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Saskia ter Welle – Couture Classes and Broderie d'Art Courses

Haute Couture and Fashion School: off-line and online classes in haute couture pattern- and embroidery techniques

15
Nov 2021

By

Mannequin Half Scale

Ever heard of a half-scale mannequin? It’s a full-size copy of a mannequin, but everything is half the size. The strange thing is, that a half-scale mannequin looks really tiny. And despite (or because of) this half-size, this idea of a small mannequin has a big appeal to me.

Is it just fun or is it useful too? What can and can’t you do with it?

Overview and Quest

In this blog post I would like to take you on the adventure of the search for a small mannequin. I share with you

  • the quest
  • the moment I unpack my first half-scale mannequin (wonderful gift for Dutch Couture Academy!) and
  • my first quick tryout of draping a basic slope

Watch and enjoy!

Full Scale- Half Scale

We know a mannequin as the dummy of a human body , a useful tool for assessing clothing and for draping fabric to create a new pattern (moulage or draping). 

If you are familiar with the technique of pattern drawing, you know that patterns are often drawn at 1/4 scale first, and only then at full size. Within the world of fashion schools, there are mannequins on 1/4 (and 1/2) scale. Some sewing assignments  are self-drawn patterns in fabric on 1/4 scale: mini garments with a high level of cuteness! 

And at the other end of the spectrum, DIOR recreated its entire haute couture collection in miniature a few years ago, like a first-class dollhouse, a fairy tale.

Online Course Moulage

Last year I launched an online draping course for the first time. Students from all over the world participated. I find that a huge enrichment, because you see the work of people from completely different backgrounds.

One of the students then asked the question: can you also drape on a half-scale mannequin? Besides the 1/4 scale mannequins I was not familiar with this. I was actually curious myself. Several students turned out to have a small mannequin, and yes: you can drape on this too.

Of course: it’s different. Everything is very tiny, for example. And the doll is not adjustable in size. But in itself there is no obstacle to draping on a small mannequin.

In my search at that time for an affordable, handy mannequin I didn’t really make progress. I either found the dolls I could find online a bit boring or expensive. Not suitable for an experiment for fun.

The benefits of influencer are…

For a number of years I have been what is so beautifully called: ‘influencer’. That is someone who has more than 10,000 followers on social media. As soon as you have reached this ‘status’ you will be approached by parties who would like to reach your followers with their product or offer through you. A new form of advertising. Until now, however, these were not parties that I saw the benefit of. However, that changed a few weeks ago. I was approached by a company in Italy that supplies – you guessed it- 1/2 and 1/4 scale mannequins. That’s great: something I’ve been looking for for a year suddenly comes to me.

Possibilities Mannequin Half Scale

For myself I see a number of advantages that a half-scale mannequin has over a large mannequin:

  • a half-shell mannequin takes up little space and can be used on the table
  • you can easily take a half-scale mannequin (for example to class)
  • you can first try out a model on a half scale and when you are completely satisfied, you can only further develop it in real size
  • for draping on a half scale you need considerably less fabric (more environmentally friendly)

You understand… the moment my mannequin half-scale mannequin arrived from Italy, I was very curious what it would look like in real life:

As you can see my first impression is good! In a photo, the mannequin looked like it was made of plastic, but the material that shines is foam: you can press it and insert pins into it with ease.

In all the hustle and bustle of the B&B at the weekend , I couldn’t resist doing a quick first try-out of a basic slope by means of moulage. Below you can see the process:

Interested in the technique of draping/ moulage?

Then sign up for the waiting list for this (online) course HERE .

Discount on the half-scale mannequin? Then sign up for our newsletter now ! If you have already received the newsletter and you would like to receive the discount code, please send an email to saskia@saskiaterwelle.nl with the subject PROMO mannequin. 

The website of the halfscale mannequins can be found here.