What is Drape And Why Is It A Big Deal?May 15, 2026 I could probably start out here with drape is key or a garment is all about hang, and you might not know or care what in the world that is.
The short
answer is the "hang" or drape of a garment, and of course a picture says that better than anything.
This is the whole body and may be a little over-whelming, but it's really not. The hang of a garment is how it hangs from the points of the body that stick out the most. In profile, those are the bust, stomach, shoulders, and fanny. So
much of this is lost in today's fashion with the exposing of everything as a means of expressing one's freedom to dress anyway they want. And
to be honest, I could go into a whole rant on the state of public dress today, but that's not us. Most sewists understand the fashion mess we're in today, and can do something about it, as opposed to the poor buying public who has no choice but to wear the awful fashion that is presented to them. This is more about learning all over again how to dress with style, grace, and in a professionally kept manner so as to project a clearly fashionable side that is always respected - no matter what the fashion.
Having excellent drape to your garment is probably the key feature of a classic style. And this goes for
men as well as women.
Honestly this tight look doesn't work. It looks exactly like what it is: ill-fitting and too tight to work in. The costumers on The Lincoln Lawyer think it may look good on Mickey Haller, but the truth is that even Harvey Specter (Suits TV
Series) doesn't wear his suits that tight.
So what is a good drape? These are the perfect examples. Even though these real people aren't standing perfectly straight, you can see that the drape is there. You can see something else and that is there is movement in the clothes. One
thing you don't have on clothes that are too tight is any sort of sway or shashay in the movement. When you see these people move, their clothes move well about them, preserving the drape and hang all the time.
So why is it that women are made to feel that if they don't show everything, they aren't dressed right? These people who are out there on stage dressing the way they do, do it for a reason. It's part of their show. It's all part of
dancing around in risque clothing to get more attention. Entertaining like this sells the talent short because you always wonder if people are there for the show of skin or for the talent.
Part of the problem between tight and drape is that anything that has drape gets a bad rap; it's too baggy, and it's as if being too baggy is the worst thing in the world, fitting-wise. There's confusion between ease and bagginess. There are garments that are too baggy,
but having enough ease isn't one of them.
So what is the difference between baggy and ease, and what's the line between the two? It's personal. Yeah, I'm sorry I can't give you an exact number, but it's the truth. What I can give you are "standards." But a warning; these are the standards from the 60s and 70s, and these are the standards that I dress by today, and there are a lot of folks who think my standards are baggy. They aren't. This
is ease to allow simple daily movement, like getting in and out of a car without ripping something.
Click the photo to download a PDF that's easier to read. These are merely guidelines, but it gives you a clear idea of the ease that commercial garment makers used in the 60s and 70s and how much they have changed, or eliminated! With so much stretch
fabric available, and stretch fabric today is remarkably fabulous, it's given way to stretch clothing that doesn't have ease. This is a whole other subject, but there's nothing wrong with stretch fabric having ease, maybe a little less, but it makes a much more classic and professional style.
This drape-and-hang was never more applicable than when I was working on my latest classic garment, taken from so many photos of classic blouses.
This looks easy, doesn't it? Well, for one thing, there's massive AI cleaning up going on in these photos, and I knew that. And what they can't clean up with AI, they just leave it, thinking no one will notice if it's artificially smooth. But
that didn't mean I didn't like the idea of the blouse. It actually came from Landman, Cami Miller's character.
A nicely tailored, charmeuse blouse, in this case with a beautiful contrast in textures between the blouse and the suede jacket. I don't have a suede jacket (yet), but I do love that blouse. But I'm a stickler about not only the execution of the
blouse but of the lay and hang of the garment.
As far as I was concerned, the lay was darn good right off the bat, which comes from using one of my standard core patterns. But I had one problem.
Some details on the fabric, which was from Mood Fabrics, and it was fabulous to work with. Had a nice drape and excellent quality weave - by that I mean it was sturdy and not flimsy, but very draping. I used one of my core patterns from the past, and nothing else special. I used my bondable woven interfacing, not silk organza, and it bonded very well without any artificial or creepy
texture, as you can see from the collar.
Here is the final result. You can see nothing has been retouched, because the sleeve needs ironing. But it's the hang that I love so much. From the shoulders to the bust to the lay of the collar to the drape of the skirt (as tailors would say), I'm
terrifically pleased with this blouse. The hang is very evident in a fabric like this, cause any bump or miscalculation in sewing shows through. I think what I'm most proud of is that collar. Both sides fold just exactly the way I wanted. The blouse is easy to wear and comfortable, and although it's a little on the elegant side, it will look gorgeous under a jacket. There's another takeaway here: pad stitching, a stalwart of the tailored jacket, can be used in many places, like this collar, that require a little help to fold or roll just the way I want. Instead of having to fuss with this and
having one side flat and the other roll very well, I now can depend on this looking just the way I want, but without any tell-tale overworking the area, either with pressing or excessive stitching that could take away from the ease and drape of the pattern and the fabric. This is the pure genius of pad-stitching. It doesn't look like what you've done, and yet the roll looks so natural.
So pad-stitching isn't only for tailoring. It's any time you want a roll or fold
that looks natural, usually a gentle one. And it doesn't matter whether the fabric is fine wool or Viscose charmeuse, as this was. If you want that roll, create it with the pins as I did in the video, mark it on a seam, and then sew it in. This took me about 30 minutes to complete (for both sides), and it's worth the time to have something I can slip on real quick without fussing with the collar all the time.
And like my great coat/jacket I made for winter, I'm planning on a similar coat/jacket for summer in a much lighter fabric for those cold air-conditioned nights in the Southern Plains, or even just the grocery stores, which seem to delight in refrigerating the
whole inside. Don't get me started on Sam's refrigerated rooms that I do not go into at all in the winter without full Nanook of the North gear!
This blouse will make the perfect undergarment for that coat or jacket, adding a bit of elegance without a lot of fuss. And that I can wear it alone, because the hang is so good, I don't have to worry about taking my jacket off!
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Tracking a fashion trend isn't all that hard after seeing a few of them.
Living from Mid-Century Modern through Twiggy...
It's worth the time to look at these styles, particularly today as
there is a group of that wants to look....
This is the way fashion used to be -- pretty, flattering and I can't wait to make some of...
NOTE: There are some folks who can't get my email, or it's sporadic, or something is hinky. I will always respond to any of you who send a private message, whether it's about the topic of the week or something else. If you don't get anything
from me, it's probably because the [email protected] email is blocked, and even a private message can't get through. In that case, I'm on Instagram often, and you can always PM me at @sewingartistry.
As a precaution,
please ensure I'm in your email Address Book and check your spam, junk, and trash folders. Some email clients get extra excited when they see emails coming into the Inbox that go to many other receivers. They automatically think it's trash or spam, and it never makes it to the Inbox. I must constantly check my spam and junk folders to ensure I'm getting the emails I subscribe to.
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