To make a sketch directly from the dress seems a very difficult problem to the inexperienced art student; and it would be if an attempt were made to draw it as one would draw a flower or a vase. But if the student has thoroughly mastered all previous lessons and applies them as this lesson is studied, she will have no difficulty in sketching any costume in a short space of time.
In sketching a dress directly from the model, proceed as follows:
Let us imagine that we are viewing the dress itself wThich is on a dressmaker’s form: After drawing the form, look at the dress carefully, taking in everything regarding it. Ask yourself these questions, and as you answer them, place the proportions on your form, using light lines.
Question. Is the neck high or low?
Answer. High in the back and low in the front.
Question. What shape is the front opening?
Answer. It is V-shaped.
Question. How low does the V open?
Answer. Less than halfway down the front.
Draw so applying principles of Lesson II, Fig. C. .
Question. What is the shape of the collar? .
Answer. It is a deep sailor collar which is sewed on the V neck more than halfway down. The collar goes toward the back and falls over the normal arm hole. (Lesson VI, Collar 4.)
Question. Is the waist all in one piece?
Answer. No. It has an over-waist which fits up to the middle of the shoulders
(Lesson VI, Fig. R) and is gathered in with the under-waist at the belt where it blouses over the girdle. (Lesson II, Fig. C.)
Question. What kind of a sleeve has it?
Answer. A long kimona sleeve (Lesson VI, Fig. R) fulled into a deep gauntlet. (Lesson VI, Fig. Q.)
Question. Of what does the skirt consist?
Answer. Three deep flounces, the lower two being sewed on the underskirt.
The two lower flounces are the same depth while the top one is longer. The latter hangs down as low as the sleeve.
Question. How wide is the lace insertion on the sleeve?
Answer. About one-seventh of the depth of the gauntlet.
Question. How wide is the lace insertion on the skirt?
Answer. Twice the width of the insertion on the sleeves.
Question. What kind of buttons has it?
Answer. Three small buttons on each side of the over-waist which extend from the collar to the bottom of the V.
Question. What kind of a girdle has it?
Answer. A crushed girdle as wide as two-thirds of the width of the gauntlet. (Lesson VI, Fig. Q.)
When you feel that all these proportions are placed on your form correctly, strengthen them with clean-cut, snappy strokes. Compare this plate with Lesson II. Note how much easier the bottom lines of the flounces are, how some folds turn one way, and some the other. Note carefully all XX lines and the lines for the fullness. You can make a sketch even looser than this by breaking some lines in the high lights.
A guide line through the center of the insertion will be a help in placing a design.
If it is necessary to record the names of the materials used, write them out opposite each material, connecting them to the material with horizontal lines.
All dimensions for the back view must accord with the front. This front view being two and one-half time3 larger than the back, all dimensions on it must be two and one-half times larger. Refer to Lesson II, Figs. D and E.
If the exact design of the lace or embroidery is required, make a careful sketch of it in the comer of your paper.
It is well to try to remember costumes you see in the shops and on people. By looking at them closely and asking yourself questions you can remember enough to draw them afterwards. This is excellent practice and will aid you greatly in obtaining ideas for original designing.
Practice sketching from costumes, as the art of accurate sketching is worth money, and the more you sketch the quicker you will become and the more valuable to your employer.