Sketch to Dress Demonstration

Textiles, Room 101. 14.00-17.00

Experts from Vivienne Westwood Ltd will be working in the Dress collection for three weekends making a dress from sketch to finished piece. You can come along and see this taking place for free between 14.00-17.00.

Sat 8 & Sun 9 May
Sat 15 & Sun 16 May
Sat 22 & Sun 23 May

We will photograph the work that takes place each weekend and add images to this site a few days after each weekend.


Rita Meusburger from Vivienne Westwood Limited who is making the dress for us.













Over three weekends Rita will be making a dress from Vivienne Westwood's Gold Label collection Spring/Summer 2004 - Blue Sky.













Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 May 2004

This weekend Rita prepared the pattern to make the dress. She cut the paper pattern. Next weekend she will start the construction of the dress.
To make a dress from a design, the pattern cutter has to be an expert in translating the drawn design to a 3D piece. The pattern is worked out and a sample is made in a cheap cloth called calico. This sample is called toile.

Each part of the dress has a different pattern piece and this has to be measured out by hand.

Some of the tools of the trade		Preparing the pattern

Rita draws out the pattern on pieces of paper


Cutting paper pattern

Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 May 2004

This weekend Rita started sewing the pattern pieces together. She had previously cut the fabric in the studio in preparation. After each piece is stitched it has to be pressed with an iron. This enures that the seam sits flat and smooth.


Rita is using an industrial sewing machine, brought in from the Westwood studio