The latest book from the pattern cutting series from the Bunka Fashion College in Japan, school of Yohji Yamamoto. Includes 17 fashionable and achievable designs, with easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions and diagrams that guide the reader through the draping process. With a folded pattern at the back, this book provides inspiring ideas and highly practical techniques for anyone wanting to learn about draping.
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About the Author
A graduate of Bunka Fashion College, Japan, Hisako Sato worked as Head of Garment Design for Muji until 1993 when she left to develop her own independent label. In 2008, she launched a new brand focusing on dress design, and she is still active as a designer today.
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88 of 88 people found the following review helpful
By Irene Adler
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the English translation of the super-popular home sewing book Drape Drape (which as of now has become a 3-book series) that was originally published in Japan by Bunka Publishing. I own this edition, and am familiar with the original Japanese edition. I loved the original Japanese edition, but I feel that a bit of the quality of this book was lost in translation.
The patterns are provided in 4 sizes, ranging from bust size 78cm (30.5 inches) to 90cm (35.5 inches), which roughly correspond to US pattern sizes 6 to 12. Thus, if you usually take pattern sizes bigger than 12, you might not want to get this book unless you know how to resize patterns. The designs in this book are probably the most fashion-forward that you will find in any sewing book (outside of the Pattern Magic series). There are 9 dresses, 8 tops, and 2 pants, mostly designed to be constructed with jersey, some with voile or georgette. These are some of my favorite designs out of all the books and patterns I own, and I am looking forward to making many of them. All the designs are of a certain modern, minimalist style that may not appeal to everyone; but if you are a big fan of brands like Alexander Wang, Helmut Lang, and Phillip Lim, then this book is perfect for your style :) As for construction, I would say most designs are of moderate difficulty. There's nothing objectively complicated about any of the steps, but you should probably be comfortable with working with soft, drapey fabrics, which have to be handled delicately to not get warped during construction. Most of the designs use large pattern pieces (some of the dresses are constructed using a single continuous piece) which tend to be more of a hassle to cut out of the soft stretchy materials that are required for these designs.
An important point to know before buying this book is that all the pattern pieces are printed on 2 sheets (4-sides) of poster paper (included in a plastic envelope inside the back cover). The pattern pieces overlap with each other to fit in this space, and the larger pieces are broken up into subsections. You must first trace out the pattern pieces on another sheet of paper (and join together the subsections of the large pieces) before you can cut them out to place your patterns on the fabric. This means that you will need to have access to rolls of tracing paper (or Swedish Tracing Paper). I suppose you can use a tracing wheel and transfer paper to transfer directly to fabric, but that sounds like more effort than just using tracing paper. Anyway, be aware that there will be an extra step in making the patterns, which American home sewers may not be used to. This system is pretty typical of Japanese sewing books, so it's something to keep in mind if you find yourself interested in other books of this type. What this book does differently from other Japanese sewing books is that the patterns include seam allowances, and the sewing lines are shown in addition to the cutting lines. Most Japanese sewing books don't include seam allowances, as it seems more common to trace the sewing lines onto the fabric, and then add the seam allowances just before cutting (or to use a double pencil). Whether you like having the seam allowances included will probably depend on your personal system, but at least the sewing lines are there too, so if you really hate pattern pieces with seam allowances, you can just trace out the sewing lines instead.
One notable difference between the English and Japanese editions of this book is the organization of the content. The original Japanese edition had the fashion shots all in the front of the book, with a caption telling you the page number of the corresponding instructions, which were all grouped together in the second part. The English edition rearranged everything so that the fashion shots are immediately followed by the corresponding instructions. I personally prefer the Japanese organization style, because it's easy to quickly flip through all the designs. The English organization makes it harder for me to flip through and brainstorm, but this may not bother everyone as much as it irks me.
The biggest objective shortcoming of the English edition is that the instructions feel like they were translated by someone who is not familiar with the typical English sewing instruction style, making them not always helpful. For example, what is commonly referred to as the "right side" of the fabric is here translated as "upside," which always throws me a bit. The whole book is filled with awkwardly phrased instructions that will take some effort to understand for someone who is used to reading instructions written in the American pattern-making market (e.g. Vogue, Simplicity, etc). The necessary information is present, but the unconventional wording is rather disorienting, and I personally found it better to just ignore them and look at the diagrams, just as I did with the Japanese edition.
This brings us to the subject of diagrams. I love the diagrams in this book; they are so clear and informative. For the sake of space, there are no diagrams for steps that involve sewing a simple seam. Anything more complicated than that is illustrated in a concise manner which I find really helps me to visualize and understand the process. There are also technical drawings of the finished garment and all the pattern pieces, annotated with numbers corresponding to the step in the instruction. Thus, you can see which part of the garment is being constructed in each step, as well as which part of each piece is being sewn. The quality of the instructional diagrams in Japanese sewing books are very high, which is the main reason behind their popularity around the world. As long as you have rudimentary sewing experience, the diagrams alone are sufficient to convey the information you need to assemble the garment, so you don't have to be able to read Japanese to use these books. Thus, the quality of the diagrams makes up for the short-comings of the translation.
To sum up, I think that Drape Drape is an amazing book that has incredible designs and high quality patterns. But certain aspects of this book (narrow focus on a particular style, size range, having to trace patterns, etc) might turn some people off. If you are unsure whether you will want to wear the designs in the book, there are some sewing blogs and a couple etsy stores that have pictures of the designs which can help you decide. The underwhelming quality of the translation means you should have enough sewing experience to not need hand-holding, because the written instructions probably won't be clear enough for a first-time sewer. I've rated this book 5 stars based on the quality of the raw content, despite the disservice of the mediocre translation. If you feel that having poorly-translated instructions is better than not being able to read the instructions at all, then this edition is probably the one for you. If you feel comfortable with being able to deduce the instructions based on detailed technical diagrams, then I would recommend getting the Japanese edition for the better layout. And of course, if you are able to read Japanese, then I would recommend the Japanese edition hands-down :)
Also, check out the other two volumes in this series, Drape Drape 2 and 3. I own the third volume in Japanese and it's filled with designs just as amazing and stylish as this one :) Happy sewing!
The patterns are provided in 4 sizes, ranging from bust size 78cm (30.5 inches) to 90cm (35.5 inches), which roughly correspond to US pattern sizes 6 to 12. Thus, if you usually take pattern sizes bigger than 12, you might not want to get this book unless you know how to resize patterns. The designs in this book are probably the most fashion-forward that you will find in any sewing book (outside of the Pattern Magic series). There are 9 dresses, 8 tops, and 2 pants, mostly designed to be constructed with jersey, some with voile or georgette. These are some of my favorite designs out of all the books and patterns I own, and I am looking forward to making many of them. All the designs are of a certain modern, minimalist style that may not appeal to everyone; but if you are a big fan of brands like Alexander Wang, Helmut Lang, and Phillip Lim, then this book is perfect for your style :) As for construction, I would say most designs are of moderate difficulty. There's nothing objectively complicated about any of the steps, but you should probably be comfortable with working with soft, drapey fabrics, which have to be handled delicately to not get warped during construction. Most of the designs use large pattern pieces (some of the dresses are constructed using a single continuous piece) which tend to be more of a hassle to cut out of the soft stretchy materials that are required for these designs.
An important point to know before buying this book is that all the pattern pieces are printed on 2 sheets (4-sides) of poster paper (included in a plastic envelope inside the back cover). The pattern pieces overlap with each other to fit in this space, and the larger pieces are broken up into subsections. You must first trace out the pattern pieces on another sheet of paper (and join together the subsections of the large pieces) before you can cut them out to place your patterns on the fabric. This means that you will need to have access to rolls of tracing paper (or Swedish Tracing Paper). I suppose you can use a tracing wheel and transfer paper to transfer directly to fabric, but that sounds like more effort than just using tracing paper. Anyway, be aware that there will be an extra step in making the patterns, which American home sewers may not be used to. This system is pretty typical of Japanese sewing books, so it's something to keep in mind if you find yourself interested in other books of this type. What this book does differently from other Japanese sewing books is that the patterns include seam allowances, and the sewing lines are shown in addition to the cutting lines. Most Japanese sewing books don't include seam allowances, as it seems more common to trace the sewing lines onto the fabric, and then add the seam allowances just before cutting (or to use a double pencil). Whether you like having the seam allowances included will probably depend on your personal system, but at least the sewing lines are there too, so if you really hate pattern pieces with seam allowances, you can just trace out the sewing lines instead.
One notable difference between the English and Japanese editions of this book is the organization of the content. The original Japanese edition had the fashion shots all in the front of the book, with a caption telling you the page number of the corresponding instructions, which were all grouped together in the second part. The English edition rearranged everything so that the fashion shots are immediately followed by the corresponding instructions. I personally prefer the Japanese organization style, because it's easy to quickly flip through all the designs. The English organization makes it harder for me to flip through and brainstorm, but this may not bother everyone as much as it irks me.
The biggest objective shortcoming of the English edition is that the instructions feel like they were translated by someone who is not familiar with the typical English sewing instruction style, making them not always helpful. For example, what is commonly referred to as the "right side" of the fabric is here translated as "upside," which always throws me a bit. The whole book is filled with awkwardly phrased instructions that will take some effort to understand for someone who is used to reading instructions written in the American pattern-making market (e.g. Vogue, Simplicity, etc). The necessary information is present, but the unconventional wording is rather disorienting, and I personally found it better to just ignore them and look at the diagrams, just as I did with the Japanese edition.
This brings us to the subject of diagrams. I love the diagrams in this book; they are so clear and informative. For the sake of space, there are no diagrams for steps that involve sewing a simple seam. Anything more complicated than that is illustrated in a concise manner which I find really helps me to visualize and understand the process. There are also technical drawings of the finished garment and all the pattern pieces, annotated with numbers corresponding to the step in the instruction. Thus, you can see which part of the garment is being constructed in each step, as well as which part of each piece is being sewn. The quality of the instructional diagrams in Japanese sewing books are very high, which is the main reason behind their popularity around the world. As long as you have rudimentary sewing experience, the diagrams alone are sufficient to convey the information you need to assemble the garment, so you don't have to be able to read Japanese to use these books. Thus, the quality of the diagrams makes up for the short-comings of the translation.
To sum up, I think that Drape Drape is an amazing book that has incredible designs and high quality patterns. But certain aspects of this book (narrow focus on a particular style, size range, having to trace patterns, etc) might turn some people off. If you are unsure whether you will want to wear the designs in the book, there are some sewing blogs and a couple etsy stores that have pictures of the designs which can help you decide. The underwhelming quality of the translation means you should have enough sewing experience to not need hand-holding, because the written instructions probably won't be clear enough for a first-time sewer. I've rated this book 5 stars based on the quality of the raw content, despite the disservice of the mediocre translation. If you feel that having poorly-translated instructions is better than not being able to read the instructions at all, then this edition is probably the one for you. If you feel comfortable with being able to deduce the instructions based on detailed technical diagrams, then I would recommend getting the Japanese edition for the better layout. And of course, if you are able to read Japanese, then I would recommend the Japanese edition hands-down :)
Also, check out the other two volumes in this series, Drape Drape 2 and 3. I own the third volume in Japanese and it's filled with designs just as amazing and stylish as this one :) Happy sewing!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By smokey
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Easy to understand and clear explanation.
Nice photos and good quality paper.
Attractive layout and lot of trendy design.
Reasonable price.
Nice photos and good quality paper.
Attractive layout and lot of trendy design.
Reasonable price.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A good book, very easy to understand, with images e good hints. It will be very usefull if you like to drape, because it gives you the basics of draping and some patterns to start your experiences.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Instructions
This book keeps those creative juices flowing with a look at how and how not to create comfy work and play dressings.
Published 1 month ago by D. Wagner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
I am very happy with this book. The patterns are well written and detailed. I haven't made anything yet be look forward in doing so.
Published 3 months ago by yvette
5.0 out of 5 stars
Drape book
My daughter reported the book was wonderful. It was purchased as a Christmas gift but given early. She has only previewed the book and not tried anything yet.
Published 5 months ago by Reba Oilar
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong title - should be Flat Pattern Flat Pattern
I wish I had known before I bought this book that no draping techniques are discussed. He shows pictures of clothes and how to assemble them with the flat patterns in the back of... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Eileen Burkhardt
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing pattern construction
This book is awesome! The designs are unusual, but still wearable. The pattern construction is amazing, and if you love draping like I do, you'll find a lot of inspiration in these... Read more
Published 6 months ago by giselinha
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Book,
This is a good book for making dresses, however the patterns are a little confusing to follow. It's one huge sheet with every pattern for all dresses.
Published 9 months ago by Frank Demarco
5.0 out of 5 stars
Super!!!
It's an excellent book about how to do something great to wear.
But you must know that for making such clothes some skills are required.
But you must know that for making such clothes some skills are required.
Published 11 months ago by SOFIA B. Kr
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