How can a simple bodice become an expressive, sculptural form?
In this 2-hour community workshop, we’ll explore the construction logic behind the Bamboo Bodice, an iconic design associated with Shingo Sato’s TR Cutting technique.
We’ll begin with a concise introduction to draping and TR Cutting, followed by the principles of dart manipulation: how darts can be relocated, divided, and transformed into new shapes and design lines.
We’ll then apply these concepts to the Bamboo Bodice. Working step by step, you’ll cut paper and fabric and roughly assemble the pieces to observe how the design develops in three dimensions.
This is a theoretical and experimental workshop, not a fitting class. We won’t be fitting the design to individual participants. Instead, we’ll work with the measurements of a ½-scale dress form, allowing us to focus on the underlying construction and design principles.
What you’ll explore
- An introduction to the fundamentals of draping
- What TR Cutting is and its approach to pattern design
- The principles of dart manipulation
- The construction logic behind the Bamboo Bodice
- Basic paper and fabric cutting and rough assembly
No experience needed
This workshop is open to sewing beginners, fashion enthusiasts, pattern-making students, and anyone curious about garment construction and fashion design.
You’ll get a hands-on introduction to advanced pattern-making concepts in a relaxed and accessible setting, without needing to commit to an expensive professional course.
We’re passionate about making this kind of specialised knowledge more accessible, so we’re offering the workshop at an almost-free community price, far below what you might normally pay for comparable professional or private pattern-making training.
Come curious, follow the process, and discover how a few precise pattern-making principles can transform a basic bodice into something much more sculptural.