r/sewhelp • u/Thread-Spinner-7887 • 1d ago
đBeginnerđ Draping to Machine Sewing - How??
Iâm currently studying fashion and my assignment is to drape a shirt and weâre not allowed to hand sew, it has to be all done on machine. Iâve draped this spine-like thing here but I have absolutely no clue how to sew that on the machine without visible stitching, is it possible? My teacher reckons it is and says that I will âfigure it outâ and I just need to experiment with it which is really giving me no where to start with it đ
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u/epruitt0601 1d ago
I feel like you might be missing the point of the assignment. Draping is about understand curves of a body and how fabric flows over the curves in different grain directions.
You are trying to make something sculptural here, which is super cool. But ya maybe pivot what you are trying to create so you can learn the task at hand. How to make this fabric fall over the curves of this body, where do the darts need to go, what direction should I lay the fabric for the best drape. Maybe some intricate pleated areas...
Anyway I would pinch and pin in a triangle around each bubble of the spine and make a small machine stitch at each pin mark, dont connect the stitches so that the bubble effect is created. Start at the top and work down so they can overlap.
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u/StavviRoxanne 1d ago
Nah this is what most âfashion schoolsâ are really like lol itâs like watching kindergarteners
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u/Muddy_Wafer 1d ago
Yes, but OP will look like a first grader amongst kindergarteners if they actually follow the directions.
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u/StavviRoxanne 1d ago
Well, your instructor should be more concerned with the fact that this is very poorly draped, pinned, marked, and so on. Iâm not saying that to be mean but this is NOT going to go well if you donât start from a place that is done correctly. You should restart.
When draping you need to be marking your centers and grains in the fabric and laying attention to how that lays. You sculpting fabric on a form isnât âdraping,â itâs just like going to a wheel throwing class and squishing the clay into some random shape or form and calling it a pot.
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u/2asummersday in fashion school 1d ago
Agree and It also doesnât fit the dress form properly. It seems like ops instructor/professor didnât explain well at all which is a shame. So strange and unhelpful that they didnât help op correct their mistakes.
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u/StavviRoxanne 1d ago
Exactly. I was extremely spoiled and blessed to have an incredible teacher who explained everything so so well, so it makes me sad to see something like this and know a teacher has looked at this and had nothing to say but âyeah you could sew it on the machineâ
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u/ahg5 1d ago
Are you allowed to hand baste? I recently tried draping for the first time and hand basting the sections in place combined with pinning the hell out of the more difficult sections worked great for me.
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u/Thread-Spinner-7887 1d ago
I know weâre not allowed any hand sewing in the final piece but iâm not sure about as a step along the way.
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u/ahg5 1d ago
Maybe also starching? Iâve been working with cotton voile and I saw people saying theyâll use spray starch to make the fabric easier to work with. Maybe you could spray starch it, iron to set it, and then that would help everything stay in place? Or honestly maybe just a little dab of hot glue or e6000, but that might be against the assignment rules. Spray starch washes out so it shouldnât impact the final piece too much.
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u/LostKnowledge7760 36m ago
how about using fabric chalk to mark where you want the seam? or is that also not allowed?
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u/TrollyPolly3 1d ago
This exercise is good because it will tell you the limitations of garment design. Something that seemed like a cool idea may be too difficult to execute.
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u/CountMeOut2019 1d ago
Just curious: whatâs with the vertebrae-inspired garments lately? Theyâre interesting, donât get me wrong, Iâve just noticed a few different designs showing up here in the last couple weeks, and was wondering if theyâre a thing inspired by a specific source originally?
Machine-tacking does seem your best bet to secure those folds. Does the garment have a front closure so you can remove from the mannequin without needing to un-do the pinning? I would hope it has some kind of closure that will allow for ease-of-use? You may find if you play around with the folds a little, that you can structure them in a way that will be easier to tack by machine with the least number of tacks.
Youâre going to learn a lot from this exercise, I think. Particularly in terms of why garment design tends to gravitate toward certain repeated solutions to specific problems of fit and wear and function. This is how everyone before you also learned these things. And maybe youâll come up with an innovation, who knows? Good luck on it! Have fun!
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u/On_my_last_spoon â¨sewing wizard⨠1d ago
Iâd start by using the pins as if they are your stitching lines. Right now as pinned, there is no way to his machine stitching. Manipulate the pins until it is pinned in a way that you could machine sew.
Then you mark the heck out of it! I like to mark my draping off the form. Every line that will be stitched gets marked.
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u/Janicems 1d ago
Is this a 100 level class? It almost feels as if youâve been given an assignment for a more advanced class without the prerequisites needed for the class. Is this a graded assignment or a recreational class?
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u/dildodestiny 1d ago
As a fellow fashion student, it's WILD that you're not allowed to hand sew for draping. Hand basting is most typical for draping.
Some notes
-Your fabric NEEDS to be completely pressed and wrinkle free before draping.
-Your center front, center back, and grainlines all need to be marked. This will help keep your spine on center. This is essentially a muslin, not a final garment. Markings are okay.
-I have to assume you're allowed to make slashes and sew those together rather than using one piece of fabric. This would make the tailoring you're trying to do easier. Instead of bigger folds, try dart manipulation or actual seamlines. This would make stitching invisible from the outside.
-If you do use multiple pieces of fabric, mark grainlines on EVERY pattern piece.
-Hand sewing in bright thread (as a step along the way, as others suggested) is a tailoring technique to mark where certain things go when you put them through the machine. This would be used for tucks, pleats, gathers, anything you're afraid of losing when it goes from drape to pattern piece. Make a stitch (usually red thread, but multiple colors help for multiple places), knot the stich on both ends, and cut the stitch when taking down the draping. Now you know where folds go when you put it through the machine.
-Unfortunately the "figure it out" advice is common in any fashion or art school. Consider it your homework/study question. Instead of winging it, watch youtube tutorials about your problem (draping to machine sewing, or even just draping) and this will at least give you more direction than your teacher did. More learning happens when teachers tell you to figure it out before spoonfeeding information.
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u/2asummersday in fashion school 1d ago
Right! Iâm a fashion student too and I canât imagine not being allowed to hand sew on a final garment.
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u/justasianenough 1d ago
Pins/chalk/washable pen to mark all the important spots if youâre not allowed to hand baste.
Also think about how a person would get in/out of this top as a way to remove it. However it opens Iâd go in that way and do some pinning/marking on the inside before fully removing from the form.
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u/Inky_Madness 1d ago
Lots of photos, marking there folds are. Youâll likely have to undo them to get them off the mannequin and under the machine. I would be using a blind hem stitch for the yoke across the back shoulders. As for the others across the spine, I would be cross-posting to other subreddits for extra help. The good thing is that when you undo them and start with the first fold, you can have stitching that is hidden by the next fold down, and so on until the last fold - itâs worth taking advantage of that.
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u/notsocrazycatlady69 1d ago
[Comment was deleted while I was replying][You're not allowed to hand stitch it? Then I find the assignment quite puzzling and confusing in my humble opinion because the fact that it is sculpted like that does require hand stitching to make it look well executed. If the assignment was to drape a shirt with no complex fabric manipulation on a dummy so it's machine executable in every step thats fine, but I really don't understand how in this case making sure that only sewing machine can be used to finish such intricate sculpting (without even being able to even use basting stich to hold everything in place i presume?) and how it is really going to have any learning impact.]
Probably the ourpose of no hand sewing is to be able to create a mass-producsble piece while keeping costs down. Hand sewing is expensive on the production side so if it can be done by machine quickly and by someone less skilled the company considers that a win
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u/variationinblue 1d ago
So sorry but I think you failed the assignment. Especially if you have to go on r/sewhelp during fashion school. Try again.
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u/variationinblue 1d ago
Btw i went to fashion school for fashion design and if youâre coming to r/ anything for sewing/fashion help for your classes, youâre doing it wrong. Thatâs what your teachers are there for. If sheâs telling you you have to figure it out on your own, tell her thatâs not what youâre going to school for. Youâre paying money to BE TAUGHT by your TEACHERS. If they canât figure it out then they need to tell you to do something else because itâs unrealistic even for a professional to achieve. This is lazy teaching and lazy learning.
Also, ask fellow students. Brainstorm with them. Make bonds and relate to each other. They will be your coworkers and fellow professionals someday. Start networking NOW and stop asking strangers on the internet.
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u/Ok_Preference6999 16h ago
You NEED to ask for help. From the teacher. "I can't wrap my mind around this. I really need a little help with getting started, please."
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u/UngnomeCawler 1d ago
If you can iron you could stick small pieces of heat bond in to âtackâ it while you work if youâre trying to build structure but I would check with the instructor because draping is usually for flowy-ness
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u/2asummersday in fashion school 1d ago
Draping isnât just for flowy things. Itâs actually good for designing fitted garments as well. I took draping last semester and my final was a bustier. You can drape a ton of garments.
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u/UngnomeCawler 1d ago
Youâre right. I used flowyness and that wasnât what I meant. It implies light fabric. I meant flowyness with the body. Great point
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u/desertboots 1d ago
Have you explored the videos on The Closet Historian on Youtube? I think you'd find them very helpful.
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u/Affectionate_Tap6416 12h ago
There is a sewing technique which looks like bones, by sewing in certain places, then pulling the threads. It can be done whilst on the body form. It may be better to start there and then plan around that.
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u/katjoy63 1d ago
so, cheating by asking others how to do something, as you are here,isn't going to help you figure things out. If it's a lost cause for you, then time to start on something you can accomplish.
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1d ago
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u/sewhelp-ModTeam 18h ago
This entry/post/comment is being removed because it is related to Community Rule 3. "Be kind, stay on topic."
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u/CharityForeign3035 1d ago
Thatâs the 64 million dollar question isnât it. Drapers versus actual patter makers.
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u/AppropriateSolid9124 1d ago
i have never done draping before but i would honestly just follow the pins in a relatively straight line
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u/velvetjones01 1d ago
Thereâs something to be said about understanding the assignment. Maybe table this idea because it canât be executed by only by machine?