Design & Style, Business

Draping and Fitting Your Design

Laura Kim & Fernando Garcia

Lesson time 12:22 min

Laura demonstrates how to turn a piece of fabric into a bespoke design for a collection. Learn how to drape and fit a garment onto a form, then get it runway-ready by making final edits once it’s on a model.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Draping and Fitting Your Design Cut to Shape How to Get the Perfect Fit Final Fixes

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] - So today, I'm going to drape this dress I have in my mind. I don't have exact design of it yet. So I'm going to just play on the form. And I had this idea about making a cocktail dress that exposes your bra-- so be more like an evening dress and very sexy cut. And eventually, it's going to be in black. But I'm draping with a lighter colored fabric. So when we take pictures for fittings and the prototype stage, you can actually see the lines of the dress. For me, like, draping kind of cuts a step out of the process-- development because I'm already feeling out the actual fabric, how it will be draped on the body. It's really good for my mind to actually see it on the form to make sure, like, I am really giving my team an idea that I really want to execute. And I do love draping. That's probably the reason why I always tend to drape more than to sketch. You have to do a lot of practice. And there is rules that you do have to follow. There is, like, a-- technical rules. And there's way of marking that they teach you how to do. You have to follow the grain of the fabric. That's one of the most important part. But I have to say, I've seen some master drapers, like ones at Oscar-- they go off-grain. But I think they're so good at it, they know how to control it. But I still stick to my fundamental rules on that because I'm a little scared to go off-grain. And then once you mold it into the shape you want, you have to mark side seam, which is side of your body. This is asymmetrical. So I'm not going to mark the center. Wherever there's drapes or darts, you should mark it so when you're sewing it, you know what to follow. It's good to mark where the hip is and where your waist is. And I should probably mark the point where they're going to be attached later. [MUSIC PLAYING] So now I pin the dress to the shape I want. I'm going to cut away the excess fabric because sometimes with the extra fabric hanging from it, the fit of it doesn't really sit well. So I'm going to cut away the extra fabric and double-check if my drape is correct. I am very good with my hands. Like, I love molding, crafting, sculpting, painting. So I think this is my forte as a designer, what I'm good at in my process. What happens a lot while you drape is some things could happen accidentally that you actually like it better than what you originally imagined, like, for example, I just cut out the extra fabric on the side. And I love what it's doing here, like, creating a cascade, which I didn't have it in my initial design. So it's kind of like a-- it is a design process. I don't start with the exact idea and end with the initial idea. As you drape, you change your mind according to what your fabric wants to do. The reason why it's important to drape with the final fabric that you're going to cut this dress in is because every fabric reacts very differently. And if I were to drape this with a cotton, it prob...

About the Instructor

As founders of fashion line MONSE and creative directors at Oscar de la Renta, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia have transcended their industry with a partnership that’s more than the sum of its parts. Now they’re teaching you their secrets to creative collaboration. Learn to cultivate strong business relationships, navigate the creative process, and join forces with others to improve the workplace—and the work.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Laura Kim & Fernando Garcia

Fashion luminaries and Oscar de la Renta creative directors Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia teach you how to bring ideas to life through collaboration.

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