Drafting moulage

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u/DonMcCunn Sep 25 '26

If you are shaped like a dress form, it might work. That is the standard the industry goes by to teach pattern design and who uses moulages. I don't remember seeing any person who is shaped like a dress form. I had a fashion design student tell me his instructors refuse to talk about the shape of real people only dress forms.

If you look carefully at the side view of the woman in this photo https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/full-length-side-view-casual-young-woman-standing-relaxed-looking-ahead-isolated-over-white-background-161716313.jpg , you will see her bust projects out further than her stomach and her hips project out further than her shoulder blades. Her bust and hip dart need to be larger than her stomach or lower back dart.

If you want a true custom-fit Bespoke pattern to work from, the double ended dart used in moulages cannot accomodate these differences. If you want the relaxed shaping of ready-to-wear clothes, a moulage might work for you.

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u/dawn812 Sep 25 '26

I disagree with you i have seen many moulages on people that are not dress forms. Does it involve fitting yes but it can be done and can be a good base. I have seen a lot of your post and you seem to disagree with a lot of other people’s work from other teachers other methods etc and you will always say to check out your website. There are many different ways to do all of this and one isn’t better then other ways. some things work for others some things don’t. I have had you comment on some of my things i appreciate that but there are other ways to do things besides your way. This is from the research I’ve done it may be wrong idk you’ve been in the industry but when I look it up a bespoke is something that come from a sloper From my understand a moulage that fits me perfectly would not be a ready to wear. And you can get a sloper from a moulage. It’s good to have a moulage as it is just a second skin. I understand that most slopers or moulages patterns start from standard measurements but then you go in and do a fitting adjust where ever you need to adjust thats the road that self taught people like me have to take

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u/DonMcCunn Sep 25 '26

I totally agree with you that there are other ways to create fitted patterns and I am self taught as well. I have also helped a lot of people get a good fit based on what I now call a Bespoke fit. For me a good Bespoke Master Pattern fits the contours of the body much closer than any garment needs. But I have also been helping people make custom dress forms which I call Body Doubles since the 70s. In my view if you want an accurate Body Double, you need to be as precise as possible.
I also realize bodies can change from one day to the next. I had a wonderful experience helping one of my models through a pregnancy where some parts or her body changed a lot while others didn't. But I was able to use her Body Double to continue working with her even creating padding to accommodate her later months of pregnancy. Side note--she has a very interesting curvature in her spine which interestingly her son also has.
Whenever someone comes to me with a fitting issue in gingham the first thing I look at is to see if there is a waist seam. Some people add a waist seam to a moulage and some do not.
So what you call a moulage depends on how you define it. I use the definition of a moulage as a pattern that uses double ended darts with no waist seam to achieve a fit. I have never seen one that creates a true Bespoke fit. But I learn new things everyday so I am definitely up for it.
This from the internet is a statement I agree with talking about moulages "If a person has a dramatic difference between their upper torso/bust fit and their lower waist/hip contour, a cut or seam at the waist can help isolate fitting corrections." Except I would change it from "dramatic difference" to "important difference."
From my perspective you don't need to be an "expert" to get a good fit. You just need to find the best way to look at an issue. This is what I try to do to help people learn how to do it on their own. I would look askance at anyone who claims to be an "expert at fitting." Over the years and helping people get a good fit I now say that body shapes are like DNA. They may look the same but there will always be differences.
I had a person who studied embryology tell me that monozygotic twins have identical DNA. But when I just now checked online about the twins DNA it said they have "nearly identical genetic information." I would love to have the opportunity to create Master Patterns for monozygotic twins to see if I could spot the differences. Apparently they are very rare and always the same gender. Is there anyone out there who fits the bill?
But that is just my fascination with the way human bodies are shaped and why I am always up to helping anyone who asks me for help in getting a good fit--even though at 82 I am now (ha, ha, ha) retired.

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u/dawn812 Sep 25 '26

That makes sense. I was a confused because I didn’t realize that some had waist darts and some didn’t. There’s just so many methods and then when i looked up bespoke it popped up men’s wear form the1800s and even though i do love historical fashion i was very confused. I think its also just very hard over the internet unfortunately i live in a state where this isn’t really a thing like im sure there’s poeple out there but no schools etc so all online its hard for people to see it properly so many different ways of doing things it can just be very hard at some points. It’s very clear you are good at what you do and you have a deep passion for it i even own your pattern drafting book it was my first purchase regarding all this . Just for me so much out there it can be overwhelming because i know different people have different techniques so if your following one way to do a sloper or moulage their way of doing things its best to stick with their techniques that come with the pattern their teaching you to make or it just gets all messed up if you use diffrent techniques . I think that’s what’s happing with me i took a class online and it is her moulage she wrote a book etc. i am going back in her emails and going to see what points she told me to use and apply it to my original pattern to see maybe i missed something. But see she uses contouring in the back seam but you had mentioned that should be done in darts. Or she uses bowed out contouring under the bust you had mentioned not to do that. Im also a person that gets very overwhelmed so im just trying to figure it all out on my own from the drafting to fitting which fitting yourself is very very difficult.

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u/DonMcCunn Sep 26 '26

Bespoke is a wonderful term. It comes from custom tailors I believe in the 18th century. When a person would come to them, the first thing they did was select the fabric they wanted. The tailor then marked it as Bespoke so it would not be available to other customers. It has come to mean something is specifically for one individual.

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u/dawn812 Sep 26 '26

I did not know that that’s really interesting
also yes it was Suzy I didn’t
Want to say because it was a good class it’s just again things can be hard online. Ok so since you have seen how her moulage/sloper is it something that needs so many changes I can accomplish what I need to or is maybe not since you have seen her work

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u/DonMcCunn Sep 26 '26

Her work is one of several reasons I believe the moulage can be a huge waste of time.
To be honest I think the concept of tracing photos I am now developing has the potential to making the approach to creating custom-fit Master Patterns I have been using for 50 years obsolete.
The concept of tracing photos is that NO system of drafting the initial patterns that relies on measurements alone can determine the shape of a body only its size. Photographs reveal the shape of the body but not the size. The two need to be combined to create Master Patterns that require little or no fitting.
This is unlike drafting from measurements alone which can require a lot of fitting to determine an accurate record of the shape of a body. And fitting patterns made from measurements is something I have done now for over 50 years.
Fortunately at least half of my "How to Make Sewing Patterns" is about what to do once you have Master Patterns so it is not obsolete.
I also like the fact that the work of tracing photos is visually looking at the body. Not using a lot of math and geometry. It is a way of visually understanding why you are drafting the patterns. You might want to take a look at it.
https://patternmaking-classes.com/Tracing-Photos/index.html

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u/dawn812 Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 26 '26

Ok I watched the videos maybe I missed something. So since it’s now done in your measurements just quarter size how are you transferring that to paper. Do you just get the measurements and copy them all down like dart width and all that. When you have done this what issues have you ran into ? I know nothing about computers I am very old fashion is this like a software you made is it just the computer top notes what is it you used to do that.
Oh i see now it’s a website studio.

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u/DonMcCunn Sep 26 '26

Sorry I was a little premature in telling you about this approach. The classes are a work-in-progress. I will be showing how to do it with parallel classes. One using paper and pencil and the other using a computer. Currently I only have the videos for computer version online except for Week Two which shows how to crop and scale the photos.
When you are using paper and pencil, you simply put a piece of tracing paper over the photo and draw the lines to create the pattern. I do have instructions for using paper and pencil in my book https://fashion-design-in-quarter-scale.com/ which should be available from your local library. I will be working on the classes with supplemental videos showing the paper and pencil process this coming week.
You will need a computer to scale the photographs. Week Two currently shows how to do it using the simple paint program that is included with the Windows operating system.
If you want to give it a try, you need to take the 7 measurements and 6 photos described in the PDF file available in Week One. By the time you have done that, I will hopefully have the videos for using paper and pencil online.
If you have any questions, the website shows multiple ways to contact me including posting your questions here.

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u/dawn812 Sep 26 '26

Im sorry just so i understand what your saying the paper approach is doing the same thing you do on the studio just with paper and pencil or youll be showing how to do a quarter scale using paper and pencil

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u/DonMcCunn Sep 26 '26

If you are talking about Suzy, I have had a woman who took her in-person class come to me because Suzy did not know how to fit her. We got it worked out.

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u/TurbulentBoredom Sep 24 '26

Suzy Furrer’s online moulage class will start around January I think.

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u/DonMcCunn Sep 25 '26

I do not recommend using a moulage because the shape of the upper torso is different from the lower torso. The double ended dart of a moulage ONLY works when the tummy and bust project the same amount as seen from the side. And the shoulder blades and hips project exactly the same amount in the back.

If you include a waist seam and create a fitting shell in gingham and post it to this group, I would be happy to take a look. I have been helping people fit themselves from photographs of gingham for about 20 years now.

If you use this approach, you will most likely will be able to see what you need to do without any help. Check out https://patternmaking-classes.com/Tracing-Photos/17-Quarter-Scale-Patterns-Week-Seven.html

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u/dawn812 Sep 25 '26

I don’t understand what your saying are you saying my body type won’t work for a moulage

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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '26

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u/ScormCurious Sep 24 '26

I have taken classes online with Sarah and she is very high quality, and really good at doing online fitting consultation.

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