08 Dec Vivienne Drape Dress
This weeks design is a homage to one of my favourite designers, Vivienne Westwood. The understated neckline drape and off-centre skirt drape are characteristic of her wonderful draped dresses.
Garment Blocks
01 Dec Green Velvet Drape
Posted at 09:48h
in Fitted Dress Block, Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Vintage Patterns
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Green Velvet Drape - A homage to Ceil Chapman 1950
Over a year ago I found the image of this amazing vintage dress on Pinterest, compliments of Mill Street Vintage. Unfortunately (for us) it has been sold and is no longer in their shop. So I made up the back view to hopefully balance with the wonderful design detail on the front.
24 Nov The Drape Shift Woven
The original Drape Shift #PatternPuzzle post has turned out to be the best performing of all our blog posts over the past two years. It has pattern making instructions for the knit version of this design which is admittedly far more straight forward than the woven fabric version featured in this post. So in response to many requests I have detailed here the pattern making instructions to make this design for woven fabrics.
17 Nov Curved Seam Dress
Once again our weekly #PatternPuzzle is focused on doing wicked things with darts! The design is a classic in many ways and uses a very flattering diagonal seam. The drape is sent in opposite directions to encourage the eye to take in the whole garment.
27 Oct Balenciaga Blouse
Posted at 11:31h
in Fitted Dress Block, Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Vintage Patterns
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The inspiration behind this weeks #PatternPuzzle post is this divinely simple vintage blouse by Balenciaga (circa. 1958-60) found in the MetMuseum online collections. It has been sitting in my stash of great ideas for #PatternPuzzles for over a year.
20 Oct Classic Drape Dress
The idea behind this weeks #PatternPuzzle is to use a classic drape style to show how the fitting darts in my dress block turn into drape according to design. And to also have a go at making my pattern making technique as clear as I can.
13 Oct The Kimono Wrap Dress
Posted at 11:53h
in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Vintage Patterns, Womens Knit Block
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This kimono styled dress was quite a challenge in the pattern making department. Firstly you have to decide if the wrap over is an authentic two-layer wrap or if you are going to seam the pieces together. I've gone for the two layer option and included a zip in the CB seam as the only place where the two bodice layers join.
29 Sep Two Layer Jersey Dress
Posted at 12:25h
in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Stretch Patterns, Womens Knit Block
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Be Inspired!
Identify the elements in a design that you particularly like. Using your drawing skills to re-work these elements in a design more suited to your needs or your market. This is the beginning of design development in any new season, when you look to the top end of the market for inspiration.
22 Sep The Seamed Cowl Dress
Another great turnout on Saturday with loads of new fans having a go at the #PatternPuzzle. And in the end, it was the simplest of design features that generated the most creative answers. This bias cut dress has a more generous cowl that is made possible by that tricky centre front seam
15 Sep The Dolman Coat
So many fans dropped by on Saturday to work on our #PatternPuzzle, the conversation went on for most of the day. And it seems it is the anonymous pattern shapes that cause the greatest dilemma. After all, they could be almost anything.
