Dartless Sloper - Version 2.2

More block/sloper drafting today.

(And by "today", I actually mean "two weeks ago", which is how long this post sat on my dashboard, which is the story of my life, just so you know). 

The last time we met for one of these intense drafting sessions, we established that I now have three working blocks: the French dart block with set-in sleeves. the princess seam block with set-in sleeves and the the raglan sleeve block without darts (which was drafted out of sequence from an earlier block).

Today's block is the third of the set-in sleeve blocks. It's different from the other two set-in sleeve blocks in that it is dartless. Dartless blocks are very different from darted blocks in form and function. Before we look at the form, let's talk about their function, because that's easier to visualize for the layman.

Garments can be made in two main kinds of fabric - the sort that don't stretch (e.g. wovens) and the sort that do (e.g. knits) 

When sewing with wovens, the fabric doesn't give (i.e. stretch) much to accommodate the contours of the body, and must be manipulated in folds and pleats and darts in order to fit the body. So blocks made for fitted patterns that are meant for woven fabrics must have darts. Therefore, all your dresses, blouses and skirts that have darts in them (including gathers and pintucks that serve the same function as darts) were made from patterns that came from darted blocks/slopers.

When sewing with knits, the fabric often gives (i.e. stretches) to accommodate the contours of the body so you don't need darts to shape the garment to fit the body. Some of your fitted Tshirts and knit blouses were made from patterns that came from dartless blocks. Also some of your bias-cut woven garments may have come from dartless blocks, because bias-cut woven garments drape almost like a knit garment. Like this one:

On a related note, I have heard of and read about people dividing blocks and slopers into two main kinds: 

1. Slopers for wovens
2. Slopers for knits

Interestingly, a question that often accompanies this particular dichotomy is "How much ease do you introduce in a sloper meant for knit garments?" The response (from various sources) is equally interesting - it ranges from "no ease" to "it varies - none at the shoulders, an inch at the bust, half an inch at the waist, etc." to "negative ease".

What gives?

If you think analytically about fabrics, there are about a gazillion types of knits, each with their own stretch factor. Some of my knit Tshirts (particularly the 100% cotton ones) hardly stretch at all. Others which have a higher elastane/spandex content stretch all over the place. Some drape better than others. Some are thin and some are more robust. And any sewing pattern (let alone a foundation block or sloper) for a knit pattern MUST allow for the stretch factor of different knit fabrics and include instructions for how to adjust the pattern (by including or excluding more or less ease) to work with that stretch factor. If it doesn't have this information, don't buy it. It doesn't know what it's talking about.

I prefer to think of my slopers/blocks in terms of their form (what they look like) rather than their function (what they're for). For example, a princess seamed block can be used for wovens as well as knits; in either situation, it still needs to fit the same body's shoulders, armscye, neck, bust, back, waist, etc. Similarly, today's dartless block can be used to make patterns for knits (because knitted garments are commonly dartless) but it is NOT a knit sloper. Because if it were, it would then have to be one of many knit slopers, viz:

• knit sloper for 100% cotton interlock knits
• knit sloper for 90% cotton, 10% elastane (spandex) knits
• knit sloper for 70% polyester, 30% elastane (spandex) knits
• knit sloper for 100% rayon knits
• knit sloper for french terry knits
• knit sloper for tectel knits
• knit sloper for robe velour knits, 
• knit sloper for the particular jersey I buy online from Chez Ami, etc.

which is another way of saying that if you think of slopers in terms of the fabric they might be used for, you'd almost have to make one sloper/block for each kind of fabric. Even if that weren't the wrong use for a sloper, it isn't the most practical way to sew.

Instead, today's block is, simply, a dartless block. As I said, it can be used to make patterns for knit garments (in whatever kind of knit with whatever stretch factor in whatever weight). But it can also be used to make patterns for woven garments cut on the bias because those, too, don't need darts. Less vague this way and also closer to the true use for a sloper.

Now that we've discussed the functions of this dartless block, let's visually construct its form. 

I'm starting with the back - reason made clear later. 

First, trace the traditional darted block onto new paper. In this tutorial, it is in red. You won't actually need this outline, because it is not the final outline (which will be in blue). However, I thought it would be useful to see the process of transforming a darted sloper to a dartless one and the two different outlines show the differences more clearly, okay?

Now, as I said, this is a dartless block. This means it has no darts (duh) but it must still fit properly and not have ease in all sorts of places. This in turn means you cannot just pretend the darts aren't there and forget to sew them closed or something. You must deal them so that while they're absent, their effect is compensated in some other way. The first dart we will deal with is the neck dart. We will rotate it closed. We talked about dart rotation in that earlier post, so if you're new to this concept, you might want to head over there to read up a bit before continuing. Note the pencil at the top pointing out the neck dart. Also note the notch (pink arrow) that indicates the dart point of this neck dart, and how the center back line continues vertically downwards from that notch.

So, pivoting the neck dart about that notch at its dart point, we close the dart. In doing so, the center back lines of the original block and the new outline align (see pencil indicating this).

In the photo below, the red line is the original trace outline and the blue line is the new, shifted outline. Notice all the points that have shifted (indicated by the pencil and dark blue arrows): the base of neck point, shoulder point and the bottom of the armscye. The waistline has also tilted, but it's small enough to ignore for now - we can readjust it when fitting the muslin later.

The next dart to deal with is the waist dart. We are going to contour the side seam in lieu of this dart. For more background on the relationship between darts and seams, this post might be helpful. First, measure the width of the dart (1", in this block) and mark this same distance inwards from the side seam at the waistline.

Draw a line from the bottom of the armscye to that point to create a new (preliminary) side seam. Draw another line from that point to the hip to complete the new contoured side seam. The side seam has now been contoured to take the place of the dart.

However, this is an unnatural fit (who has a pointy waist? No one that I know of). So we manually smooth out that angular corner at the waist.

The back block is now complete, at least theoretically. You can take a marker or pencil and scratch out both darts now - we no longer need them because we have compensated for their effect in other places. We will need to fit it in a muslin to refine the waist position (which shifted slightly in the process of closing the neck dart earlier) and the slope of the side seam). One last thing before we move on to the front block - measure the length of the side seam from the bottom of the armscye to the waist. We will need to match this length to the front block later.

On to the front block now! This is a little more work than the back because there are more (and deeper) darts. As with the back block, trace the outline of the original front block (left piece) onto new paper (right piece). 

I cut out the new front block along its outline except for the armscye and side seam, where we will be manipulating the darts.

Tape closed the darts on the original front block. It is now a 3D structure with some curving. We need to make it flat so we can trace around it.

Fold/scrunch up/pleat the front block so that the center front line is perfectly vertical (indicated by the double-headed blue arrow). The bust region will be all squished. That big horizontal pleat in the bust region is the space originally drafted in to accommodate the bust in a non-stretchy garment. As part of that accommodation, the waistline was moved lower to provide that extra vertical space (manifested by that pleat). Now that the pleat has been folded shut, the waistline is going to return to its original (i.e.higher) position.

Now align the important reference points (all the blue arrows) of the original block with your newly-traced outline. Trace around this new outline. Also mark the new waist position).

So here it is - the first stage of the transformation -

closing the darts changes the shape of the armscye, the side seams and the waistline. The hipline (not drawn, but indicated by turquoise arrow) has also been shifted upwards and by the same amount as the waistline. We will see this later.

As a check, measure the side seam from the bottom of the armscye to the waistline. Its length should match the side seam of the back block, which we measured previously (look for the earlier photo with a yellow arrow).

So!
We've closed the darts and moved the waistline. We now need to compensate the effects of those darts by contouring the side seams. As with the back block, we will shape the waist at point X in lieu of the vertical waist dart. Measure the width of the waist dart

and mark a point that same distance inwards from the waistline.

We could draw straight lines from the bottom of the armscye to that point and outwards again to the hip

but, again, nobody's body is shaped like that. So we manually draw that new side seam to mimic the natural curves of the body. You can also see the new hipline finally drawn in.

See how that hand-drawn side seam compares to the artificial straight lines:

Now cut out your dartless front block along the new blue outline and scratch out the darts. All finished!

Remember that, ease-wise, this will require some adapting when you turn this block into different sewing patterns for different fabrics you work with. It could be that for a woven fabric (e.g. linen) cut on the bias, you'd find that you need very little adjustment because the fabric drapes rather than stretches. But if you made a snug garment out of very stretchy lycra or Tshirt interlock knit, you might find that you need to take in quite a bit of ease at various places because the fabric stretches rather than drapes. And it could even be that your final stretchy shirt has smaller dimensions than your actual body. This is what some people call "negative ease". Now you know what it is and how it arises and why it's present in some drafts and not others. 

However, irrespective of the adaptation, the slope and width of the shoulders, the size of the neck, the height of the waistline, the shape of the armscye and other important features remain constant, which is why we say we only need one dartless block for all fabric types. That said, if you want to create a collection of different slopers (darted or dartless) for each kind of knit fabric in your stash and fine tune each one to scientific preciseness, go right ahead. I hate collecting paper patterns (they take up so much precious space) so I'd rather just save one dartless foundation block and make a wearable muslin each time I need to work with a very different kind of knit fabric. 

One last thing to share before I show you such a wearable muslin: the sleeve block. Depending on the kind of fabric you're using with this dartless block, you might want to draft a different sleeve block to "match". Let's do a recap to explain. Disregarding the raglan-sleeve block which has a completely different sleeve style, I now have three foundation blocks:

1. French dart block
2. Princess seam block
3. Dartless block

and two set-in-sleeve blocks:

Both sleeve blocks are interchangeable with all three foundation body blocks. The brown sleeve block works better with woven garments - it gave a more comfortable fit with more freedom of movement. I used it with both my earlier darted blocks in woven fabric:

Brown sleeve block with french dart foundation block

Brown sleeve block with princess seam foundation block

I will show you today's dartless block with both sleeve blocks. The first is the  brown sleeve block - this was picked for a comfortable fit in  a woven bias-cut dartless top from some years ago:

The second is the sleeker red sleeve block - I picked this for a dartless stretchy knit shirt. This red sleeve block was not the best choice in woven fabric - too snug at armpit (left photo) but it was perfect for knit fabric because snug is nice as well as comfortable in knits (right photo)

So here you go: wearable muslin for dartless block in knit -

All done now! I am not going to do the raglan-sleeve sloper here on the blog because I'm bored out of my mind drafting foundation blocks and kinda tired of looking at brown paper pattern thingies. And, ironically, now that I'm done with the blocks and muslins, I don't really feel like making real clothes. So daft. I still will, though. I'll be doing one garment from each of the earlier French dart and princess seam blocks so you can see what they look like as stuff I'd actually wear out of the house. Don't hold your breath, though.

And now, with your new dartless block, go forth and sew . . . a Tshirt! I know,  I know - all that work for a Tshirt. How inane. And yet, it may well be the best-fitting Tshirt you'll ever wear. If you care that your Tshirts fit, I mean ;)

Gifts for Teachers - Saying Goodbye

'Tis the season for teacher appreciation gifts! Unfortunately, 'tis also the season for saying goodbye to some of the teachers we will not meet again in  the next school year. Our family has finally graduated from preschool and this has been Kate's last year with the wonderful teachers who have taught all our girls since Emily first began her journey down the hallowed hallways of formal education. A journey without a break, incidentally. Our girls are so close in age that not only was every year since 2008 a preschool year for someone, there was even a year in which two someones were simultaneously in preschool - one in the morning and one in the afternoon (manic driving schedule that year, I remember). We really packed those preschool years in! 

But, suddenly, it's all over. No more standing in line, visiting with other moms and dads, while waiting to pick up a kid (or two). No more clock-watching between errands to navigate the complicated drop-kid-off-meet-other-kid-at-bus-stop-pack-everyone-in-car-to-pick-up-first-kid timetable of efficiency and madness that was my life for the past five years. Of course I won't miss some parts of it (like the 15-minute lunches whose success I credit totally to the Delay Start Preheat function of my oven). But other parts, yes. 

The girls have had some incredible teachers at their preschool. One of them, who was also their principal for a time, had a wealth of knowledge from having been in every conceivable job previously. You could ask her anything (which we did) and she'd know the answer. Like why school buses had no seat belts. She knew the answer to that (of course), because she'd been a school bus driver before. And she sewed. She'd bring photos of her daughter's prom dress which she made and we'd have a chat about sewing and patterns while Jenna packed up her backpack for the day and bid goodbye to her classmates. 

When Emily was in her second year of preschool, we lost one of her teachers to a long illness. It was a hard year for everyone - so much sadness and adjustment and everyone standing in for everyone else at the last minute. It was also a wonderful testimony to the strength and fortitude of this preschool staff - they brought the kids (and themselves) through the grief process, transitioned smoothly through the resulting staff reorganization and let us, the parents, take care of them and the family of the teacher we'd lost. They made us feel like we weren't outsiders in our children's education and learning. And at the end of every school year, I always feel as if I don't quite know how to thank them. It's not only because they are skilled and patient instructors - they're also proud and protective mothers, tactful intervention specialists and wise counselors. I am so grateful that they are the ones with whom I've trusted my children's early education.

So this year - as we officially say goodbye and thank you, I couldn't possibly make them yet another tote bag. I've done the tote-bag thing to death, really - reversible kid-art tote, morphing wallet kid-art tote, market basket kid-art tote, lunch bucket kid-art tote, drawstring pouch tote ... I mean, is there a tote I haven't made and kid-arted for these amazing ladies?

No totes, then. 

Superhero accoutrements instead. For that is what preschool teachers are, right? I saw these hats here last year and saved the idea for when the day came for us to pay our own tribute. 

No Silhouette images, though. We're a bit old school at our house - 

freezer paper stencil

and hand-painted details.

Those are their superhero initials, in their favorite colors.

Incidentally, when I was a teacher, I didn't deserve these hats because teaching high school physics was not a superhero job. Sure, I could teach the relationship between diffraction and interference in my sleep. But training preschoolers to sit still and raise their hands politely during circle time? Or to share the last plastic T-Rex in the toy box? See - now that's a superhero job. 

Hold Them

I just found out today that Kathreen Ricketson, founder and author of Whipup, was in a tragic accident while on vacation with her family. You can read a little more about it here. I am still in shock and very sad. I have never met Kathreen in person but we've worked together remotely on projects. Her work as a crafter and seamstress is extraordinarily diverse and rich. She is unfairly talented and skilled. But above that, I am impressed by her authenticity, generosity and thoughtfulness and her advocacy of the value of collaboration within the community. That's a lot of fancy words for saying that, once upon a time, out of the blue, she wrote to me to invite me to contribute to a book she was writing. If you're a sort of nobody (as I am) in the publishing world, this is a big thing. Long story short, the project didn't make the final cut but the fact remained that she reached out to someone who was new in the field and encouraged them. And then she kept in touch with me and I enjoyed the privilege of working with her on later projects. Kathreen is, as many others have described her, an inspiration to and cornerstone of the crafting community. But she is also a gatekeeper. She gave many of us our first nudges in the form of features, shoutouts and invitations to come on board her platform. And she selflessly helped us tell our stories. I still have her email, with all its kind words, in my inbox. Never had having my hand held felt so good. 

On our side of the world, we will continue to cook dinner and sew clothes and make quilts and knit socks and work in our gardens and do all manner of other normal, life-things. Such is the paradox of loss. I will grieve and miss her but I will think hopeful thoughts for her children and family. I will continue to write blog posts on my side of the world but I will mourn the quiet space that was once her voice in the community. I will remember her and her creativity. And I will pray for her precious little ones to be held and kept safe by strong arms and gentle hands. 

There is indication that an education fund may be set up for Kathreen's and Rob's children. When I know more, I will share it here. 

Pizza

It's funny, the power in email.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a generic email from the good folks at Domino's Pizza. Usually, I dismiss such email as spam or consumer advertising, but this one said that for one month, anyone could watch their staff make pizzas via live video feed at one of their Utah stores. My kids love finding out how things are made and were thrilled to see pizzas being made in real time. Whenever we popped in around the lunch and dinner hours, we got to see a lot of action in that pizza kitchen! In some ways, it was even better than a documentary.

All that live action made us feel like we needed our own pizzeria, of course.

When my girls were like toddler-little, they loved playing kitchen and cooking and making meals for their dolls. As they got older, they gravitated towards the commercial aspect of the food-and-beverage pretend play scenarios - it was all restaurants and cafes and delis and shops and online orders and delivery services. It had to involve money, packaging, marketing, advertising, order chits, inventory, special promotions and customers. And display windows. Oh, the displays were the most important. They had to be pretty so the customers would come, they said. 

A pizzeria, therefore, was perfect. 

I made them some felt pizzas - not the slice-apart kind, but the bulk-risen lumps-of-dough kind. Ours were 12".

Incidentally, these pizzas make perfect indoor frisbees. Actually, outdoors, too. I know because the girls tried them as such.

Instead of a brand-new pizza dough tutorial, I'm reposting photos from an earlier cookie tutorial here. Different size, but identical method.

The only additional feature is a row of topstitching about an inch from the edge, to create a crust rim.

The sauce was just blood red felt circles.

We cut cardboard circles for trays.

Then came the toppings.

All felt. All hand-cut. Took less time than it looks.

Especially the cheese -

see? Just run the rotary cutter over it in narrow lines.

The kids were incredulous when I asked them if they preferred shredded cheese or one big circle of melted cheese. Mom! Obviously! As if there were any doubt as to the answer!

Veggies - peppers, mushrooms, olives, pineapple:

Meats: pepperoni, sausage, Canadian bacon (we just call it ham):

I'm still in conference with the kids over whether or not to treat the felt toppings (except the cheese) with Stiffy. I think that Stiffy would prolong their play-life but the girls like them soft and floppy. 

Here's the Deluxe aka Supreme aka The Works, made by Emily:

And here's a fun slideshow of it being put together:

Ah, felt food. Nothing better, right?

Unless it's felt food with cardboard.

Cardboard, as we all know, makes everything better.

Do you remember the Good Cardboard I got in this post?

It became nine pizza boxes.

Plain,

so the girls could design their own brand and logo (welcome to The Magic Pizza Cafe):

All those toppings were a lot to write down each time a customer called, so we made order forms for checking off:

Totally, unrelated, I bought a pack of 10 plastic ramekin-type containers at the dollar store the other day,

and the girls hijacked them for dipping sauce freebies:

Here are some pizza variations the girls created -

Edible mandala:

Christmas:

Face

Squid

Fish

and their interpretation of gluten-free aka crustless.

And just as proof that it wasn't just me, a boring adult, directing, here is a picture drawn by Kate. It's a Small Pizza For Bunny. She even found a small pizza box to put it in. Apparently, 12" pizzas are no good for lovies because they're too huge. 

I got the point.

So yes, Magic Pizza Cafe pizzas now come in two sizes- human and lovie:

"We need an oven," the kids then told me. 

Okay. I have spare cardboard, anyway.

Here's a short section of pool noodle, wrapped with flannel

with a random plastic stick shoved in the bore.

And here's a cardboard box with a hole cut out of one end

for that pool-noodle thing to rest in.

Then a second pool-noodle thing is installed within an identical hole at the other end of a row of cardboard boxes. 

Then some more flannel - a long strip of it, is looped around those two pool noodle things (which, if you've guessed by now, are rollers) to make a conveyer belt. Note that the flannel- both on the rollers and as the belt itself - is essential for good traction. You could use any fabric that has a slight pile to it, so it "catches" as it moves over the rollers. 

Here's the crank - it's just cardboard shoved in the hollow of the axle of the forward roller.

and you put your pizza on one end and convey it to the other.

But that's just the conveyer belt. I'd always wanted to make one because it's such a versatile toy for the kids. I mean, it can be a library chute, a baggage carousel, a treadmill or travelator for dolls, a supermarket checkout ... 

and an oven:

All it needed was a hood. We made ours detachable so the conveyer belt can be used on its own.

The hood slides in and out of a big slot at the back of the conveyer belt.

We stuck a string of battery-operated LEDs in it and lined it with foil for better reflectivity.

Indoors, it's quite realistic.

Here's the pizza in the oven, trundling along the belt, getting all hot and cooked.

Want to see the oven in action?

Here it is without the hood:

It was a very windy day on the deck yesterday!

And here it is with the hood on 

and Emily turning the back roller 

(check out the crank spookily moving all by itself).

Loads of fun.

The girls have been playing pizzeria every day since we made it.

And to think it all started with an email that I almost deleted without even reading. 

I guess you never know where inspiration lurks, huh?