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Pattern Flat: Create and True a Pattern

Lesson 11 from: Making Fashion: Draw, Draft and Sew

Jay Calderin

Pattern Flat: Create and True a Pattern

Lesson 11 from: Making Fashion: Draw, Draft and Sew

Jay Calderin

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Lesson Info

11. Pattern Flat: Create and True a Pattern

Lesson Info

Pattern Flat: Create and True a Pattern

This is dotted paper. It's actually not dots. It's actually little numbers and letters. But it gives you this grid format to work with and where did I lose my bodice? Where did she go? Oh, she's still on the figure. So we would take this. And let's move her away and move on to the flat pattern. And at the flat pattern, we did a little truing. Like, we corrected corners, and all that kind of stuff on the fabric. But the truth is, no matter how good we are, that's not gonna be quite enough. You know, like, when we get to the final pattern, because we really want it to be almost mechanical so it all interlocks like a really good puzzle. And there are a lot of different methods to doing this, but the first thing you would do is line up your center along one of the dotted lines. And nice and flat. And the first thing you can actually do is trace over the key points the way we did here. So you can do corners. And, oh, I didn't add any seam allowance down here, so I'm just gonna leave this he...

re. Okay, so you can transfer over a paper once you feel comfortable that you've got all the information on it, and actually draw it out. Gonna use blue 'cause the paper's blue. You wanna line it up as best as possible. And it's pretty much exactly what we did with the fabric. But once we start to do all this information, I'm sorry, I forgot my dots. Once you start to do all this, you can make sure all your corners are squared. That the back lines up with the front piece so where, on this bodice, we'd have a piece that lines up with the side seam from the back. And we'd have the shoulder, so we need to make sure that those transitions, those seams happen, and the transitions are smooth so you don't have any jagged peaks or dips. Okay. And I think we got everything. I transfer this over. Okay. And then you would do this. There are different ways to doing this. You can do this with carbon, which you can have with a tracing wheel to transfer over all your markings. Some people do it with pens. Some people kinda do it by eye. They're all different methods, but at this point, the truing is the most important thing. For me, anyway. And again, for newbies, the truing means correcting. It's correcting. It's making everything true. Okay, true, okay. We wanna make sure that everything is just right. So this would be the transfer method. We'd go in, again, with our tools. And as I mentioned, just like with the sketching class, this is many, many semesters of classwork, which I'm sure the draping teachers at my school are gonna give me a hard time about when I get back. It's like, you made it so simple. There's more to it. Well, I mean, that's the whole point here is that you're showing us this breadth of all the things that are possible to learn and how to go about starting, but clearly-- I think that if you take it step-by-step, it feels less intimidating. If you think, oh, I'm just following my guides on the figure and I'm just correcting everything. Making sure everything matches. It's a simple process, but people get kinda scared off when you think oh, I'm making a garment. All these pieces; how do they go together? Alright, so here we get something that looks a little bit more like our finished pattern. It's like the cooking shows. There's one done already. So it looks a little bit, oh, this one has two darts, but basically it has all the guidelines, and this is actually the lining. Here we go. So it can have several darts. It can have whatever kind of design it actually is, but basically this is the middle step to getting to this one. And you can store, these end up being when you have store-bought patterns, you know, that are flat and foldable and fileable. So this could be a step, but I highly recommend that, once you get certain patterns that are really working for you and fitting people in a great way, that you save those. You make sure those are protected and stored well. Are those templates that you would use for many, many different patterns then? Yes. So you don't have to do a new one every time you're doing? No. Actually, you know what? I'm gonna do that right now. Here we go. Alright, so, this one speaks to fabric manipulation. So I have marked. Is there any way, Jay, to awkwardly stretch so we can see what you're doing? Apologies about that. This'll be fine. No, no, no. Okay, so we here, again, this is super simple, but I think you'll get kinda the picture of it. I'm gonna trace over the parts that I know are gonna be fairly stable. And you want to ask yourself how I can move this dart. So I'm gonna trace over all my information. Okay and I think I got this. Am I still in the shot? Is it better? Okay, I'm alright. So here I'm gonna finish this off. Okay. So now this is the fun part. We can cut. And once you've done all that hard work of that basic, and it's like a magic trick. So I'll just be a minute to cut this out, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna move that dart. 'Cause right now that dart is coming into her waist, but we can put it wherever we want. And this is another great detail. They did it a lot. This is where, again, the fashion history. I keep plugging the fashion history, 'cause it has such great information in it. This is during the 40s, during wartime, where you could only use so much fabric. This is how you can create original dresses, 'cause you have this basic little bodice. But by changing the darts or adding darts, you can make it really special. Alright. So here I want this dart somewhere else. So it's really simple. I want this dart to come, let's say, to the neckline. Alright, so I want the line here. So from this apex, you draw that line. And then you close this one. And you've kept all your fit. All the hard work that you did for the original is still there. And actually, I think I have a slide that shows the process. Well, this was more about what we talked about, the direction of the fabric, the bias and the cross grain. Those are the pieces, and then here we have sort of the method of slashing it. I have it on the shoulder in this one, but this is your new pattern piece, and it comes together exactly the same way. Because the minute you close that, you have the bodice dart. But it's at the neckline.

Ratings and Reviews

Jacquelyn Bradley-Nelson
 

I love this class, I'm glad I found it. This what I want to learn or add to my knowledge. JayC you are awesome! I need more learning on rendering coloring for illustration for that is. I can't wait to see what's on the other class I will take. Thanks! Signed: rm515jb.

Andrea Leggett
 

I really enjoyed this and the draping really opened my eyes to what can be achieved. Jay made it look easy so I plan a shot at draping later and will post my effort on Instagram with thanks to him! Thank you Creative LIve for bringing this to me (in the UK) and special thanks to Jay. When I'm in Boston in August I"ll buy you a beer!

Susan
 

Loved the draping information. It was logical and clear enough to make me want to try it.

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