This is the study of a Jacques Heim Dress owned by the V&A collections in London and can be found on their website. The original dress is made in linen with large straw buttons randomly place on the dress skirt. The front dress bodice and cross-over bands are cut in one piece. Because of copy right I have worked from a garment drawing from the book in (Modern Fashion In Detail).
When studying a garment one of the first steps is to map out the garment style line on a suitable dress stand using a dark coloured yarn. I personally like using dark yarn as it can be seen threw light and medium waight calico.
When choosing a fabric to drape with it is important to use a fabric as close as possible in weight and behaviour to the original garment fabric. Start by cutting pieces of fabric roughly 10 to 20cm larger than you need. This can be done by holding the fabric up again the dress stand. Press the fabric and with a pencil draw a long & short grain line on every piece. This is to ensure you alway know where the straight grain is while you are draping. As you create your garment on the stand it is easy to lose the correct grain once the selvages have been removed.
Align you straight grain to the top centre front neck. Remember to position your pins to support the weight of the fabric.
Once you have your fabric pined to the dress stand start to cut and release the excesses fabric starting from the top front down. Keep a keen eye on you straight of grain at all times. Alway cut small pieces off like a sculptor working in marble. I never cut up to my style line , but keep 2 to 3cm to fold under or to use for seam allowance.
Work from the top front down keeping the fabric slightly loose. There is a tendencies in the beginning to pull the fabric tight to the dress stand. If this is done the garment will be too tight for normal body movement. Once the front is draped, start to drape back using the same method starting at the centre back neck. When you get to the shoulder and side seams fold under 2 to 3 cm seam allowance and pin to the front bodice. It is important to start pin the garment to its self removing the pins holding the fabric to the stand. This way you can start to asses the garments fit. Once done record seam allowance and balance notches. At this stage accurate is essential to success because the garment will need to be removed from the dress stand and be traced to make a paper pattern.