April unexpectedly turned into an extended month of learning which was a surprise and an absolute pleasure...

Between my jacket week at the beginning of the month (still nowhere near finished) Spring break and nine days of draping at the end, my mind is plotting crazy sewing ideas that will probably never come to fruition but are sooo nice to dream about...

and while I did keep up a feed on Instagram last week, and apologise for some repeat pictures...I did want to share the genius of Julien...Part 2.

Some of you might remember that I took a draping class with him last year and after re-reading this morning what I wrote about it at the time, it really does sum up how I still feel, I absolutely love it and am frustrated by it equally....and for that reason alone, I will be signing up again next year and every year after that (poor guy!)

This year I was hoping to ease myself into the process again to some extent and so signed up to tops and skirts first, hoping it would be more manageable than a whole dress...

and while I do know that for some people draping makes absolute sense from the very first fold on the dress form, for me it's not intuitive at all......I know in theory how draping works, I can plot out the steps in my mind, I can even take the muslin to it's intended place but actually knowing when to tighten slightly and when not to, where to snip and release and when to leave well alone is a challenge.

Julien however, is not only one of the nicest people I've met, but is also an incredibly gifted teacher, and appears to have endless patience....which was nice when I remade my first garment three times because of over snipping!

Each class segment had a different number of garments - two tops and two skirts over four days, and three more complex dresses over five days.

We would start each day with a line drawing of a garment, and a schematic for muslin measurements and then Julien would demonstrate just how the sticky tape should be placed before pinning the muslin on the form..

From there he would very slowly walk us through each fold, gather, snip and tuck, waiting and repeating while we took pictures and wrote notes.... until he ended up with a master piece and I eventually ended up with something vaguely familiar..

It's an incredibly thing to see the final patten shape, it was usually something so complex that it would be virtually impossible to create on flat pattern without years of experience.

I also loved all the pattern making practice , for me it was absolutely invaluable. Learning how to transfer muslin marks accurately to make a well fitting flat pattern (1/8" people!) how and where to add ease, move and place darts, add pleats, create cap and full length sleeves, and drape belts is useful for any level of sewing and things I will use often.

Below is Julien's version of a dress that I was still draping on the final day.....over eight yards of fabric would be necessary to replicate this beauty! (its on my list for next month)

and below - an incredible dress that was draped with a single piece of muslin...that's prime viewing trust me......sitting and watching that happen.

and so while I am not sure I know which ones I will eventually make, I am going to try the 35 piece dress that is shown at the top, and possibly even a shorter jacket version as I think the pattern shows such versatility .....but am not sure I will be attempting any of the others unsupervised!

Have a lovely week.

Leisa