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I would like to learn how to do pattern draping. I read the posts by Michelle but wondered if any one else has ever done it and what tips they could offer? Are there any books on it or web sites that are helpful?
Happy Holidays to all
Hugs
Gail
Matilda Huggington-beareI've also been rather curious about pattern draping. For the life of me I cannot figure how it would be done.
Yet I have heard quite a few TTers 'pattern drape'.
Wild Thyme OriginalsI do it all the time as I consider myself "dimensionally challenged!" For the life of me, what I draw in a two dimensional pattern NEVER looks even remotely similar to what I had imagined! Here's what I do, though I am sure that it's probably not the way it might be taught in a book. I just kinda figured it out on my own through trial and error. I know that Karen Lyons, a member here, and the maker of those "so real they purr" 
looking cats, is also a pattern draper, she might have some more scholarly methods.....
I take some old polymer clay (since I used to work quite a lot with that medium, I have a ton of it around her collection dust!) and just shape it into the body part I am trying to create. I generally model the whole bear, body, head (sans ears!), arms, legs..... that way I can get all the proportions exactly the way I want them. I use OLD clay, so it's pretty stiff, and maintains its shape fairly well even without baking. If the clay is soft, I sometimes bake it though. I mark out on the clay where all the seam lines will be in the finished piece.
If I'm working on an arm, let's say, I take a piece of heavy duty tissue paper, or paper towel, and I lay the paper over the side of the arm, and kind of press it gently onto the clay so that it covers up to where I want the seam on the arm. I mark out the seam line with a little marker. You have to get the paper to lie flat on the clay part so that you end up with a flat shape to be your pattern piece. Sometimes I have to fold the paper along the seam line so that it lies flat. I mark out where I have folded, and that ends of being a dart in the pattern... my patterns have loads of darts!
I take the paper off the clay piece and lay it out on my table. I just cut along the marker line. The marker line is actually the sewing line... not the cutting line. Then I place the shape on a piece of thin cardboard and trace around the perimeter with the appropriate seam allowance. And that's my pattern piece.
If that's clear as mud, please ask questions! 
Kim Basta
Count me in as "enquiry minds want to know" . I just don't understand. I think I need to see it to get the concept.
Wild Thyme OriginalsI've had so many people write me and ask if I could do a picture tutorial on pattern draping. I just haven't found the time to do one yet! It's on my "OH, I really SHOULD...." list though! It sounds so much more complicated in writing that it actually is.
Kim Basta
BruinwerksThe absolute best books I have found on this subject were both by Susanna Oroyan: Designing the Doll and Finishing the Figure. They are both obviously written for dollmakers but all the same rules apply. I could never make clothes for my bears because of their very pronounced shape but it got much easier after I worked through FTF. Lots of nice doll eyecandy too!
Best of Luck!
Cheryl 
I know this bathing costume looks simple but it has several darts and curved seams to fit his narrow shoulders and ample backside and tummy. I could never figure out how to do it without a big ol' seam down the middle before I read these books.
Cleathero CreationsYes I am curious too. My mind just boggles over it.
Chaska, MinnesotaGosh Kim: thank you for telling us how to do pattern drapping. I never thought to design that way....and for the doll booksCheryl, I have them....I must find the time to read them...
Michelle
Matilda Huggington-beareKim I can see in my minds eye exactly what you do. But for the life of me I cant figure out why you would go to all that work when drawing it on paper is so much easier and quicker. 'For the life of me 'I cant seem to get my head around the fact that your mind doesnt work in two dimensions.
I basicly do exactly what you do with one difference. I can do it on paper. When I design a bear , I start with the body . When I get that correct I will put it on a piece of paper in pen. Then I do each other piece of the body. I add them to the main body part as each is complete to work out size and shape in relation to the rest of the pattern. When I am finished it will look like yours but on paper.
I have great difficulty modelling. My hands dont seem to want to do what my mind wants. Yet, I can sculpt. 
Wow you have blown me away. All that work to make a pattern............. 
Its pretty cool aye? how differently our minds work aye?
You certainly get superb results with your pattern draping.
Wild Thyme OriginalsHi Matilda! I'm sure it's gotta be one of those left brain/right brain things, or some kind of visual processing thing. I've seen a bizillion basic bear patterns... certainly I could sketch out one of those without problem, but it's things like puffy cheeks, a wide forehead, or getting a nice roundness in the thigh, or a certain curve to the arm... those things just seem to work better for me in 3D. Plus... my bear's legs often have a more "people-ish" shape in the calf area.... at least when I do bent legs... I don't know. It doesn't really take me all that long to do, shaping clay is fairly easy for me.
The first of my own patterns that I just drew out looked like aliens! I'd try to have puffier cheeks and they just had bigger neck openings... things like that!
I find it fascinating too.... the differences in the workings of other people's minds. I tend to be very visual and hands on... if I touch it... or I read it I "get it." My Mom, on the other hand, has an auditory discrimination problem... sounds don't make a whole lot of sense to her... she still doesn't understand the difference between sliver and slither. If you ask her how much cake she wants, she'll always say, "Just a little slither!"
It's just amazing the way the brain works and how it processes information.
Kim Basta
Matilda Huggington-beareMMMmmmmm.........maybe we arent that dissimilar. I cut out alot of paper and felt to work out how large a dart to get the shape I'm after. Paper first to get me on the right track and felt to see it in reality (with no pile in the way)
Would pattern draping work on an ornament? I mean since I'm no potter, I would still like to give it ago.
I'd like to walk in your shoes kinda . I'm not explaining myself very well. I apologise.
MMMmmm ....what you say deserves more thought on my part. So am going into my work room and have myself a good ponder. OOOps... I think I will have to ponder at the hair dresser. gotta go. forgot I'm getting my hair done.
Posts: 1,836Great timing! I have the most recent copy of TBR and both Karen Lyons and R. John Wright have photos of their sculpts prior to pattern. I'd think this would be a great way to really get "that look" you're truly going for. 2-d can be a real pain sometimes when the final piece isn't just what you wanted. Something to think about for the new year.
Kim, you work mostly in miniatures right now do you do the same sculpting process for your large bears? That's a big sculpting job! 
:hug:
~Chrissi
EDIT: I just thought of this last night while reading another post about photos and how it would be great to "see" more of what we talk about. One of us should get a Youtube site going for video demos on specific topics Mini tutorials on bearmaking out on YouTube 
Or get our own version of Youtube out here on TT...video demos on techniques..would be pretty cool.
:hug:
~Chrissi
For some reason we here in Canada , at least where I live, are unable to get TBR anymore. I would really like to see the issue mentioned in the previous post re Karen Lyons and RJohn Wright If someone has a paypal account and would send me one then I could pay you with paypal for the magazine and the postage
Thanks so much
Hugs
Gail
If you pm me then I can give you my snail mail address
