Pattern Changes for the Pinkie Pie Dress

Hello, readers! As promised, I wanted to walk you through the bodice pattern changes I made to turn the Wiggle Dress pattern from my book into the Pinkie Pie dress. Here's the original in wool tweed:

And then here's the Pinkie Pie version:

Here's an overall map of the bodice pattern changes.

Here's how I did it:

1. Underarm. The pattern, as published, has gussets under the arms for a close fit. They look like this when sewn.

I eliminated the gussets to form a dolman sleeve, which is similar to a kimono sleeve. This is a great option if you're feeling a little intimidated by sewing gussets or if you're using a fray-prone or delicate fabric (these fabrics may tear at the stress points of the gussets during wear).

It's helpful to use a French Curve ruler for this. Here's what mine looks like. (You can most likely find a household item to substitute, like a saucer or other small round object.)

Start with the bodice side front. Place the French curve under the arm, connecting the side seam to the underarm seam. Draw a new line, as indicated in red below. You're adding a little triangle that extends down about 1.5" from the original underarm point.

2. Trace this underarm curve onto your back bodice pattern piece, so that the underarm seams match up perfectly.

3. When sewing, eliminate the gussets. Stitch the front bodice to the back bodice at the overarm seam, and then stitch the underarm seam. Reinforce at the curviest part of the underarm seam by stitching again 1/8" away from your original seam line (in the seam allowance) and then trim close to the second line of stitching. Clip and then press the underarm seam open above and below the underarm curve.

4. Waistline pattern changes. Draw a new seamline at the waistline curve on the dress front, side front, and back pattern pieces. Give yourself a 1" seam allowance (indicated by the dotted purple line) so that you can adjust the waistline if needed during fitting. Cut off the pattern below the 1" seam allowance.

5. You can add any skirt you like to the new bodice. Check out pages 98-103 in my book for full directions on making dirndl and circle skirt patterns. What I did for the Pinkie Pie dress was essentially a dirndl skirt, but with side pleats rather than gathers. Baste the new skirt to the dress bodice and then try on to make sure you're happy with the waistline placement.

That's all there is to it! Let me know if you have any questions.

A Few Thoughts on Grainlines and Pattern Changes

Hi readers! Yesterday in my post I mentioned that I had taken ease out of the bottom center front of my bodice, and tapered up to the neckline, creating a new center front. (Edit: I should mention again that the reason I took out excess at the waistline this way was that I found wearing a corset required special fitting at the waist. Taking out from the side seams--which should be your first option for removing waistline excess--only caused horizontal pulls.) Of course, this created a new grainline. A commenter asked, "How much do you think you can take out of the CF and not effect the grain line of the bodice?"


Well, that's an interesting question that has a complicated answer. I'll give you my thoughts and you can let me know if you think I'm an idiot. (I know some of you aren't shy about that!)


First, you are definitely affecting the grainline anytime you alter center front like this. Hence, you have to re-establish the grainline. Your new line becomes the new straight-of-grain. It's not unusual to have to re-establish the grainline after making pattern alterations.


What you have to consider is whether or not you're skewing the rest of the pattern by re-establishing center front. For instance, in my change, pivoting the pattern causes the shoulder to move further outward. (Just imagine, if you were laying the bodice front out on fabric to cut, how you would have to turn the pattern to make the change I made.) This, in turn, caused some gaping at the neckline. My first thought was to fix the gaping by moving that excess into the neckline dart. However! The smarter thing to do would be to move the shoulder in by the amount that I took out at center front. (Thanks to commenter Mrs. C who pointed this out!) So my next change would look like this:

So! I guess my answer to the question is that you can take out however much you want at center front (within reason), as long as you consider the effects in other parts of the bodice and adjust accordingly. 


An aside: Another way to re-establish the grainline anytime is to fold the side edges of the bodice piece together and crease at the fold. The fold is your new grainline. I learned that at FIT, so it's totally legit, I swear. 


Readers, what do you think?

My Other Favorite Patternmaking Book

I've been doing a lot of patternmaking recently, and I realized I haven't written about a reference book that I use all the time. I have mentioned (on several occasions) my love for Dress Your Own Dress Patterns by Adele P. Margolis (updated edition available here), and I think that's a great one for beginners and anyone casually interested in altering patterns to make their own designs. But if you ever find yourself making patterns for professional purposes, you will probably want a more comprehensive and technical book. That's where Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong comes in. (I have the 4th edition; there's also a 5th edition now available.)

The book walks you through the process of developing a sloper set from scratch. But the real draw is the rest of the book (all 832 pages of it), which you can use to tweak existing patterns.

Though the illustration style (and some of the fashion) is a bit questionable (oh, and some of the hairdos are HI-larious), the content is stellar. It walks you through all the major principles of patternmaking, from dart manipulation to contouring the bust on strapless bodices.

One drawback is that I often find myself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information. But I've discovered that if I follow the book's directions step-by-step (rather than trying to comprehend pages at a time), I'm always happy with the results.

The price is in line with most textbooks ($95 on Amazon), and it's got the content to back up that price. But if you're just getting into patternmaking, you may wish to start with a cheaper and less overwhelming text, like the Margolis (mentioned above).

Any other fans of this book? Or do you have recommendations of your own on this topic?

Drafting a Simple Band Sleeve

This sleeve is great when you wish you'd drafted a bodice with kimono sleeves, but you didn't realize that until the bodice was already cut and assembled. No problem! This simple little sleeve mimics the look of a short kimono sleeve, but you can cut it on a different grain than the bodice for some visual interest. (See the finished dress modeled here.)

As the name implies, it's just a simple band. It doesn't have a cap or require any easing. It's wider at the shoulder and then tapers to very narrow underneath the arm.

Here's how you do it. Measure your front and back armholes, excluding the seam allowances. (Double click pictures to see the text better.)

Start drafting. You'll have a line the length of your total armhole, with the center marked with a circle.

Now draw the outer curve.

Finish up the pattern.

Cut four of your sleeve pattern, 2 for the shell and 2 for the lining. Stitch each set together along the curved line, right sides together. Understitch the lining.  Stitch the short ends together and press open. Flip sleeve right side out and press. Baste the raw edges together and then treat it as one.

Sew your sleeve in as usual, but don't worry about easing, as it should fit exactly. Match your circle up to your shoulder seam. I finished the raw edge with my serger to keep it very neat.

 That's all! Let me know if you have any questions.

Converting a Skirt Dart to Hemline Flare

A while back, we looked at using the pivot method to move a dart around on a bodice. I thought I'd show you another easy dart technique--this one eliminates a waistline dart on a skirt and turns it into flare at the hemline. It's like magic! Here's what you do, as illustrated on a tiny, not-to-scale front skirt pattern.

You have your basic straight skirt, right?

Draw a line up from the hem to the bottom of the dart.

Cut out the dart, and then slash up the line to the dart, leaving a little hinge.

Open out the slash until the waistline dart closes up.

Ta da! A flared skirt with no dart. Tape the pattern down to a new piece of paper to secure. True the lines at the waistline and the hemline, as shown in red below.

This technique just came in handy when I wanted to eliminate the dart on a skirt for a clean waistline look, while simultaneously adding more flare to the hem.

Slashing and closing a dart will work on a bodice too, to convert the dart to gathers or a dart in a new location. Try it and see!

Making a Shirred-Back Dress, Part One: Modifying Your Pattern

As promised! This technique isn't difficult, but it has a few parts, so I'm going to break it up into three posts. Part one is modifying a dress back pattern so it's the right size to be shirred with elastic thread. We're going to be talking about strappy and strapless patterns, so no full-coverage dress backs. (Note: there is a way to shirr a full coverage dress back, and that's to change the style lines so you have side panels underneath the arms, and then shirr those.) Note: the only special supply you'll need for the whole tutorial is elastic thread. It's widely available and made by a variety of brands, including Gutermann, Stretch Rite, Dritz and Designer's Choice. It generally only comes in black and white, so choose the best color for your fabric.

You can modify a basic dress back bodice like so. The green is your new style line. (Note: CB is center back and SS is side seam.) Pretend these sketches are good and they weren't done on an envelope, okay?

Important: don't forget to add a seam allowance at the top of the new back pattern piece.

If you're using a basic sloper or simple dress pattern, you'll also want to change the front. You can do sweetheart:

 Or a simple straight front:

Isn't patternmaking fun? No matter which shape you do, make sure your front and back side seams are the same height so they match up when you sew them together. They should form a smooth line, rather than dipping down into a v-shape. Also, always do a test run of the front, even if it's just a tissue fitting.

We'll be shirring the whole back, rather than side back panels, which is often what you'll see on vintage sarong dress and rompers. This just keeps it simpler, but you can certainly break up your back into panels and shirr only the side panels.

With a fitted-waist skirt like a circle skirt or pencil skirt (or even fitted shorts for a romper), you'll still need a zipper. But we WILL be adding elastic shirring to the top of the back skirt, so it will stretch with the back bodice. More to come on that. (If you make a gathered skirt and elasticize it, you won't need a zipper, but I'm not focusing on that technique here.) I highly recommend doing your zipper center back. (This is the sleekest, flattest zipper application for this kind of dress. A lapped side zipper gets kind of ruffly and adds width to your side. ) This means you'll have seam allowances at the center back for the zipper. Add them if your pattern doesn't have them already.

Now, close up the back darts and trace the pattern. It's now dart-less, which is what we want.

Now you need to figure out how much extra width to add to accommodate the shirring. It's a process of trial and error, really. Shirring reduces the pattern piece width by half. But you can't just double the pattern width, because you want the elastic to be snug on you, so it stretches a bit and conforms to your body. Make sense? The first pattern I did this with, I slashed and spread to add a bunch of inches to the middle of the piece. It was way too big. (Which isn't a big deal, I just made big seam allowances in the back and then trimmed them down.)

The next one I did, I took a simpler approach: adding just an inch to each side of the pattern piece. Make sure you don't make the piece taller in the process, since it still needs to fit in to the front pattern piece at the side seams. The green shading below is the extra width.

This approach worked really well, though it is very snug. It's bombshell-fitted, which is exactly what I was going for in the Shaheen-style dress I was making. If you want your dress to be a little looser, add 1-1/2" inches at each side of the back pattern piece.

Next, cut two of your modified back pattern piece in your dress fabric.

Tomorrow we shall shirr. Shirrly we shall! (You must excuse just one bad "shirr" pun.) There's video and everything. On Wednesday, I'll show you how to sew the shirred piece into dress.

Ask any questions in the comments!

Pivoting a Dart

Hey, do you all know how to pivot a dart? It's super easy and fun. Remember my stripey dress, where I pivoted the dart to the center front seam to create a chevron effect?

Here's the bodice with arrows to indicate the dart placement. These are the only darts on the front bodice.

I got this effect by moving the original dart (which was at the waist) to the center front seam, radiating diagonally to the bust apex.

Here's a miniature of the original pattern piece. (It's actually just a hand drawn piece, so don't look at it for accuracy!) It's best to do this with the seam allowances removed. This way the seam allowance will not interfere with your drafting.

See how the waist dart closes to form a three dimensional shape?

Darts on a bodice can be anywhere, as long as they are radiating from the bust apex. Got that? An easy way to move the dart to another point is to pivot the dart.

Start by putting your pattern piece on top of a new, clean piece of paper. Make sure you have your apex marked. Update: the bust apex isn't necessarily the end point of the dart, since darts usually stop short of the apex of the bust. In patternmaking, you usually work with a dart that ends at the apex and then, once the dart pivoting is complete, shorten the legs by about 1/2" to 1" so the dart doesn't end right on top of the bust, creating a pointy effect. Check your pattern (fold the darts and hold it up to your body) to make sure that you're working from the apex, which is the fullest point of the bust.

Now, mark your new dart placement. The red arrow indicates where I want my new dart to be. It will radiate diagonally to the bust apex.

Start tracing at the left leg of your old dart. I'm using a green Sharpie here. Continue in a clockwise direction, until you get to your new dart placement point.

Now, place a pin or awl (something pointy) into the dart apex so that it doesn't shift.

Pivot the pattern piece to the left so that the right leg of the original dart reaches the point where you started tracing. You've essentially closed up the original dart.

Now you can continue tracing where you left off on the original pattern piece. My new tracing line is in purple. End when you meet up where you started (in green marker here).

Remove the pattern piece. See that open space on the center front seam? That's your new dart!

Use a ruler to draw new dart legs, connecting them to the apex point.

 

There you have it! Next you should add seam allowances back. Update: you will also need to shorten the dart by about 1/2" to 1" so the endpoint isn't right on top of the bust. Close up the dart and trace over it with a spiky wheel to get the shape of the seam allowance on the dart body. Straighten up any lines that might have gotten wonky, like the waistline (where the old dart used to be).

Make sense? You can move your dart anywhere: neckline, shoulder seam, French dart. As long as it radiates toward the apex, you're good.

If this is hard to visualize, I would suggest having a go of it with a bit of paper shaped like a pattern piece. It will make sense once you've tried it, I promise.

Let me know if you have questions!

Drafting a Convertible Collar

There are two ways to draft a convertible collar: the easy way and the hard(ish) way. We're going to do this the easy way, folks! The type of convertible collar I'm going to show you is just a basic rectangle that gets folded in half. This is what I used on my blouse above, the details of which (including pattern number), are in yesterday's post.

This simple type of collar is best for shirts that you plan to leave unbuttoned at the top. If you want to button your blouse all the way up, you need to do some fancier drafting that allows the collar to roll properly. But for the purposes of making a blouse like the one above (which I intended to be worn open), a simple rectangular collar is fine. I suppose one could say that this collar isn't all that convertible anymore, but let's not split hairs, shall we?

So here's how you do it.

• Figure out your collar LENGTH measurement. Get out your blouse front and back bodice pieces. Use a measuring tape to measure the neckline of the pattern pieces on the seam line (do not include seam allowances or darts in your measurement) from center front to center back. You can also just sew up the blouse to this point and then measure around the neckline as it is sewn. On my blouse, the measurement was 10". Double this measurement to get your full collar length. So, your collar length is 20".
• Decide on your collar WIDTH measurement. I wanted mine to be fairly narrow, so I went with 2".
• Draw a rectangle that is your WIDTH x your LENGTH.
  

{Note: image is to half-scale. Click on images to see them larger!}

• This is only half the width of your finished collar. Now you need to add the other half that will get folded to form the entire collar. So add another two inches to the bottom, like this:
  

  

• Only your under collar will be interfaced. I like to draw little slash marks to indicate this, like so:

• Now add a 5/8" seam allowance all around, like I've done in blue below. Voila! This is your pattern piece.

To sew your collar: *

1. Lay out your fabric and cut out one of pattern piece on grain.
2. Interface undercollar portion only with a lightweight fusible.
3. Fold collar in half horizontally, right sides together.
4. Sew on short ends, with a 5/8" seam allowance.
5. Trim seam allowances and cut corners diagonally.
6. Turn collar right side out, poke corners out with a point turner or knitting needle, and press.
7. Baste raw edges of collar to neckline, matching up the collar ends with your center fronts.
8. Stitch on your facings as directed by the pattern.

*As always, consult a good sewing reference, like the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing if you need more visual sewing instructions.

That's it, lovely readers! Let me know if you have any questions.