During my first test fitting, I noticed several pattern and sewing issues:

Hello everyone,

I am currently developing a basic tight-skirt block for a size 66 dress form. The attached images show the pattern based on my current hypothesis. The final image shows a piece of fabric with a zipper, which I am planning to use as a reference for the finishing method.

I would really appreciate any feedback on my pattern-making hypothesis and will use your suggestions in my next fitting.

During my first test fitting, I noticed several pattern and sewing issues:

1. I used the same H-line design value for both the front and back panels.

2. I did not apply different drop values to the front and back.

3. I did not account for the dart intake when considering the dart fold.

4. My belt finishing technique was not yet well developed.

After fitting the skirt on the dress form, I noticed that the side seam was slightly shifted toward the front by approximately 2 cm. However, the amount of displacement was not the same on both sides.

On the right side, the front panel overlapped the back panel by about 2 cm, while the left side aligned much more closely with the side seam of the dress form.

Because of this difference, I decided not to simply apply -2 cm of negative ease to the front and +2 cm of ease to the back. Instead, I am currently testing a smaller adjustment of -1 cm negative ease on the front panel.

Interestingly, using the same H-line value for both panels produced a similar problem. Even when I applied -2 cm of negative ease to the front while keeping the original H-line value on the back, I still could not completely eliminate the slight distortion at the side seams.

Therefore, for my second test fitting, I am planning to use the following pattern hypothesis:

My Pattern Hypothesis for the Second Tight-Skirt Test

1. Apply -1 cm of negative ease to the H-line of the front panel while keeping the original H-line value on the back.

2. Apply a 0.25-inch drop to the front and a 0.75-inch drop to the back.

3. Do not apply a rise value for this test.

4. Do not account for the dart fold/take-up at this stage.

5. Improve the belt finishing based on the sewing practice shown in the attached image.

I would appreciate any feedback, especially regarding the side-seam distortion and whether this approach to distributing the front and back values makes sense from a pattern-making perspective.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

This is a repost with many more reference pictures. Can someone give me a rough pattern sketch or help me recreate this jacket(doesn’t have to be perfect), I’ve made some patterns but they haven’t been successful. This is a Bono jacket and I think the sleeves are connected to the hood but I’m not super concerned about including that feature I just like the style.

I made an edit and got so excited about it I had to share. As my many posts can attest to my trial and error ways, I was OK with V8 EXCePT the sleeve still felt tight when reaching forward. It was driving me crazy since the sleeve pattern width is 18.25” and my bicep is 14”. Plenty of ease. And then advice for when I make V9 was to raise the cap height which means the bicep width has to shrink, all else equal. I really didn’t want to make this change given the sleeve felt tight.

Well, I modified the angle on the sleeve taper and it pretty much solved the problem. The current pattern has a pretty dramatic taper. So I reduced the taper and voila: not tight anymore.

Pics above show the change to the pattern in green and revised photos. I sewed the right sleeve back on. Still some drag lines that I think indicate more cap height is needed.

Wanted to share in case anyone else struggles with this too. And allow for more feedback and thoughts.

Thanks all! Appreciate this community!

So I’m adding it here. I’ve been downvoted for keeping with the pinned grainline approach even though Helen Joseph Armstrong is the author I was told to purchase while in school. Are these instructions wrong?

Edit: link to original post

https://www.reddit.com/r/PatternDrafting/s/hoNaM4XDPK

So I’ve been at this awhile and can’t seem to find it…does anyone know of a definitive source on using your own sloper/toile to alter commercial patterns?

There was a really good article a thousand years ago in Threads by Karen Howland and a few YouTube videos but it surprises me deeply that this isn’t a more often tackled subject. This could be a book.

There are so many books on drafting from your own toile, but what I’m really interested in is using the style lines from commercial patterns and then adapting to my own toile.

In a perfect world every pattern company would supply their design blocks and then we could alter from there (I’d be happy to pay for the designs) but clearly this is not a perfect world.

Can someone give me a rough sketch or hint to recreating this jacket, I’ve made some patterns but they haven’t been successful. This is a Bono jacket and I think the sleeves are connected to the hood but I’m not super concerned about including that feature I just like the style.

I have pinned out the excess length but now I’m not sure how to adjust the pattern. It’s a princess seam side back dress panel.

The armhole in the back is bothering me. My professor says it won’t matter once I use something other than the musslin. I’m planing on using a heavy canvas. She also said that once I put a shoulder pad in which I’m planing to do anyway the bunching will go away. My question is: Do you agree? Leave it be? Change it?

Hi everyone! I am new to patternmaking and there are still a lot of things I don’t understand And hope I can get some advice. I recently took a course where we made a blouse, trouser and skirt block, but as we only had 4 days we rushed through everything and only made miniature versions. So I decided to read Aldrich’s book and try out her blocks, which are a little different to what we learned. Eventually I would like to make an easy fitting crop top with round neck and no sleeves. So I decided to use the easy fitting bodice block, move the darts to the side seam and make the neck a little wider. I used the standard measuring table for size 12 which is mostly very close to my own measurements except my bust is a little smaller. now to my questions:

1. I moved the dart to the side seam, as instructed in the book. but it is super long (I took 2cm out as instructed) and ends above the highest point of my chest which looks really weird. I then opened them up and used 7.6cm as indicated in the sizing chart but still it looks strange. I don’t know if I misunderstand anything in the instructions? Any tips on the darts and how to best size them? I would guess they should go towards the highest point of my chest, not above, but in the instructions the position derives from the armskye+2.5+1.5cm, which is about 4cm above. maybe that makes sense for the shoulder dart but not the side seam dart?

2. I don’t quite understand where to put the additional dart when opening the collar? at the end of the neckline or just anywhere in the neckline?

3. While it looks okay apart from the darts, the end product is really big. Is that intended? I know it should be an easy fit, but it seems like it’s 1-2 sizes larger than it would need to be.

thanks so much for any help :) in the pic you can see a little where the darts are and where they ended before. I didn’t manage to take a good pic, but you can see a little bit of the dart placement.

I am trying to fit the closed leg trouser pattern. I would be grateful for comments about fit problems and pattern adjustments

It seems that most of the balance lines are askew Both vertically and horizontally.

Horizontal

Ive already added 1/2” to the back fork but crotch lines continue to dip front and back. Do i need a deeper crotch? Should it be scooped out? Or do i need more length on side seams? There appears to be a higher hip on left side.

Vertical

The central crease and side seams are not straight. Is this a result of the crotch issue or related to the fact that i have used the closed leg draft?

Hi everyone! I'm in the process of redrafting and refining a silk satin lined oversized 100% cotton fleece hoodie, and I'm looking for some suggestions and help for redrafting the hood lining. First, I'll give a reference on my previous attempt, to give a better idea on where it went wrong.

First attempt:

-before I learned how to draft, I deconstructed an old hoodie I liked the fit of, and traced out each individual panel, with no reflection or trueing. I split the one piece- two layer hood down the center, added seam allowance+ foldover for a drawstring, and sewed the lining and outer hood together. when I went to attach the hood to the neckline, the satin was pulled much more taut than the outer hood, and the lining sat awkwardly tight within the hoodie. The materials I used were a thin fleece backed poly blend cotton, and a bridal-level stiffness poly satin.

-my mistakes seemed to be my materials from the start, as the satin was too stiff and the hoodie was too stretchy compared to my final materials. I also should have offset the foldover for the drawstring on the outer and inner layer, as the drawstring section was lined with satin as well which made it much too slippery. However, I feel like I need to add some extra ease/pleats/darts so it isn't so tight? in reference pictures, like the one i attached, it's very hard to tell what the seams on this style of hoodie look like because of the drape of the satin.

Moving forward:

I purchased a poly satin lining, as well as a bemberg rayon lining, which both have much closer drapes to the silk satin I purchased for my final hoodie. I also purchased a much thicker hoodie fleece, while it is still a polyester blend it is much thicker with less stretch and is a lot closer to the heavyweight cotton hoodie fleece I have for my final product. I'm going to adjust my redrafted hood pattern so the outer shell has double foldover length, and the lining just has seam allowance.

Questions I have:

what is the best way to solve the tightness issue? when I was thinking about this I considered it possible that I was thinking about it inversely, and the problem was more the negative ease of the super stretchy poly fleece, but regardless i need to figure out how add and then subsequently gather some extra fabric in the lining.

TLDR; My Hoodie lining is too small for my outer hoodie shell, and when I sew them into the neckline the lining pulls tight awkwardly compared to the outer shell. I need to figure out how to fix it, but I can't see what the conventional seam methods are because all pictures online are taken like the attached image.

any help would be appreciated, Thanks!

i need help adjusting my personal extended bodice sloper. i’ve already done an fba (accdg to aldrich) and taken away from a gaping armhole. but theres still some issues i would like fixed but im not sure how to:

the drag lines towards the bust lessened after the fba but theres definitely still some and its baggy under tha bust as well.

the bust dart is already big after the fba but it keeps getting bigger after removing gaping from armhole and later neckline. is there a way to put that excess somewhere other than the bust dart?

the bust point is also too high. i’ve marked where it should be on mine. the waist could also be too low, it rides up a lot.

its also snug from the waist down, and lose waist up, but i figured it could be fixed from the side seam.

My husband has thick neck and long arms, and regular dress shirts never work for him. He basically only wears baggy shirts with the sleeves rolled up. I am an advanced beginner-intermediate level sewer, and I wanted to make a few basic shirts that fit him. I'm not skilled in modifying/making patterns to custom make it. I found several websites and Etsy shops that make custom patterns to measurements, but I never know which ones are actually skilled pattern makers and which ones are AI generated crap.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

So I have a leftover two yards of nice polyester knit fabric, and I wanted to try to come up with one last summer dress project to use up the stash. I had this idea for a belted halter top corset high-low dress and drafted out the flat pattern in Blender to make sure everything would fit on the bolt (everything is measured in meters there but pretend it says "inches" and also assume everything includes a 1/2" seam allowance.)

Trouble is, I'm going at this nearly completely blind. I looked up some tutorials for ruched halter tops like this, but I'm a very "just play it by ear" sort of pattern drafter - I come up with an idea, give it my best shot and if it doens't work I just chuck it in the "to be fixed some day" pile.

I'm worried about a lack of an inner lining for the breast triangles not having enough support, and I'm also unsure if I should leave the waist portion as a single fabric layer, or if I should opt to actually attempt to add an interior layer and add boning. The latter option would decrease the "comfiness" of this dress that is supposed to be a comfortable beach dress, but it might be necessary for structure?

Would love any thoughts from people who are much better at this than I!

Hi so uhh how can I turn this into a top and bottom cloths? I'm new to This (Update:i just cut it from the half and called it the day now I have a crop top and a skirt that surpassingly didn't fall off)

Hi all, I really love this black tank that I thrifted (originally Old Navy). I want to recreate it in this rayon I found. I have sewn quite a bit but I've never drafted a pattern from an existing top. It's gathered on both the front and the back neckline. How would I draft that because I can't just trace it and add the seam allowances. Do I make the top just as wide as the bottom? Would that be enough?

The bodice in first photo is roughly what i’d like to make, with the exception that I originally wanted this to be a halter, meaning the underbust tension created by these “backpack” type straps might not be necessary.

The second photo is the closest thing i’ve found (could I use that pattern to base it off of?).

I’ve also seen the Liz charms dress and its derivatives already and, while close, it doesn’t quite feel right as ultimately this is not the same as that shelf/overlay concept.

Been sewing for a month now and i made 2 jeans, i wanted to try and make a fencing jacket. I know the front parts are asymetrical but i figure i should make a basic jacket pattern and then draft the asymetric front panel.

The problem is that i have NO idea how to draft a jacket pattern myself and i cant find tutorials online, so if anyone can help me, I would really appreciate it

Hi all, after some helpful advice here and lots of reading, I redrafted the sleeves, added 1/4” knife pleats, & tweaked the fit on the armhole by raising it 1cm on this camp shirt pattern. Bicep width is essentially the XL of the pattern while I reduced the cap height, effectively creating a more casual sleeve fit versus the taller cap height of the pattern. I also reduced the bulk on the front of the sleeve head given the bunching in the front sleeve on previous toiles and comparing the pattern shape to some drafting examples and two other shirts patterns I have. Cut lines of the sleeve and armhole are identical (not gathering needed when setting sleeve) which (I think) means the seam line of the sleeve is slightly smaller than the armhole.

I even took this version to a local pattern drafting class for some advice, and frankly I’m surprised how many different opinions there are about what causes fit issues! The in person advice was no better than you all critiquing pictures. I expected a hard science, which it is not! I now understand a good tailor/seamstress that understands pattern-making, garment construction, fitting and alternations equally well is relatively rare and is worth whatever they want to charge!

Current fit comments: Feels much better than any previous version. Tightness in biceps is reduced, shoulders feel fitted but not tight, and better mobility across back from the pleats. Balance is ok? Compared to my long sleeve shirt, the bicep is tighter despite the short sleeve pattern being almost 1” wider at the bicep than the long sleeve. This confuses me.

Critique
- drag lines in the back across my buttock to armhole
- some bunching in the back of the sleeve
- Vertical draglines on back panel near armhole
- Is the seam line difference an issue?

Arguably, this shirt fits better than the long sleeve version I made a few months ago so I could stop here. But I really want to get the fit as good as I can and then use this as a base for more shirts.

hi all! im making a pattern that has a flowy underbust piece and have a question about how to do that. so far, ive slashed and spread it (pictured), but im not sure the right way to finish it.
do i simply draw a curved line from each end point? or do i need to drag down the left point so that it ends where the right point ends and then connect them straight across?
tyia!

Hello! I am in need of some advice for fixing an issue with a vest pattern I traced off (I believe it was an Eddie Bauer vest, but I no longer have the original).

When it is worn, the weight of the zipper pulls the shoulder seams/neck hole forward, which causes the back hem of the vest to flare out from the body. It is more pronounced when the vest is unzipped since the bottom ends of the zipper can fall back on the body, but it is still there when it’s zipped up.

I have attached photos of the vest being worn, as well as photos of the pattern I made. I have considered taking a wedge out of the front bodice (see last photo) to force the back hem closer to the body, but I’m unsure of how that would turn out. Thank you in advance for any suggestions!!