Can I just say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE draping? Not just because you can do with your hands what you spent years trying to do yanking commercial patterns into shape or trying to wrap your brain around the geometry of pattern drafting. But also because it’s just such a tactile way to make what you see in your mind happen in reality… Okay, I’m done waxing poetic.
I really like where I’m going in the front, but not too sure about the back. The evening bodice is going to have inside box pleats, with the inside of the pleat in solid white (like in the Truly Victorian 1870 evening bodice pattern) — but I think it would be boring to do the exact same thing on the day bodice as well. I was trying to go for the ruffly full look you see in a lot of early bustle era bodices, but it’s still pretty flat. Off to my book collection for inspiration!
Here’s the intial drape:
And the first mockup:
