Vivienne Drape Dress – First Sample

Vivienne Drape Dress – First Sample

Back in the land of blogging and I’ve made a #FirstSample of the Vivienne Drape Dress.  Many of my pattern puzzles start with my Women’s Fitted Dress Block (PDF available) and every student builds a pattern plan for the development of this special design.  All-in-all I think it turned out ok.  I will be moving the dip in the waistline a little closer to the centre front (CF) and taking the cut lines for the drape with it.  Checkout the revised pattern plan below.

Below I’ve marked in the changes to the original pattern plan that will make an even better sample.
  1. The major alteration to the original plan is to shift the shaped waist feature closer to the centre in the front.  The original position was a little too close to the side seam and appeared to disappear around the side of the body.  So I’ve shifted it onto the front waist dart to bring it toward the front.
  2. A the second change to the original plan is to not use the gape darts in the sleeveless armhole.  The cap sleeve extension and shaping, along with the alteration in the underarm area of the side seam has tightened the armhole enough not to gape.
When you have the waistline and drape lines in place, follow the same instructions for making the pattern as in the original post and as diagram below.
The fabric I used for the second sample was only 135 cm wide and I needed 2.2m to cut this design.  As you can see there is quite a bit of waste that I was able to turn into bias binding for the armhole, back neckline and hem.  I’ve also used the border from this fabric to make an interesting feature on the back of the dress.
The photos below show the two samples with the waist alteration that’s described above.  I’ve marked in the waist seam on the second sample to counter the effect of the hectic print.  Now that the testing is over I plan on cutting this in a crepe weave (totally the best for bias cutting) to see how the drape changes with a different fabric.
Let me know if you have any questions about this pattern or any variations you’d like to make.  I’m always happy to help. 🙂
Anita McAdam
enquiries@studiofaro.com
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