My next task was to turn that side dart into a princess seam and put the bodice together with the skirt to create a full dress pattern. I got that done, too, but there's no picture because a) I finished at the very end of class (and then some) and had to pack up my stuff in a hurry to get back across campus, b) it's very hard for me to hold my phone up high enough to take a picture of the entire pattern lying flat, even on the floor and c) there were seven pattern pieces at this point, and you really didn't want to see all of those, did you? Maybe you did. I'll try to get a picture of the finished product.
All this time I'd been working with the basic sloper, which is a size 8 pattern. I'm not a size 8 -- unfortunately. After three pregnancies and four babies, my waist is too big and my bust is too small for a size 8. At least my hips are the right size. :) So I really needed to create my own personal sloper. This entailed an extra couple of the steps that the rest of the class didn't have to do.
I took these measurements:
and drafted my personal sloper. Note that this book is not so modern: the copyright is 1942. It notes that you have to adjust your pattern measurements based on the current corset silhouette styles. Gee, if I wore a corset, maybe I could squeeze into that size 8 sloper. If the bust were padded. In any case, Mom had noted my measurements in the chart some 20 years ago, and yes, I've changed shape quite a bit. And note that my measurements are really close to the 1940s size 16. I could have purchased that antique pattern off the internet and used it! (And what does that tell you about the people today, given that a size 2 in the stores was a size 16 sixty years ago.) Anyway, after following the directions to draft these two figures using my measurements
I created these slopers
which I then cut out in muslin to try on.
Amazingly enough, the muslin fit! I really didn't think that this would be possible, since I was taking all of my measurements myself. Try to measure your full back bodice length while standing with normal posture. How about the back shoulder width? Some of these I just guessed on and went with the size 16 measurements as noted. The only adjustments I ended up having to make were lowering the back armscye by 1/8" and letting out the back side seam 1/16 - 1/8".
Now I just need to take this pattern, adjust it for princess seams, make the surplice front for left and right sides, and attach it to the skirt from my old pattern. Easy peasy, right?
Oh, and then I have to make the facing and lining patterns. More on that later.
Seems like they could have started you on making a pattern for a more basic dress first. :) Then moved on to making an original design. Ah well, I guess that wouldn't be as much fun for the end product.
ReplyDeleteSloper is such a funny word. I remember you defined it, but reading through all you had to do to make one made me too tired to go back through and read what it is again!
Oh, we do make simpler patterns first. Those are the examples in our pattern book. We make them with the half-size slopers, so they are always relatively quick. I must say, there are problem patterns in the book, too, where you have to analyze the picture of a garment and figure out how to create the pattern. Some of them look quite complicated!
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