Because a fabric undergoes a large displacement and rotation during draping, researchers have considered the drape phenomenon to be a geometric nonlinear phenomenon. Researchers investigating fabric drape developed a nonlinear finite element code to simulate the three dimensional behavior of fabric. The formulation included geometric nonlinearity caused by large displacements and large rotations during draping. Comparisons with actual draping fabric verified the performance of the finite element code and validated its use for predicting draping behavior. Drape analyses using fine element methods are suitable for apparel computer aided design systems that transform two dimensional fabrics into three dimensional draped shapes. 14 refs.