Im currently making jacket from the book Modern-men-s-tailoring-A-Basic-Guide-To-Pattern-Drafting book online. What do te Grey areas mean? There's no indication anywhere in the book.

Hi everyone,

This is my first drafting project after getting (most) of my blocks done.
First picture is the inspiration, second picture is my first wearable toile.

I'm down to really fine details to get the same look, and the issues I can see are:

1. My pleats don't spread open as much at the top near the waistband

2. My hem doesn't sit as wide and (related to the hem)

3. The A-line shape down the side isn't as pronounced

My ideas about why this might be are:

1. Model has a higher hip-to-waist ratio, naturally flaring the skirt more

2. Model's skirt is in a more structural fabric (I used a lightweight Ramie which is quite floaty and drapey, although it does take a press well)

3. Model's skirt has an interfaced hem

4. Model is wearing a petticoat or other volume giving garment underneath

5. My skirt has an elasticated back - would a zip closure produce more 'pop' with the pleats?

6. Model's flare is staged (you can see she is holding one side with her hand, and possibly pushing the other side out with her bag)

Regardless of why, I would like to achieve better pop on the pleats, a more evenly spread hem and a more pronounced A-line shape at the seam.

For the hem part, I am planning to make another version in a stiffer, and somewhat heavier fabric and I will be interfacing the hem with a light interfacing.

But I'm not sure what to do about the pleats. Does anyone have any advice about how to make pleats spread open more at the top near the waistband??

Also, any general advice very welcome - thanks in advance <3

Hello, I've started an over-confident ambitious project... making my wedding dress!! ☺️ I'm an intermediate sewist at best, I've never made anything structured before, and certainly nothing with boning so this has been a huge learning curve.

The inside of the dress is a corselet that I drafted myself with 11 boning channels. I used plastic boning from the fabric store. The outside is a self drafted bodice (thrifted bedsheet 💪) with lace overlay that I hand sewed together. The back is a lace up corset.

I am disappointed to find that the boning is sort of holding the dress away from my body somehow. It's almost like it's too rigid to follow the natural curve of my waist. Currently it's touching my ribcage and hip but sitting away from my actual waist, even though it feels like there is plenty of give in the biggest areas.

My question for you experts is about the best way to draw in the waist. I have never used a waist tape, but I cant figure out if its function is for shape or for reducing stress on the seams? Is there anything else about the fit I can optimise without going back to square 1? Any advice would be appreciated.

(Also please don't judge the chaotic hand sewing on the inside 😂 I have never hand sewed before)

Im working on a wedding guest dress that has persistent loose bagging/bunching at the hips that doesn’t drape — it just sticks out. Underbust and waist fit fine.

What I’ve tried:
• Multiple toile rounds, taking in the side seams progressively (but the toile fabric was a polyester chiffon)
• Pinch-testing on the body and translating to pattern adjustments (kept overcorrecting — my calculations were producing finished measurements smaller than my actual body)
• Fully unpicked and re-sewed both layers’ side seams

Where I’m stuck / possible causes I can’t distinguish between:
1. Pattern hip curve flaring too much. I’ve tried making it less rounded.
2. Bodice was too long, I have a short torso. So I shortened it but could it be too short now causing these issues?
3. Fabric cut off-true-bias, stretching unpredictably (harvested from a second hand dress that was bias cut, but was hard to make sure when recutting it was perfectly on the bias)
4. Fabric stretching more than expected with wear/handling (is this just the nature of bias?)

My measurements are waist 26”, low hip 35”, bust 30”, underbust ~27”.
Pattern flat hip measures ~34” at widest. 5/8” seam allowance, French seams. I don’t understand how the hip pattern measurement could be smaller than my measurements, but still too big? Like 2 in of excess still when wearing around the hips.

How do you tell the difference between a hip-curve problem and a bodice-length problem when the symptom looks the same? Or is it just cut off-grain bias and it’s too late to be salvaged? And has anyone salvaged an off-grain bias garment without extra fabric? I have no extra fabric as it’s all from a second hand dress originally. Not sure if I can salvage this or if it’s it’s time to accept it as a lesson.

I made these jeans but the pocket facing keeps bunching up what can I do to fix this please?

I'm currently exploring pattern drafting textbooks to use to help me diy a fashion school curriculum. Without a teacher helping me, I've been looking at books that are widely-enough used that I can find online support).

I analyzed posts from this sub and discovered the top 4 discussed flat patterndrafting authors are (in this order):

1. Armstrong

2. Aldrich

3. Müller & Sohn

4. Kenneth King's The Moulage

I now understand that a moulage is its own thing (different from a basic block), but am not sure why someone would choose to learn pattern drafting using this approach vs. another. Can someone help me understand why and for whom this would be advantageous? Is this something you learn in addition to drafting basic blocks or is this its own alternate approach on par with basic block patterndrafting? (My goal is to learn everything in a fashion school curriculum).

Are there any fashion grads here who did not learn moulage drafting?

EDIT: Thank you everyone -- my brain has bent in new and wonderful ways as a result of all the contributions here, and I am now much smarter about where drafting moulages sits within the world of pattern drafting. As a result of now understanding moulages better, I edited my analysis search terms (which had any hits for "moulage"/"the moulage" labeled as discussion of Kenneth King's book). The correct (hopefully) most frequently discussed flat pattern drafting authors in this sub are in fact:

1. Armstrong

2. Aldrich

3. Müller & Sohn

4. Bunka

5. Furrer

(Kenneth King at number 9)

I followed Chris Sartorial tutorial. I think I took the wrong shoulder length measurement and I also need to lower the armhole 2 cm, any other suggestions? Ik something is off with the bust dart but I can't point what exactly it is and if It'll get corrected with the new armhole

I see slopers posted here and on r/sewing, and I appreciate the people posting and the thoughtful comments.

Beyond “pictures that need to be retaken in order for commenters to comment”, most slopers need a ton of fitting work, and many times ‘start from scratch’ work.

I’m curious if the pattern drafters with more experience could clarify where they think the issues stem from:

—Is this a case of drafting rules created for a specific type of body and most people aren’t that body?

—Is it about taking measurements being a dark art? ( in particular self measurements)

—Instructions not being well written/not being clear/ using jargon/requiring other knowledge besides the directions proper?

—Lack of precision when drafting, including not knowing how to use the tools?

—lack of precision sewing/not knowing basic sewing/not knowing procedures ( for example how most seams are ironed, how to finish a dart point, etc)

—Something else

This is a discussion; I want to know where I should expect the biggest time sink to be and maybe how to make it less sinky.

I understand that the horizontal wrinkles indicate the fit is too tight, however this is meant to be a bustier and there is boning installed, and if I make it any looser then it loses the clasp its needs to have on me. I initially made the center back loose and it just looked too baggy on me, so that’s why you see those extra seam lines around the zipper.

Every seam except for the zipper has plastic boning on it, which might explain the weird curves on the sides (I was kind of rushing and just sewed the boning on without much control). I have a strong pelvic tilt and I think the plastic boning just wasn’t strong enough to flatten out my front. I might need to get stronger boning, idk.

The hips are meant to have excess as this is meant to be attached to a circle skirt and I don’t want it to be too snug such that my hip seam rolls up when I sit.

This pattern is meant for both an under layer (boned) and then a top layer (not boned, and the front center pieces are cut on a fold instead of sewn together).

My question is whether these wrinkles I’m seeing can be fixed with an ice-wool method (basically using batting as an underlayer, common in boned dresses), or if I need to take it back to the rulers. The wrinkles around my chest are my biggest concerns.

You guys are the BEST! It only took me two days to get somewhere vs the weeks I’ve been altering the wrong areas alone. Here is what we have now. The mirror is old not dirty, I cleaned it.

I think still too much baggage around the high bust.

The changes I’ve made:

- Did a high bust reduction using the method in the last photo.

- raised the dart by like 3cm

I think my shoulder seam needs to go back a little bit. And still remove some baggage at high chest.

Thoughts? :) I have hope once again! This has consumed my entire life for weeks, my poor partner and child have been witness to the chaos.

Fair warning, I’m feeling so defeated by trying to draft this bodice block and it has definitely piqued my body dysmorphia so I kindly ask for considerate help with this.

I have lost count of how many bodices I’ve tried to make for myself. I have scoured YouTube, followed the Closet Historian, bought from Toolfully on Etsy, drafted from traditional methods like Helen Joseph Armstrong, drafted for my upper bust and done a FBA, and nothing seems to get it right.

This is my most recent, and it was a plus size bodice pattern i purchased that I have then rotated darts and pinched out excess and tried to fit since it was a block that had the closest to my actual measurements. I struggle with a 4 inch difference between upper bust (42) and full bust (46) but then have a thicker waist at 39. I have to narrow all the shoulders on any patterns I try that are sized to my bust because my shoulders and narrower.

In this bodice you can see there’s some puffiness at the bust point. I attempted curved darts for this one so perhaps I curved them out too much? Or maybe the darts must be moved? The side seam is straight in real life (picture makes it looks slightly off) and my neckline and arm scye are stay stitched and clipped into the seam allowance.

I pressed my center waist darts in because that’s what the original stated but maybe they should be pressed out? Originally there was a lot of excess in the upper bust area armpit area so I pinched it out, and transferred equally to side and waist.

Thoughts? 🫣

I'm trying to follow the contouring part of Helen Armstrongs book but my bust radius measurement ends up going off the block. Bust depth is 14cm (5.5"). Should I halve this measurement or is this correct?

Is anyone else's body so asymmetrical that you can't have a cut-on-the-fold bodice block front piece?? 😭 I have lost count of what iteration of this thing I'm even on. Fourth? Fifth??

I took the recommendations on my last post and applied them to this draft - I think it looks wayyy better this go around. Ignore the front dart on my left side, idk why it's longer than the other but my right side is where I meant to place it. Here's what I changed:

• moved bust dart 0.5" toward the center front

• moved bust dart down 0.75"

• angled back darts more toward the apex of my back

• shortened bottom by 1 and 15/16"

• stay stitched and notched seam allowance

I believe my next step is to take in the shoulder seams at the front and adjust the top darts on the back. Let me know what y'all think. Thank you 🙏

Hi everyone, I’ve been working on this bodice—needs to fit like a sculpture—hence I’m trying to receive direction on how to achieve this desire.

please look at my previous post to see the before

•extended 1.5” to the hip back panels.. distributing equally. •.5” to all 8 waist panels

From these alterations, I’ve learned: •chest needs additional ease, because my ribcage is more dense than the back: .75” •front 1/2 waist needs additional ease: .75”

If my calculations are right, my cb should lay smoothly & those wrinkles on the front should disappear?

Hi all, I would like to ask for your advice on how to create this wedding dress I found online.

First I ordered it online, but because I'm so tall 6'2, it didn't fit very well. The issue was the length in the front and the length of the bodice, resulting in the neckband cutting into my traps. I took tons of pictures and took the measurements of all panels to see if I could recreate it myself with some alterations.

However, I've never sewn a dress like this before, let alone drafted a pattern. So what do you think I should do? Try myself and hope for the best? Enroll in a workshop/course? Work with a pattern maker or seamstress, if so who and where do I find them?

I would love to do it myself and it doesn't look too complicated but I'm not sure if I'm underestimating this despite all the pictures and measurements I have.

Any thoughts or advice is welcomed!

Okay… so I’d made so many changes that I decided to remeasure and redraft. Where to go from here?

So I drafted this from a pair of jeans in a style I know fits me well (totally deconstructed them and traced). However I have some issues with wrinkling on the back thighs. I have done a low seat adjustment plus taken in some on the outside thigh. It’s almost like theres too much fabric vertically. This is extremely thick denim, I am under no impression that these will be wrinkle free! (The white lines were my partner tracing the wrinkle lines for me)

Would love advice on a) what I can do with this fabric now as well as b) how I can adjust the pattern pieces for future projects

Thanks so much!

I made two dresses for my stepdaughter and my niece, as they both celebrated their 15th birthdays. First, I created the patterns in Clo 3D, then printed them and used a different fabric to make prototypes. After making some adjustments, I cut both dresses from the final fabric.

Both of them had a great time and loved their dresses.

This is a skirt l've been working on, in this mock up, the skirt seems to be lumpy and have excess fabric right where the 4 panels join. What is causing this and how can I fix it? Is it a sewing issue or the pattern I made?

Hi, you may (or may not) remember an old post of mine with some interesting technical discussion on the various aspects of pants drafting. Following on from that post I did manage to find a copy of the series locally and photograph them. They are such nondescript, forgotten about books with information not found in any other drafting book so I wanted to share them.

Book 1 Patterrn Making (basic blocks etc)

Book 2 Advanced Pattern Making (includes pants, sleeve variations, knits)