Designing in Miniature: Why I Use a Wooden Artist Mannequin for Pattern Drafting

👋 Hello again, everyone!

Today, I wanted to share a fun design method I’ve been using. It’s not a brand-new concept in the fashion world, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to show you. Like many designers, I love testing out new design ideas on a quarter-scale model before cutting into my full-sized fabric.

To do this, I use my wooden artist mannequin! She is fully posable with arms and legs, which makes her perfect for testing how garments sit and move. While some designers use fashion dolls for this, I honestly prefer my wooden doll—plus, she's a lot more budget-friendly! 🎨🪵

Here is what she is modeling in the photos:

• 🩳 The Culottes: Designed by adapting my basic skirt block.

• 👚 The Tie-Front Blouse: Patterned using a basic dartless bodice block.

The secret behind the perfect fit:

In this last picture, you can see the tiny quarter-scale pattern blocks I made for her. I actually copied these directly out of one of my pattern textbooks to practice working out design ideas. It turns out my mannequin fits into them flawlessly—she must be exactly quarter-scale! It has been such a fun, low-pressure way to practice pattern drafting exercises and see the results instantly. 📐✨

Why I love quarter scale:

Quarter-scale saves a massive amount of fabric and paper when you are just experimenting. I copied the quarter scale slopers from the book Make Your Own Dress Patterns by Adele Margolis.  Benefits of small scale designing are:

• save fabric from waste

• design practice

• custom design

• work through mistakes

• A good way to recycle small scrap pieces

• uses smaller amounts of fabric

Have you ever tried designing or draping in quarter-scale? Would you use a fashion doll or a wooden mannequin? Let me know in the comments below!

I hope you all enjoyed this little look into my studio space. I'm feeling inspired and hope to be back with another post really soon!

Have a wonderful, creative day! ❤️

Click here to subscribe for my latest posts! 👈