Dart manipulation inspiration

It’s nice to read in the comments there are others working on pattern drafting and dart manipulation too. I don’t think you see it a lot in the blogosphere. If you know blogs/sites let me know in the comments, it would be nice to see it more.

Apart from the in person classes I took Suzy Furrer’s Craftsy class on dart manipulation and it was a great inspiration. I only bought this class a little over a week ago, and I can heartily recommend. She’s very clear and deals with the subject very, very well.She uses the imperial system, but it’s not a problem as in this class it’s not about taking your own measurements and converting that to a paper pattern. It works from a sloper/block pattern, which I have. (disclaimer, I’m not affiliated to Craftsy, this is just a great class if you’re interested in pattern drafting/changing patterns).

Browsing the internet as one does from time to time for inspiration, I found this top. Certainly dart manipulation, combined with pleats/doubled fabric and a ruffle. The ruffle is a bit much to me, I’m not a ruffle-person in general, but the variation is something I might try.

This top is from the Jil Sander collection spring 2015, price 690 euro. It’s not even made from silk.

Top with 4 shoulder pleats

As I’ve mentioned before I’m working on pattern drafting. Till now I’ve worked on tops, dresses, jackets and skirts that I wanted to wear to get a better fitting result than with commercial patterns. In general it worked really well (the color-block dress from January was such a project).
I want to explore possibilities a bit more and are working on drafts that not necessarily will end up as garments that I make in fabric and are worn by me.
This is a draft described in the book Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong. This is a textbook for students with many illustrations and ideas. It also describes how to draft a sloper, but I use my own sloper drafted with another system. In the end slopers are more or less the same. The instructions from the book do not work for me because it’s not metric. I’m fine with instructions like 5/8, 3/8 of an inch, making a complete draft with a non-metric system was too confusing (I tried).

This muslin was made with the basic block drafted with my measurements which has a waist, bust and shoulder dart. I do want to get an idea of what will work and what not. I like the detail of the shoulder darts. For a summer top the neckline needs to be different, lower and wider. That will mean that I have to reconsider the draft: either the smallest dart is omitted, or the darts must be closer together. For the moment I see this as a practise run, not sure whether I will make it to a wearable garment.
(nb: the dressform is not like me, so defenitely not showing the fit correctly).

Inspired by rtw

Hello dear readers, my absence was not as long as expected. The sale of our house did not happen (yet). Quite disappointing but well, it’s what happens and life goes on. My sewing room is still the same, though a few things are packed away to make space. It makes for a few things I can’t find (bias tape maker this week) that I always knew where they were. Don’t feel like unpacking all though, because we still hope to sell in the next months. 

In the meantime: I’ve started sewing a bit again and this week I made a simple t-shirt with a little twist, inspired by a rtw shirt.

The inspiration piece (Claudia Sträter)

 

My version.

 

 

So easy to make, using a t-shirt pattern that you have. On the neckline I took 2 centimeters from the shoulder and drafted a new neckline and marked the point where the new and original neckline crossed. The original neckline is the line the band is following.

I cut the neckline with a little seam allowance from the notch up, no seam allowance center front and back where the neckband is attached. Then I interfaced the seam with a strip of light fusible to get stability and topstitched. The neckline band has a finished width of 1 centimeter, which meant cutting a strip of 4 centimeters wide. After a firm press I pinned and basted that strip over the neckline below the notches, stretching a little to make sure the neckline will be close to the body. Topstitching the neckband finished and attached it in one pass. (I close the neckband after pinning most of it, so that I know where to put the seam).

Cute detail, don’t you think?