It’s been a while since an update but with good reason. The last few weeks have been spent cutting the strips for each tier to width, folding their edges over in order to iron them to the correct width, hand basting twenty-two strips to each tier then top-stitching each one. I’m not quite finished basting the strips to the bottom tier, but today I need to construct the bodice.

I’m not really looking forward to putting the bodice together. I’ve been waiting because I need to put the zip in as I construct it and the zip extends past the lower edge into the top couple inches of the first tier.

Hopefully I can insert a lapped zip. In order to do a lapped zip I have to leave the bodice in pieces until after the zip is in. Sort of. Kind of. Argh, I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.

Drafting a hem that is longer in the back then the front is slightly more complicated than one would originally think. That’s what the hubby let me know on Friday night at least.

The simple way to draft the hem is to mark the front, the back, then draw a straight line connecting the two as illustrated in the diagram to the right.

However, when done this way the angle of the hem starts centre front and doesn’t allow for a gentle curve. Which is exactly what is wanted/needed.

So, my hubby, brilliant at maths, pulled out equations he uses at work on occasion and calculated how to gently slope my hem for me.

It involved a fair bit of trigonometry (something I haven’t glanced at since grade eleven), plus some advanced trigonometry I’d never used.

When he explains it to me better than he did Friday, I’ll post up the steps for anyone that would like to draft a sloping hem of their very own.

Needless to say, every 4.75″ I’m marking my hem down a little further.

Thank goodness only the top tier has to be angled!

Wow, I’m up to six posts about drafting already. No wonder I feel like I’ll never cut into the fashion fabric.

Good news, readers. I have a pattern that almost fits.

Yes, you read that correctly; the pattern almost fits. All I have to do is shorten the bottom and angle the side seams and it is a GO.

I also spent about an hour this morning determining tier lengths. I came up with the following:

Tier One Front Length:

1″ ruffle top + 0.5″ seam allowance + 6/8″ for two channels = 2.25″
13.75″ length + 1.5″ seam allowance = 15.25″

Tier one front length = 15.25″ + 2.25″ = 17.5″

Tier One Back Length:

1″ ruffle top + 0.5″ seam allowance + 6/8″ for two channels = 2.25″
17.75″ + 1.5″ seam allowance = 19.25″

Tier one back length = 19.25″ + 2.25″ = 21.5″

Tier Two Length:

1.5″ ruffle top + 0.5″ seam allowance + 6/8″ for two channels = 2.75″
9.5″ length + 1.5″ seam allowance = 11″

Tier two length = 11″ + 2.75″ = 13.75″

Tier Three Length:

2″ ruffle top + 0.5″ seam allowance + 6/8″ for two channels = 3.25″
4.75″ length + 1.5″ seam allowance = 6.25″

Tier three length = 6.25″ + 3.25″ = 9.5″

The total length of the skirt after it’s sewn will be:

Front: 28″
Back: 32″

I arrived at the lengths by dividing how long I wanted the front length to be by six. Since the tiers shorten as the skirt lengthens, I used 3/6 for the top, 2/6 for the second and 1/6 for the lower.

The width of the first tier will be 3 x 38 (lower bodice circumference) = 114″
The second tier 5 x 38 = 190″
The third tier 4.5 x 38 = 171″

My hips are 51″ so the top tier gives me plenty of room. Also, I’m loving the idea of a skirt with so much twirl!

More math.

I don’t know if I ever mentioned math was one of my least favourite subjects in school. English and music I excelled in, math was a continuous struggle. So you can all imagine how much fun I’m having redrafting (i.e. doing more math) this pattern over and over then over again.

The mathematical equations involved are not necessarily difficult; I learnt them in grade four/five. Addition, subtraction, division. It’s simply that when I have the measurements calculated and find out something has, once again, gone wrong, backtracking, double-checking and the mere thought of redoing makes me want to bang my head on the desk.

Sort of how I feel right now.

Okay. I admit it. I’m stuck.

The tutorial yielded results unusable and my impatience denies me the ability to wait more than a few hours for help before moving forward.

I’m still hoping for help, oh yes, desperately so, in the meantime however, I am going to see if a combination of measurements and brains will let me intuit a pattern draft on my own. No tutorial to aid me.

That’s incorrect. I’ll be using the dart tutorial I posted the other day as a guide for dart placement since when it comes to darts? My cluelessness, let me show it to you.

The measurements I think I will need are laid out on the diagram below:
(one of these days I’ll remember how to insert an image link instead of looking it up each time)

[Images used for measurement chart from PGM Dress Form]

I am fairly certain I can do this. I am also fairly certain the trickiest part, aside from dart placement, will be making the bodice one continuous piece of fabric except where the side zipper joins it. Yes, I want to have a side zip and I have no idea how to draft for one.

Yesterday’s late afternoon draft-up was not a success.

Fret not, dear reader, for after eating dinner, chatting with the hubby, friends and savouring a hot mug of coffee, I sat down and tackled the measurements once more.

Determination, I have much.

The self-measurements needed for the point to point are:
Back Width: 14.5″
Back Waist Length: 13″
Bust: 45″
Waist: 37″
Dart: 4″

continue reading "MoPD: Take the Third."

Well…

I don’t think that was supposed to happen.

Bottom right corner of the draft.

Closer:

Point O isn’t supposed to be lower then H. Hmmm.

Back to the drawing board. Hubby’s on his way home though, so I’m taking a break for a bit.