Product Description

This text combines step-by-step instructions illustrated to present the principles and
methods of draping. Author Helen Joseph-Armstrong incorporates three draping techniques
manipulating dart excess, adding fullness, and contour draping in design
projects featured throughout the text. Projects begin with a draping plan and fashion
drawing to identify its creative elements, and determine the draping technique required.
The author describes the drape of the basic dress and its relationship to every garment in
a clothing collection, emphasizing the drape of foundation garments as a base to building
more complex design.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #85946 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 544 pages

About the Author
Helen Joseph Armstrong is Professor of fashion design at the Fashion Center of the Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. A teacher, designer, consultant, and author, Armstrong was a recipient of the Nisod Excellence Award from the University of Texas at Austin.

Customer Reviews

See it and learn!
This book is so beautifully illustrated, you hardly need to read a line. To me, draping is the most rewarding method of apparel design, in that what you see is what you get -- no sketching, drafting, sewing up a muslin, and then seeing the results. That is why I find this book to be the best of all popular draping texts on the market today. The instructions are clear, the book itself is clean and well laid out. The illustrations are flawless. You can follow the drawings and easily achieve the same results. There is so much clarity in the way the material is presented, it's easy to use, easy to understand, and easy to learn from. The quality of this book is similar to her pattern drafting book. I would recommend any book authored by Helen Joseph-Armstrong, as you will certainly get the best book on the subject. This book is absolutely delightful.

Perfect book for the first-time draper
I wanted to wean myself off dependency on commercial patterns and having invested in a dress form, I came across this book. It's a bit pricey but it turns out that it's a fashion school text book, hence the price tag. The text is very well-written and illustrated. The author has the reader analyze a fashion drawing, and identify the structural components of a particular garment as most embellishments can be broken down to basic components (i.e. dart excesses).

My only peeve was that some definitions for terms I wasn't familiar with (e.g. Princess Line) couldn't be found in the back of the book. Also, not all the formats seen in fashion are portrayed in this book. Most, if not all, garment examples have a waist or empire seam, and designed for woven fabrics (no knits); and as far as I can tell, the author doesn't direct the reader/student on how to accomodate for that. However, I am happy that there is a section on bias-cut gowns (the info. is very hard to come by on the Net) As a self-taught sewer and wanna-be designer, this book will definitely help me to go to further.

Professional guidance for the creative sewer
A detailed, step by step guide for designing using the drape method. Easy to understand and also inspiriing. I wanted a way to create the designs I had in my head. This makes it so much clearer. A great resource to have.