Shape and Drape

Most of us don't have beautiful figures, and as we age, whatever we started out with tends to grow a teeny bit thick in the middle in spite of best efforts. I'm short (5' 1") and a little chunkier than I'd like, so I reckon that if a design looks good on me, it'll probably look good on other figures. Drape has a lot to do with how we look and feel in our clothes. Most of us benefit from wearing fabrics that are drapey rather than stiff and, indeed, I think this is what makes a lot of the Downton Abbey clothes so very attractive. There's been a lot of buzz in the newspapers about the effect of Susannah Buxton's designs on the fashion industry this year. I haven't seen this sort of crossover since Out of Africa, which, incidentally featured clothing from the same era. Notice how these costumes seem to flow, especially those from the garden party episode:

 

                

Drape happens both from fibre and cut. My Perth Cardi is an attempt to take advantage of the natural drape of alpaca and the flowing lines of the classic ballet crossover cardigan. In the spring, I have a new design coming out in an online publication which aims a little higher, utilizing alpaca, silk, and cashmere. And today I've been exploring how shape can affect drape even in a weightier fabric. One of my favourite designs is Cheryl Oberle's "Cusco".    



This is such a simple shape--just two rectangles knitted together. This morning I cut up an old towel and taped it together to see how this shape might work, scaled down to a smaller figure. I have a new design in mind, that would bring a reversible fabric into play, so that when the lapels fold back a new and surprising texture is revealed. Same for the cuffs. And I'm thinking of a slightly lighter weight yarn. Time to go and search the stash...