Draped silk blouse

I'm about halfway through my last semester at WVC and I am loving my draping class!  I've taken two flat pattern drafting courses, which were amazing too, but draping to create garment designs is just a whole different skill.   So much fun!

Since I work on a dress form that has a similar bust size as me, I can use certain class drapes as designs for myself.  Here's the original drape from our exercise in class (photographed on my personal form at home, though I did the actual draping on on the good Wolf forms at school).  

This is my first go at using a drape to make a garment out of fashion fabric and I'm so excited at the result (and the prospects for future garment designing!).    I didn't even bother copying it onto paper--I just used my muslin as the pattern.

Obviously, the huge benefit of draping directly on a form is that the result should fit perfectly. The dress forms at school are not exactly shaped like my body (or ANY body, for that matter), so that only works in theory (or for standard sizes).  My own form at home, however, has been padded and altered to be a better representation of the my shape, so I look forward to doing more designing on that.

The original draping exercise in class didn't offer a suggestion for closing the neckline.  I opted to go for a big ol' side bow as my closure, with long ties hanging down in the front and back.  I am in LOVE with this feature!

The fabric is some leftover silk crepe de chine (from this dress) from the 2nd floor (sale items!) of Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley.  It's perfect for this design!

We're starting our mid-term project next week and I've chosen something that I hope can be translated into a garment for myself (naturally!).  I suspect there is going to be lots of draping in my future!