I recently posted this origami petals variation to the bamboo-bodice on Instagram. Now I’ll quickly explain how it was done, because I have a feeling that the origami designs are among your favorites.
First of all, I separated an area in the middle of the bodice front, so that the origami-element was only going to cover that part. These stylelines conveniently absorb the darts, too.
I already drew the bamboo-lines there, as I wanted to avoid having to copy the pieces.
Then I just cut away the sides. They are symmetrical, so I only needed to keep one of them. I trimmed the area around the dart-point a bit, making it more round.
The idea to this variation came from the braided designs of TR Masters’ challenge. It’s very much related to the origami petals. If you didn’t read the previous post yet, I suggest you do it now to understand better. Here’s the link: https://www.theshapesoffabric.com/2018/09/09/tr-masters-challenge-2018-round-one/
Ok, so I added volume in the same way as you do with origami petals. Here’s the first cut.
As you can see, instead of folding the petal normally, I made several small folds.
To get to the second petal, I proceeded like this.
And here you can see the second petal folded and ready.
I continued like that until I got the whole piece done. You just have to add the right amount of volume. If it’s too little, you don’t have enough material to fold. But if it’s too much, the pattern piece will end up overlapping once you’re done. Mine was at the limit! In fact, the last petal is smaller, because I didn’t have enough space left. The final pattern-pieces.
When I cut the fabric, I didn’t follow the exact folds I had done in paper. I wanted to have the possibility to fold the fabric in a different way, depending on how it would look like.
In the final piece has less folds than I had originally planned, because I thought it looked nicer this way. But you can experiment with different kinds of folds.
I hope you enjoyed this mini-tutorial.
Off-topic, I just wanted to tell you, that I now have a Facebook-page as well! I’ll be sharing some interesting fashion-related articles and videos I find on the internet. So follow my page if you’re into the theme. Thanks!
6 Comments
I would like to take your fabric manipulation course. Please contact me for the particulars.
Many thanks.
Sarah
Hi Sarah. If you sign up here https://manipulate-fabric.theshapesoffabric.com/waitlist you’ll be informed about the course. It will launch 30 September. 🙂
I live in Texas which is six hours “behind” you all. Is this a “live” class, a set of videos or something different from those? Also, is there a fee for the course, and how would I pay you if it is?
Sarah
That’s not a problem as the course is not live, so you can go through the materials at your own pace. It’s a paid course and all the info will be available on the salespage I’m linking here on my website. You can enroll until 7 October this round if you’re interested. 🙂
This is very interesting, will this origami panel be possible on torso block as a dress?
In theory, yes. But you’d probably need a seam at the waist or maybe place the folds in the opposite direction starting at the neckline and ending at the bust. 🙂