In today’s session, we continued our exploration of the “Creative Folds” technique, but this time, we focused on how a single, small-scale folded detail can inspire a complete and complex garment design.

I wanted to show you my personal process for moving from an abstract drape on the form to a fully realized design concept.

We worked with softer, flowier fabrics and saw how a simple fold can become the starting point for a stunning, Vivienne Westwood-esque evening dress.

Demonstration Steps:

• Demonstrated how I take a small, folded fabric piece and play with its placement on the dress form to discover interesting shapes and silhouettes.

• Showed a finished draping example on the form, explaining that it was created from two separate pieces of scrap fabric, each with its own unique “creative fold” application.

• Introduced my digital “doodling” process: I took a photo of the initial drape, imported it into my iPad, and then sketched over it to explore different design possibilities like necklines, sleeves, and silhouettes without wasting fabric.

• Walked through the creation of the first draped piece: starting with a rectangular scrap of fabric, I created a simple fold by bringing one corner to the center, opening it up like origami, and stitching the fold in place.

• Draped this piece on the form, showing how to create a beautiful, sharp shoulder line and a softly draped bodice by manipulating the fabric and adding tiny pleats to give the arm more room to move.

• Created the second “envelope fold” piece by folding two corners of a fabric scrap toward the center and stitching them down.

• Draped the second piece onto the lower half of the dress, showing how it could be used to complete the look, but we decided together that it felt a little overcrowded.

• Refined the final design by removing the second folded piece and simply draping a plain piece of fabric to complete the front, creating a much cleaner, more elegant silhouette.

• Finalized the design concept by draping a bustier and skirt outline with draping tape, showing how the initial drape could be the foundation for a full red carpet-worthy gown with a structured bodice and flowing skirt.

This session was a deep dive into the creative thought process behind designing with drapes.

It showed that sometimes less is more, and the most important step can be stepping away, taking a picture, and allowing yourself to “doodle” and dream up the possibilities before committing.

We all loved the final design so much that we decided next week, we will work on completing this drape and turning it into a real pattern