How To Drape On The Stand with Laura Alice Dressmaking

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to drape a fabric on a mannequin and transform it into a spectacular, wearable piece of art.

Draping on the stand (sometimes referred to as modelling, or moulage) is a pattern cutting technique used by many designers, where garments are created on the stand and then transferred onto paper to make a pattern. By draping, you can literally watch a garment come to life in front of your eyes in a matter of minutes. This quick technique gives designers the freedom to play with fabric and adjust details, creating many variations in style, quickly and simply.

The process of draping also allows you to see the effect that gravity will have on a fabric, which is vital to any garment construction. You can see how the fabric will shape and mould when the grain of the textile is placed in different directions. With flat pattern making, it can be harder to picture how a fabric will fall or hang on a section of the garment.