The Online Fashion Class

DIY French Curves with Armhole Template

2011-06-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this will be of use to anyone but myself but I've wanted to work out away to make my own french curves (or Grade N Rule as they're referred to in my college) for a wee while now. Then I kind of just clicked and got an idea how to make one so I thought I'd share.

Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to buy my own set one day. But for now, I've been doing quite a bit of pattern cutting and I think this will make my life easier for the time being. So yeah....

Sorry about the picture quality, the light in my room is pretty bad so I edited the photos to make them a bit lighter and ended up with dodgy colours... I'll redo the tutorial if I get the time during daylight. Anyway.

You will need:

- A vest top

- A tight fitting top

- A tight fitting skirt or pair of jeans

- Pencil, paper and scissors.

Take your vest or tshirt and place the armhole at the top of your paper (maybe more to your right than I chose to do). Try to make it sit so that it is as close to its original shape as possible, no stretching or folds.

Lightly sketch around the armhole

Next take your tight fitting top, turn it inside out and try match the waist’s side seam curve to the armhole.

For the final part of the curve take your close fitting skirt or jeans, match the curve of the side seam around the hip to your current curve, then lightly sketch around it until you reach the end of your paper

Next, draw around the curve and try to get rid of any little bumps along the way

Take a ruler and draw a straight line opposite your curved line, at the botton, square to join both lines.

Cut it out and your done.

Now all you need to do is find something to use to make your French Curves out of. You could leave it as it is but it will be quite flimsy, I think I’ll be using the card at the back of my A3 cartridge pad unless I find something better but you can use just about anything as long as its sturdy enough. Hope this is helpful to you, let me know what you think :)

Pattern Cutting - How to Draft a Simple Corselet

2011-06-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

This is a simple pattern manipulation based on the basic skirt block (Which you can draft here Part 1 and Part 2) The Corselet can be made on its own or as a waistband for a skirt.

First you will need to draw around the top of the basic skirt front and back

Then you should mark a dotted line 8 cm below the waist

This will be the bottom of the corselet waist

Next, you should measure up 8 cm at the start of the pattern, darts and side seams

Now, reduce the dart width by 0.5cm at both sides at both the front and back as shown below:

Next, increase the side seams by 1 cm as shown below:

From the waist line measure up 8 cm to make another dotted line
This will be the top of the corselet.

Join all the dotted lines to complete the pattern and label all the pieces before cutting them out

Finally, cut out all the pieces

The darts should separate the pattern into 4 pieces

And your done.

So I hope this is useful to you in some way, if you have any issues with it let me know and I'll do my best help.

Thanks for looking x

Pattern Cutting - How To Draft A Waistband Pattern

2011-06-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

It's really simple to draft a pattern for a waistband, so rather than mention it in every tutorial, I'll show you how to do it here and I'll link to it.

For the length of your waistband you need to divide your waist measurement by 2 (for me that's 33cm)

Then add 4cm if you want to make a button hole (optional)

Then add another cm for ease

And then a final 2 cm for your seam allowance

(The dots on this picture are just where I've marked each stage)

For the width of your waistband you need to start with the finished width of your waistband multiplied by two, as the fabric will be folded to make your waistband. I want my waistband to be 3 cm wide so my mark 6 cm for my width so far.

Then add 2 cm for your seam allowance

This makes my pattern width 8 cm

Finally label your waistband and add the cut on fold sign as you need twice the length of your pattern.

And you're done.

So I hope this is helpful to you, let me know if you have any issues with this tutorial, thanks :)

Pattern Cutting - How To Draft A Panel Skirt

2011-06-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

This is probably the easiest skirt pattern to make, trust me it is really simple. This skirt will be made up of 6 panels but could be altered to use 8 panels if you like. My pattern should fit between a size 10 and a size 12 but I included the measurements for different sizes in a previous post so you can make it to fit your measurements. Also this pattern should be able to fit on an A3 bit of paper. Okay, I better start now.

Mark point A at the top right hand side of your paper and square in both directions.

Measure down 20.5 cm and mark point B

The distance between point A and point C should be the full length of your skirt plus a cm seam allowance. For me this was 41 cm.

Square at point B

The distance between point B and point D should be 1/6 of your hip measurement (or if your making 8 panels it should be 1/8 of your measurement.)

For me this is 16cm.

Square down to point E (from point D) and join to point C

Square up to point F (from point D) and join to point A

You should now have a full rectangle

Point G is halfway between point A and point F

For me this was 8.5 cm away from point F

Point G should also be halfway between point I and point H too

The distance between point I and H should be 1/6 of your waist measurement (or 1/8 if you're making 8 panels)

For me this was just under 12.5cm but I rounded up to 13cm

Curve a line between point I and point D

Then do the same for point H to point B

Cut it out, name it and note how whether the skirt is to be made up of 6 of these panels or 8 and you're finished.

Just like the straight skirt pattern, this can be manipulate in many ways to make your designs. I hope to show how to make a bubble skirt from this pattern maybe next week if I have time.

If you want to draft a waistband pattern for this skirt there is a quick tutorial here:

How To Draft a Waistband

So anyway, hope you find this helpful, and if you have any issues with my tutorial please let me know so I can fix it as soon as. Thanks :)

Researching Fashion

2011-06-09T08:05:00.001-07:00

I mentioned in a previous post about the areas you should research before beginning the design process. I've compiled a list of what I've found to be the best free websites within those areas. I hope it will be useful to you.

Silhouettes

http://www.emilyhiller.com/portfolio/sculptural-clothing/

http://fashionshowphotos.net/2011/ss-haute-couture-paris-2011/christian-dior-haute-couture-ss-2011/

Details

http://www.shirtsmyway.com/blog/tag/details/

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=garment+details

http://www.etsy.com/category/clothing?ref=fp_ln_clothing

Texture

http://www.edge-textileartists-scotland.com/gallery/index.html

http://www.ckrother.com/art.html

http://www.62group.org.uk/artists/

Historical Influences

http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/f/fashion/

http://sallyjanevintage.blogspot.com

http://vintagefashionmagazines.blogspot.com/

http://myvintagevogue.com/home

Contemporary Trends

http://fashionindie.com/

http://www.anothermag.com/current

http://www.fashionising.com/

http://antiquedress.com/

http://boudoirboutique.wordpress.com/

Other Useful Websites

http://www.rinze.com/fashion/fashion_thumbnails.htm

http://avantgarde.blogsome.com/

Pattern Cutting - How to Draft a Basic Skirt Block Part 2

2011-06-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

So in the first part of the tutorial I showed you how to draft the front of a basic skirt pattern, now I'll show you how to draft the back of the pattern.

Mark point L on the top left hand side of your paper and square both ways.

Then measure down 20.5 cm and mark point M

The measurement between point L and point N is the length of the back of your skirt plus a cm seam allowance.

For me the distance is still 36 cm

Square at point M

The distance between point M and point O is a quarter of your hip measurement plus 1cm.

For me the distance is still 25cm

Square both ways at point O

Measure up to point R and measure down to point P

Join point P and point N

The distance between point S and point L should be a quarter of your waist measurement plus 4 cm for your dart.

For me this measurement is 21.5cm

Mark point T a cm above point S and draw a curved line to connect it to point L

Point U should be 15 cm from point O

Square up and mark point V when the line meets between points L and T

Point W is the dart length and should be 14cm below point V

The dart should be 4 cm wide

Half the dart allowance equally and join these points to point W

Mark the pattern as the back and add the Cut on Fold sign in the same way it was added to the front pattern and your finished.

This is just the basic block pattern which can be manipulated in hundreds of different ways to suit your designs. I'd quite like to upload a tutorial on the different ways to manipulate a pattern maybe next week. I'd also like to show a tutorial on how to construct a skirt based on this pattern in the near future.

If you'd like to make a pattern for a waistband for this skirt there is a quick tutorial here

How To Draft A Waistband

So anyway, I hope this is useful to you, let me know if you have any questions or if there's anything I haven't explained well. Thanks x

Skirt Size Chart for Pattern Drafting

2011-06-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

The measurements I've been using to draft basic block skirt pattern should fit between a size 10 and a size 12. This fits me perfectly but obviously it won't fit everyone. In the tutorial I've highlighted the parts that are specifically for my size so if your willing to do a tiny bit of math you can alter the pattern to fit you.

Here is the standard size chart

SIZE	8	10	12	14	16
Waist	60cm	64cm	68cm	72cm	76cm
Dropped Waist	68cm	72cm	76cm	80cm	84cm
Hip	88cm	92cm	96cm	100cm	104cm

So hopefully with these measurements you should be able to adapt the pattern to fit your size. If there are any issues, let me know. Thanks x

Pattern Cutting - How to Draft a Basic Skirt Block Part 1

2011-06-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try my best to explain how to draft a basic straight skirt pattern. My pattern should fit a size 10 to a size 12 but it could be altered to fit any size and it you follow my instructions this should be able to fit on an A2 piece of paper. I'm sorry but there are going to be a lot of photos with this post because its the only way I know to explain it. So anyway, I better start.

Mark point A at the top right hand side of your paper and square both ways.

From point A measure 20.5 cm down and mark point B

The measurement from point A to point C is your front length plus a cm seam allowance.

So, for me the distance between point A and point C is 36cm.

Square from point B

The distance between point B and point D is a quarter of your hip measurement plus a cm seam allowance.

For me the distance is 25cm.

From point D square both way and square from point C too.

Continue the lines until they meet and form point E.

You can do the same for point A to make point F.

The distance between point A and G is a quarter of your waist measurement plus 3 cm dart allowance.

For me the distance was 20.5cm

Point I is should be 1 cm above point G

Draw a curved line between point I and Point A

Point J should be 15 cm away from point A

This is the center of your dart

Square down from point J to make point I (where it meets on the line between point B and D)

Point K is 8 cm down from point J

This is the length of your dart

The dart should be 3 cm wide

Half the dart allowance equally at point J and join these points to K

Curve a line between point H and point D to complete the front of the pattern

Make sure it is marked as the front and add the Cut on Fold sign

This is a straight line with two arrows that should point to the line between point A and point C

This means when you cut fabric using this pattern you should fold the fabric in half and place the pattern on the fold and cut both parts of the front of the pattern at once.

So this is the first part of how to draft a basic skirt block pattern. Let me know what you think about it and let me know if theres anything I've not explained well enough or if you have any bother with it. Thanks x

Pattern Cutting - The Tools You Will Be Needing

2011-06-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

I’d like to start putting up some basic pattern drafting lessons soon so I might as well post the things you will need to follow the instructions. Pattern cutting tools can be pretty expensive but if you plan to have a career in fashion design you will need to invest in them at some point.

That said however, I haven’t really bought all my own tools yet due to money issues so I’ve came up with some alternatives to get me by for now. You will definitely be needing a pair of sharp scissors and pencil though, but I’m pretty sure everybody can get access to those :)

So here is the list of tools and there alternatives I’ve came up with:

Ideally	Alternatives
L square ruler	Right Angle triangle ruler
Awl	Sharp pencil
Notcher	Scissors
Grade N Rule or French Curves	Large compass or guess work
Dot and Cross Pattern Cutting Paper	Left over wallpaper roll

So I hope this is helpful, if there are any tools I’ve missed out let me know, and if you have any better alternatives available, that would also be great. Thanks.

Primary Research

2011-06-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

What is Primary Research?

These are the findings you have collected or recorded first hand. They are generally recorded through drawings or photographs and provide greater sensory associations than just the object itself. Primary Research can be a lot more personal than secondary research.

How can I gather primary research?

Quick sketches of people or objects
Non-dominant hand drawings
Continuous line drawings
Photographs
Collages
Monoprinting
Watercolours

What should you include in your primary research?

The most valuable primary research includes elements such as textures, shapes, patterns and embellishments. It is more important to show these elements in your drawings than it is to draw the object perfectly. Images that incorporate these elements can easily be developed into fabric samples at a later stage and these could then be developed to be used as part of a garment.

I’d quite like to go into more detail later about the ways you can experiment with primary research but if there’s anything I’ve left out feel free to let me know and I’ll sort it when I can. Thanks.

Secondary Research

2011-06-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

What is secondary research?

This is source that you have gathered from the internet, book or magazines that will influence your designs. It is basically any research that wasn’t created by you personally.

What is the purpose of secondary research?

Research is important to inspire you as a creative individual. It is a way to stimulate the mind and create new possibilities for your designs. It allows you to explore different ideas before you focus on your final concept, theme or idea for a collection.

What should you research?

Silhouettes
Details
Colour
Texture
Historical influences
Cultural influences
Contemporary trends

The best websites I have found for secondary research

www.etsy.com

www.polyvore.com

www.fashioninquisitive.com
www.fashion-era.com

I’m planning to go into more detail about the areas of research pretty soon, but if there’s anything you’d like me to add, feel free to let me know. Also, if you know of any other good websites for fashion source, leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list here. Thanks.

The Design Brief

2011-06-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

What is a Design Brief?

The whole idea of a design brief is essentially to there to inspire you and outline the aims and objectives for your project. It is there to guide you and encourage the design and research process.

What should it include?

First of all, it needs a theme. Something that will inspire and be personal to you. One of the best ways to choose this is to start with a basic idea that could be developed in different ways.

Examples

Perspective

Illusions
Juxtaposition

Identity

Keepsakes, items of sentimental value
Home, take inspiration from your city

The Art of Collecting

Vintage
Personal collections

Luxe

Hollywood Glamour
Haute Couture

Structure

Architecture
Origami

Revival

Recycle, refashion
Moments in history

What else should be included?

To refine the brief it is best to add some constraints. These could include; a budget, fabric, colour, target market, season etc. The brief should also include the garment you want to make and a deadline.

So, anyway

I hope this has been of some help to you, if there's anything I've missed out or anything you think I should write about in the future, leave a comment and I'll do my best to help.