fashion Department. I'll be continuing my draping journey by continuing to follow the richly illustrated draping tutorials and examples in our class textbook, The Art of Fashion Draping. This excellent, and highly regarded book, by Connie Amaden-Crawford has been in use for decades. both within the industry, and by home sewists. 

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Fabric Notes

* The print in the Dolce & Gabbana frock above is quite reminiscent of one of the Alexander McQueen fashions I talked about in the fashion gallery audio podcast tour I shared from the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London last summer. In that tour, I give catalog information, so that listeners can use links from the show notes to look up further museum cataloging information about, and find images of, garments that were mentioned during that tour. 

For links to the V&A collections database, follow the show notes link at http://enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2013/07/ench-by-sew-010-v-fashion-gallery-tour.html

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You May Also Like 

Waistlines:  What's Natural? (Haiku)
http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/11/waistlines-whats-natural-haiku.html

Enchanted By Sewing Audio Podcast: Dress Forms http://www.enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2013/09/ench-by-sew-12-dress-forms.html

My Virtual Bulletin Boards on Pinterest

Draping Inspiration Images and Articles - http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/draping-inspiration/

Dress Forms Articles, Arty, Make Your Own, Etc - http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/dress-forms/

I have several other sewing related Pinterest boards - http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/boards/

Draping With a New Retro Friend

Eventually I'll be draping on my own
Uniquely You dress form, but for the first few assignments
we use the school's forms.
I fee very lucky to be matched up with this lovely
lady, created in 1965.

This year I created and began to use both a duct tape, and Uniquely You dress form. These new fitting companions have helped me to fit patterns, muslins, and garments.

I learned so much getting started with these dress forms, that my September Enchanted by Sewing Podcast show, will be about what I've learned creating and using these dress forms. 

Still, there's more to come.

This fall I'm taking the Draping class at Cañada college. There I'll be learning the art of draping, and I can see that it truly is an art. I'm just beginning to develop my eye, use my fingers to smooth the fabric as I drape, and starting to learn where the material is telling those fingers it should go. It's pretty exciting to think that by the end of the semester, I should know enough to draft some of my own patterns - patterns that are made just for me, by me!

We're using the Connie Crawford Art of Draping book. I've listened several times to the Sew Forth Now podcast, where Lori interviewed Ms. Crawford (Sew Forth Now #35: The Industry) and enjoyed the story of how this very experienced woman came to create this book.

The dress form I'm currently using in class (I'll be using my own Uniquely You dress form later on in the semester) is a 1965 model. Just think how many students have learned to drape and sew with her! I compared her with some of the newer forms, and noticed that she is, as our teacher says "perkier". That is, her bust is more enhanced than other more modern dress forms. Yup, shapely chests were popular in the middle of that decade.

I'm so pleased I've been teamed with this retro 60's gal. 

It's sewing companions and classes like this that keep me....

Enchanted by Sewing

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You can find Lori's interview with Connie Crawford on the Sew Forth Now Podcast  

http://sewforthnow.blogspot.com/2008/08/episode-35-industry.html