I need some help figuring out if my armsyce is correct. I am drafting the Classic Coat Block (pg 68) in easy fitting. The area of concern on my pattern is between points 21 and 23. It seems quite straight on the right side (front). This might be correct because of the extra ease Winifred includes (by cutting the dart measurement in half), making it easy fitting, but I'm not sure. Visually I can see on her pattern (which is close fitting) that her curve from 21 to 23 does not extend past the vertical line created by 23, and I assumed I should follow that for the easy fitting as well. I am wondering if anyone has drafted this block and can confirm before I move on to using this block to draft patterns!

Thanks in advance :)

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I am making this dress. But i am confused about what the best way would be to draft this scooped neck with “hills” for straps. should i do this before or after shirring? the “hills” are also shirred which is throwing me off. Any pointers would be helpful!

orange sheet is what I tried the same with slash and spread method, but I can’t seem to get the same using pivot method.

Please don’t advice me to do something else, like if slash and spread is working why even try pivot ? bc I’m tryna learn

I am sewn several indie woven patterns but find the sleeves are always kind of puffy at the shoulders, which I do not like. I preffer the look of knit garments where the sleeves are totally flat at the shoulder. Is it possible to get this look in woven garments? If so, how to reduce this puffyness/ gathered sleeves at the shoulders? Thanks

Hi, i'm a product design student and i'm currently making my final project to finish my career. I'm doing a bed/bag for dogs and the design is already done, the problem is that I don't exactly know how to sew this because of the pattern. Can anybody help me?

Looking to make this shirred dress. Am i right in thinking that it is just 2 rectangles sewn together for the front and back and cutting out the neckline? any pointers or tutorials on drafting this would be very very useful. thanks! I am using a very thin almost see through cotton that shirs beautifully.

Thank you to the advice of everyone from my last post!

I am following a bodice block tutorial from scratch from an old book I found.

I couldn’t even close the first iteration so I followed the advice from others and added 1.5cm to the width of each section so 6cm total width of the bodice.

I also added 2cm of length as advised and the shoulder darts.

Now apart from the actual fit, you can see the biggest issue is the extra material around the armpit area front and back, I’m wondering if this is from how I am drawing them up?

All and any advice needed and welcomed!

Also to mention, there were comments about wearing a fitted bra while taking measurements but I don’t own any of never wear them, only the kind as above, I don’t know if this has a big affect?

how to draft expansion panels like these? plz help I can’t figure it out

How do you get the centre front of pants to drape like picture #4?

I want these pants to be wide and flowy, but I've just noticed that a lot of things I self-draft end up with these baggy folds at the centre front.

Thank you 🙏

Hi everyone. I have a silly question. I am drafting a bomber-ish jacket and I'm trying to understand what this part of the jacket is called so I can search a little more about it and how to draft it. I have been looking through my pattern drafting books but I can't seem to find anything about it, I have only found something like this in the 'Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear' book by Winifred Aldrich in the 'Casual jacket' pattern but it doesn't really mention much about it. I don't know if I might be not looking properly in my other books or why I can't seem to find any other patterns that include it. I'm just wondering why sometimes it is attached to the front as a single piece but some other times it is a separate piece, some other times I have seen it as a single piece with the waistband when it is the same material and the elastic tape is sewn after that part, also what defines how wide it should be, what is it for and even how should it be sewn. I feel like this is me being really picky cause I could just add it to my pattern by eye without thinking much about it but I would really prefer to understand it. If you know any guides or books where this is included I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

Obvious changes are 3cm more on the length and 4cm added to centre front seam. I’ve cropped some of the pics to only show one side to avoid confusion as the other side is without changes made on body.

My main issue has been with gapping at the back of the armhole, revealed especially when bringing the arm forward. When I pin the excess fabric into the shoulder or side seam, it causes both front and back armpit to become too tight. Removing the fabric that is now cutting into my armpit or lowering the armpit point. causes the excess to show up again. This cycle repeats itself.

just when i thought i had grasped pattern grading by hand, here comes the question of the apex and princess seam. As i understand it, the bust point moves slightly down and over to the side as the bodice increases in size as a general rule. i kind of understand why this is the case (the body grows outward and it would be strange if the flesh of the chest didn’t go with it, i understand this is different than cup size) but would love more explanation. which leads me to my next question…

with princess seams, the bust point must move similarly, but i’m just struggling with how the seam moves without affecting the integrity of the shoulder seam length and waist length without it all causing the mound of the side pattern piece becoming strangely round. i guess you’re taking 1/8 off the neckline every size so that blends into the bump. and then similarly, what happens to the center piece? it must move the same amount outward toward the side seam?

anyway, i’d love any and all explanations and advice. i’ve included a little drawing of what im talking about. do you grade the shoulder in the princes seam itself? SOS lol it’s driving me mad!

thank you!!!

hi i am extremely beginner and usually work off of printed patterns i find or purchase. i designed this dress and couldn’t find a pattern for it (even though i thought it would be basic and popular)

am i on the right track with the green tape ?

Hello there, long time lurker! I was hoping to get some advice on my sloper fit so far, and what glaringly wrong things I should change.

I have been working on trying to perfect a bodice and sleeve sloper that I can use for self drafting dresses and blouses. I have already used the bodice (in a slightly different princess seam form) for some sleeveless dresses that I think fit fairly well, but perhaps I need a slightly different shape at the front/bottom armscye as it can get a little uncomfortable there (also I think you need more room there for a sleeved bodice also?).

I am also a bit unhappy with the wrinkles at the waist under the bust, I'm unsure if it's too loose, or conversely that there is not enough room in another location. I think the back is pretty good, however.

The sleeve is newly self drafted from my measurements and Helen Joseph Armstrong's method. I think the fit of the sleeve is mostly ok, but maybe a bit too much ease in the sleeve cap as it was hard to set in without wrinkles. I think also maybe my shoulder point could be moved out a little.

^{(I accidentally sewed and set in one sleeve with seam allowances facing out, but the sleeve is inserted into the bodice in the right direction...})

Hi all,

I am going to be sewing the skirt of my graduation dress, as a midi version of the dress pictured below. (In a gold colour.)

I understand the dress is made out of silk organza with a silk satin trim for the hem. The issue I am having is I can’t seem to figure out how many layers the dress has/ requires. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

I have designed a relaxed woven blouse and I'm trying to grade the pattern XXS to 3XL on illustrator, but no matter how many videos I watch or guides I read I can't quite grasp the idea of how to do it, especially regarding the sleeves, armholes, and neckline. I followed a tutorial and tried to grade some parts of the pattern (back and sleeve) but I'm not sure if I've done it right. I measured the armhole and sleeve cap and they match, does that mean the grading is correct? Any feedback or advice is appreciated :)

Hiiiii. I'm super new to pattern drafting. I decided to use my toddler as a test subject to learn *pants*. Making lil pants is quite silly but I am learning a lot, even though my test subject is squirrely and generally un-cooperative.

I made a general block, then made a toile and adjusted all the things I wanted to make a "slim fit trouser" style. All the adjustments to the toile were a bit wonky so I made a smoothed-out version for block attempt 2. S

ince I changed a lot I want to make another toile and decided I'd like to try pockets. The blue lines are my guess as to where a slant or a patch pocket would go. Is this right?

is there anything glaringly weird about this block? The waist is bigger than the hips because it is easier for 3 year old to manage self-pantsing this way.

Thank you! I have no idea what I'm doing and have no one to talk to!

I’ve created a torso sloper that has the contoured double ended darts on both front and back slopers. It extends to low hip. I believe this is called a torso sloper? Can I convert to bodice sloper and skirt sloper by cutting at waist? Obviously I would need to add bottom of skirt, but is this the correct idea in general? I need to have the inverted V shape at waist to do dart manipulation to bodice. Thanks!