My Moulage (dress form)

So I've finished my dress form cover, and slipped into it to try it, then slipped it on the dress form.  I still have some stuffing to do, but I'm really excited about it.  I cut it out of a canvas I had purchased to make a slip cover for my sofa.  This is much better use of the fabric.

A departure - Kenneth King Moulage

I was away this weekend participating in the Kenneth King Moulage class.  Well I finally have patterns that fit.  The moulage is supposed to fit like a second skin (without ease), and I'll be stuffing my dress form, so I can finally start draping again.

This is not the final, just the first draft, so I'll go back and tweak the shoulders and armhole a bit.  So I am really excited to be in a position to finally have a good foundation for stuffing my dress form.  To begin draping all of those grecian inspired dresses I've been lusting after.  Really exciting!!

If you ever have the opportunity to attend the Moulage course, I totally endorse it.  The only disappointment was at the end of day three, we were done ;(.  I've put the Sleeve & Pant CD books on my Christmas list.  As I've said before, I need clothes!! 

Grading Continued..... cut & paste

All of the dimensions were as the front, we need an additional 2.5" width and 1 1/4" length.

The lines were determined three posts ago.

Cut your paper about 10" wider and 5" longer, to give yourself room.

Place your pattern on the paper and extend the first grade lines closest to the top and center back first, to the paper below. 

Lift the paper and join the lines.

Cut along the grade lines, the first piece neck & center back and place it matching the lines.

Then add the grade to the horizontal and vertical lines.  For this project 5/8" for both.

Tape the second piece matching it to the grade lines.

Add the grade to the second vertical grade line (5/8" for this project)

Now you can move to the next row down and place the pieces on the grade line edges.

Now we get to attack the next vertical grade line from the armhole to the waistline (1 1/4" for this project)

Here we are at the last grade line.... I bet you know what comes next.
Cut the pieces along the grade line, mark the last grade (5/8" for this project) and tape the four remaining pieces down and you are done.

This was much faster than the slide method to demonstrate, but once you've done the cut & paste once or twice you get the hang of grading, and can do the slide method easily.

Grading continued...slide method.

Establishing Grade
Overall grade is 10"
Allocated Grade is 2.5"  (equal to Overall / 4)


WIDTH GRADE - Guides run from top to bottom.
Line 1 & 2  - add 1/4 of the Allocated Grade to each line.  I will need to add 5/8"
Line 3         - add 1/2 of the Allocated Grade to line 3, 1 1/4 or 1 2/8.

The total width added is 5/8 + 5/8 + 1 2/8 = 2 4/8 or 2 1/2.


LENGTH GRADE
Line 4 & 5

The instruction on length is to add 1/4 of the Allocated Grade, which for me will be 5/8 at each line which will give me  1 1/4".


Drafting
Here we go..

Cut a piece of paper about 10" wider and 5" taller than the pattern you are grading.

Working counter clockwise trace a corner of the pattern up to where you intersect the first grade lines (1 & 4).

Redraw the guide lines 1 & 4 on tracing paper.



WIDTH

Add the width of grade to line 1 - ( 5/8" for this project).

Slide the pattern along line 4 towards side seam, until line 1 matches the original on the pattern.

This movement has now made the pattern piece 5/8" wider.


Start tracing shoulder from line 1 to line 2.
 

Trace line 2
WIDTH
Add the width of grade to line 2 - 5/8" for this project

Slide the pattern along line 4 towards side seam, until line 2 matches the original on the pattern.

This movement has now made the pattern piece 5./8" wider. (total 5/8" + 5/8" = 1 1/4")

Trace from line 2 around shoulder to line 4 (mid armhole).

Trace line 4
LENGTH
Add the width of grade to line 4 towards the waist, 1 1/4" for this project.

Slide the pattern piece to the lower boundary of line 4.

This movement has now made the pattern piece 1 1/4" longer.

Trace along the armhole until you reach the next grading line 3

.
WIDTH
Trace line 3, and add the width of grade towards the sideseam, which is 1 1/4".
Slide the piece along line 5 towards the side seam to the new line 3.
This movement has now made the pattern piece 1 1/4" wider.
(total 1 1/4" + 1 1/4" = 2 1/2" width is complete)

Trace along the armhole, down the sideseam until you reach grade line 5.
Trace line 5, add grade length, for this project 1 1/4".
Slide the piece up to the new boundary of line 5.
This movement has now made the pattern piece 1 1/4" longer.
(total 1 1/4" + 1 1/4" - 2 1/2" length complete)

Once the length and width additions are complete, from this point we will be working back to the original.

Trace the pattern from line 5 to line 3.
Slide the piece to the center front to the original line 3.
This movement narrows the piece 1 1/4"
Draw the waistline from line 3 to line 2.

Slide the piece to the original line 2.
Draw the waistline from line 2 to line 1.

Slide the piece from line 1 to original line 1.
Trace from line 1 to line 5

Slide the piece from line 5 to original line 5
Trace from line 5 to line 4

Slide the piece from line 4 to original line 4
Trace from line 4 to line 1.

There's another method, which requires more tape and cutting.... we'll do that on the back piece.

Cut & Spread Pattern Grading

This is a link to Threads Magazine cut and spread pattern grading instructions.  This will be easier to demonstrate, since someone has already done all of the work for us.  So this tutorial will be a test of the article's instructions.

These are the lines that correspond to the instructions.

Instead of slicing up the pattern I've copied, I'll be using this recently purchased semi sheer tracing paper.
So here goes.

Back to the measurements.
Vintage pattern = VP

New measurements = NM

Increase +
WIDTH
                                                               Distribution
                  VP         NM          +            Front                 Back
Bust            32           42          10           5" / 2.5"              5" / 2.5"
Waist          26           33           7            3.5"  / 1.75"        3.5" / 1.75"
Hip             35           41           6            3"  / 1.5"             3" / 1.5"


According to the vintage pattern those measurements correspond to a size 14, in today's sizing they are equivalent to a size 4 (bust), 8 (waist), 6 (hip).  So since I am a modern size 16, I'll need to grade the pieces as best I can, because it will not be even.

In the chart above the "+" represents what will be added in total circumference. I have divided that number by 2 to represent what will be added to the front, and back.  I have divided the overall by 1/4, because my pattern pieces represent 1/2 of the front & half of the back (fig a).  If you have a pattern piece that represents the full width of the front, you will divide by 1/2 overall amount (fig b).


Fig A - Most of the commercial patterns are like this.  You'll need to divide the overall grade by 4. So for example if I need to grade 10", I will widen the individual piece 2.5". 

 Fig B - Sometimes, you will see a full front, or back pattern piece and you'll need to divide your overall grade by 2.  For the same overall grade of 10", I will divide by 2, and widen each piece 5".

If you are making the original smaller, it is the same principal, but you will be overlapping the pieces instead of cutting and adding width.

Bodice front  draw in grading lines.
Cut line Formula Location Overall grade

Now for drawing in dividing lines, according to the Threads article, the placement is as follows.
Bodice

front/back

line 1/line 6  - draw your first line, midpoint of neckline to waist (parallel to the center front / back)

line 2/line 7 - draw this line from shoulder to waist (parallel to the lines 1 & 6),
                     I measured in 1.5" from the neck into the shoulder.

line 3/line 8 - draw this line from lower armhole to waist,
                     since my sleeve is more of a gusset,
                     I drew the line about 3/4" up the armhole from what I think the sideseam is.

Now I have all of the width lines drawn for the top pieces.

Length .............. I measured the pattern piece against my body. 
                          From the center front waist - over the bust - to the shoulder seam neckline 
                          I need 1 3/4" more in length, which will be divided up between 2 guide lines (7/8" each).
                          since these are PJ's I'll add another 1/2" to the seam allowances at the waist,
                          and decide if it's needed later.
front / back

line 4/line 9 - draw a line perpendicular to CF/CB to mid armhole opening
                     I'll follow the armhole notch

line 5/line 10 - draw a line perpendicular to CF/CB to mid side seam

I've been away, playing..... grading to be continued tomorrow!!

I've been doodling and generally up to no good at all....

Grading project vintage PJ's the pattern

First you'll need to copy your pattern pieces onto another paper.  I have done this on craft paper, so it's a little sturdier and will stand up to all the cutting and taping to come.

Here are the PJ pants, the hem on one leg is 65", I will need to find a fabric that is thin and has plenty of drape.

 Here are the top pieces, from top to bottom, collar, sleeve, back and front.

 There was an additional piece which I will not grade, it was the center front facing.  Instead of grading it separately, I will just make a facing from the finished graded front.  The pockets for the top, and side bottom pockets will also not be graded.

You'll notice a few things about this pattern, the sleeve doesn't have the little extensions that would normally be sewn up and fall at the underarm.  They are built into the front and back like gussets.

So we'll be grading the top 4 pieces and the bottom 3 pieces next.... I'm going out to get a decent marker to continue.