Sunday 8 January 2012

Tutorial 1: Pencil skirt Pattern Drafting


Hi guys,
        As promised, I'm posting my first do it yourself tutorial today. Pattern drafting, crafting and sewing are quite similar to engineering because it involves a lot of calculations, dexterity and an undivided thought process. We are going to pattern a pencil skirt today; so lets get started.......
Measurements needed: band / waist , hip-line , hips , skirt length. for those who don't know, the hip-line measurement is a vertical measurement from your band/waist to the fullest part of your hips.
Tools needed: tape rule , french curve , marker, scissors and ruler.
Calculations needed: these derived measurements are the ones used through out the drafting.
  1. waist/2 + 1" ( the 1" for sewing allowance)
  2. hip-line + 0.5"
  3. hips/4 +1+1 (1" sewing allowance)
  4. skirt length + 0.5" + 1 " (1" sewing allowance)
PATTERN DRAFTING PROCESS

  • get your drafting paper and fold into 2 making sure there is enough space to accommodate your measurements.
  • Mark O at the folded tip of the paper and measure horizontally  the derived waist measurement which terminates at D.
  •   Measure the derived hip-line vertically along the folded tip from O and mark A. From A measure horizontally  the derived hip measurement which terminates at C. 
  • from O, measure vertically the derived skirt length and mark B. From B measure horizontally the derived hip measurement but this time subtracting  1" or 1.5" as desired. This terminates at E.
  • Join D to C with a french curve or your free hand to give a slight curve.

  • Join C to E in a straight line and cut out along  B,E,C and D.

  • Open up the paper to give the front half of your skirt.
  •  To cut the back half, place the front half pattern on another folded drafting paper leaving at least 1.5" room for zip, other wise known as the zip allowance.

  •  To attach the zip, the back half is slit through the middle and the taken in at both sides by 1.5". the zip is sewn along this allowance

There it is........... please leave your comments and questions.

3 comments:

fashionitekture said...

I loveeee! I just discovered ur blog and trust me ive fallen in luv! *thumbs up**

Temitope Onisarotu said...

thank you so much, pls keep visiting

Unknown said...

I just discovered your blog and it's so helpful. I just want to ask why is the waist measurement (circumference) divided by two and not by four like the hip measurement (circumference)in the skirt tutorial.