Learn to Drape 9/17- 10/20 + half-scale rental package (FREE shipping)

Learning draping not only opens up creative possibilities, but it gives you a deeper, hands-on understanding of pattern fitting, alteration, and design that you just don’t get from sewing commercial patterns.

Whether you’ve been sewing for years or have only recently discovered garment making, you’re invited to come play with fabric with us – it’s so much fun!

What will I get in the Learn to Drape course?

In this LIVE 4-week online course beginning Sat Sept 17, 2022 (+1 week intermission), you'll learn how to:

• Create custom one-of-a-kind draped designs on a dress form and transfer them to paper patterns
• Develop your eye for fitting and designing for real shapes, including our asymmetries 
• Find the confidence and freedom to finally create those ideas in your head

Unlike other online sewing courses you’ve taken, this one is different in that we have a dedicated, private community called the Beatrice Collective to support it.

We designed this class to recreate the best parts of in-person workshops, like the real-time support and camaraderie you feel with your fellow students and instructor, while at the same time offering the convenience of online access.

How does the Learn to Drape work?

Learn to Drape is run with live sessions taught by Beatrice Forms Founder Alison Hughes.

You can take it at your own pace with all of the video replays or participate live via:

Saturday topic sessions. Each Saturday at 10am Mountain, we'll introduce the topic and challenge for the week.

Thursday office hours. To answer questions and collaborate with you on your work, we’re hosting weekly office hours via Zoom at 5pm Mountain on Thursdays.

Detailed guides and other resources. As a companion to the weekly topic sessions, you'll also get access to a whole library of specific, step-by-step guides and templates to download and make each part of Learn to Drape even easier.

24/7 access to the course. Lastly, all of these great resources are organized and available online for you any time in the Beatrice Collective. This is also where you can post your questions and weekly challenges with rich support from Alison and our entire community.

Here's what we'll cover:

Week 1: Tools & Form Marking

Week 2: Design Fundamentals + Draping a Bodice

(Weeklong intermission)

Week 3: Creating a Pattern from a Draped Design

Week 4: Draping a Fashion Look

What supplies do I need?

You'll be working on your rented half-scale pinnable Beatrice dress form which is made from a scan of a real person's shape. Even though this shape is not yours, you'll still learn valuable skills and techniques that you can use for fitting and altering for your own body. 

Fashion design schools teach on half-scale forms for very compelling reasons: you'll use 1/4 of the materials and you can work more quickly and easily with half length seams. As a bonus, I'll be demonstrating on the exact same shape!

Other recommended supplies include:

• Sewing machine & basic sewing supplies
• Muslin
• Narrow twill tape
• Pattern/tracing paper
• Fashion rulers and L-square
• Tracing wheel & wax tracing paper
• Draping tape (optional)

We'll provide more details about supplies after you’ve registered.

We also offer a Draping Starter Kit for purchase which contains many of these supplies.

What experience do I need to take Learn to Drape?

Basic garment sewing and pattern reading skills are recommended. Please contact us if you have any concerns.

What our students are saying about Learn to Drape

This course was a dream-come-true for me. I’ve wanted for a long time to be able to make clothes that I imagined, rather than having to try to find patterns that sort-of match (but not really) to make clothes that sort-of fit (not  quite).  -Anne

This is the best garment related class I’ve ever taken!  It’s challenging and creative.   Learning how to drape encourages you to try new things and results in clothes that fit. - Rose Schaller, LTD September 2021

This course had the ideal blend of "intuitive" and technical that I was exactly hoping for when I enrolled.  Alison clearly and comprehensively provided both the "why" and the "how", which made it both effortless and enjoyable to learn and retain the material.  Such an empowering class! - Junie Villongco, LTD September 2021

Special gift for you!

As a way to mark our experience together, we'll send everyone who completes the course a "Learn to Drape" enamel pin that we recently designed especially for this course. (Free shipping to North America only.)

It’s time to bring draping to the world of home sewing. 

You’ll be amazed what a confidence boost you’ll get. Garment design doesn’t get more intuitive than when you do it directly on the human form with your own two hands. We’re so excited to be able to offer it to you. See you there!