The most basic and essential aspect of fashion designing
is patternmaking. Without understanding how to cut out the patterns for a
particular design, garment construction is almost impossible. There are
different methods of pattern making.
One of them is to cut the fabric to a
smaller scale using miniature dolls and replicate the final garment, so that
the end result on a life size model is accurate enough and there is no wastage
of fabric.
The New Year at the Whistling Woods Neeta Lulla School of Fashion started with a class on pattern-making, where our fashion faculty, Amol Chettiar, introduced the concept of cutting on ¼ scale dolls. The class was given circular skirts and their variations, ¼. ½. ¾ and full circular skirts.
The concept of cutting garments on a smaller scale for
miniature dolls, was invented by Madeleine Vionnet, a French fashion designer
of the 1800s.Known as the ‘architect of dressmakers’, Madeleine was popular for
introducing the ‘bias cut’ to the fashion world. Her style of garment
construction involved cutting, draping and pinning fabric designs on miniature
dolls, almost half the size of a human body. The pattern was made afterwards by
the house’s premiére (first
seamstress). In those days, it was a new way of creating patterns.
Normally the pattern is cut before a toile (first-try)
is made.
Madeleine’s fashion house was at its peak in the 20′s and
30′s and her designs were inspired by Greek vases and Egyptian frescoes. She
also introduced ‘seam decorations’ by decorating visible seams with flower
shapes. Madeleine’s vision of the female form revolutionized modern
clothing and styles like the cowl neck, halter neck and the handkerchief dress
are some of the styles that were introduced by her and are still in vogue in
the 21st century.
With this pattern making class, our students learned about putting a ‘stay
stitch at the waist so as to avoid the fabric from stretching too much. They
are now raring to go and experiment with new styles on their ¼ scale dolls.
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