Lupinus Ferrum
Draping Final
Spring 2021
This is my favorite school project to date. We had to design a red carpet gown using the draping techniques I learned earlier in the class. Luckily this class was offered completely in person, so the quality of the class was much greater than some of my other classes.
.png)
.png)
.png)
This gown was heavily inspired by historical garments, as I find them more interesting than some of the more modern gowns I see today. Two specific things I found very interesting were the wateau pleats found on robe à la française gowns during the 18th century, and Victorian women's fencing uniforms. Unlike typical robe à la françaises, where the pleats are completely free hanging from the shoulder, I decided it would look nicer to have it fitted. So the cape is sewn into the center back of the bodice, and then opens up at the end of the waist.
​
The bodice and cape of the dress is made of green upholstery brocade and the skirt and sleeves of a gold crushed satin. I am almost certain that the plant motif on the brocade is Lupin, and with the heavy influence of fencing garb, I named the final dress Lupinus Ferrum. This translates to lupine blade.
The bodice is fully lined, and features 15 bound buttonholes that are completely functional along with an invisible zipper for easy dressing. I used a combination of French seams and bound seams on the skirt. The bishop sleeves are ridiculous and fun, and were not required since it is fairly hard to drape sleeves. I really wanted them, so I did some additional pattern drafting.
​
While making this dress, I did a great deal of the work from home, using a sewing machine that was less than ideal. One day, I was attempting to sew the invisible zipper without the correct foot, since my machine didn't have one. The needle broke on the teeth of the zipper and was very close to going into my finger. And on another unfortunate occasion, I got a pest glue trap stuck on the train of the dress and had to replace an entire panel.
