Drafting Part IX: The Bottom Half

Hello again, drafting followers!

Apologies for the long break - after reviewing scheduled drafting topics, I decided to add a couple more in before Jen came back on again. Then I disappeared to sew actual clothes and organize a birthday party and make cardboard stuff. So easy (and enjoyable) to get sidetracked!

Anyway, here's where we are with our drafting series: we've finished the full body sloper (front and back) and sleeve block. Up to that point, we'd been talking featureless slopers and blocks, but with Jen's posts on different sleeves and necklines, we moved into "pattern" territory. Today we're going to work with the lower half, and create some basic templates for even more patterns.

I sketched these cheat sheets two nights ago, and included a garment idea with each adaptation. Many of these garment ideas border on costumey, but I'm going with them for two reasons. One, halloween is drawing nigh so it's a good time to use that sloper! Two, it is usually for costumes that I keep my sloper dimensions as is - otherwise I introduce so much design ease that the garment loses its custom fit and can be worn by half the children in our neighborhood.

A note: when a garment is fitting (i.e. has little or no ease), putting it on and taking it off will be tricky, if at all possible. We will need openings and fasteners, like button plackets, hooks or zippers. Sometimes we can get around this by using wide necklines and stretchy knits. Sometimes we need elastic. The point is that while there are ways to facilitate getting in and out of a garment, we have to first decide if said garment requires an opening or not. If it does, this must be drafted into the pattern/design from the beginning.

So here we go!


1 FLARING from the CHEST
One of the easiest patterns to make is the A-Line dress, or tent. It only has to fit from the chest upwards, below which it flares into a tent-like shape to accommodate almost any body shape. Without adding any ease, it is a regular A-Line dress; with ease in the chest and armscye, it adapts into a jumper or pinafore for layering over an inner shirt.

• Begin at the bottom of the armscye and flare out the side seam as shown. How slanty to make this side seam is personal preference - as long as it is flared enough to accommodate the hip (or protruding tummy in younger children), it will work.
• Add ease in the chest and armscye depth (none shown in picture) if you want it to fit more loosely at the armscye, as in the case of jumpers and pinafores.
• Extend the hem to meet the new side seam.
• Insert a button placket or zipper through the chest area to facilitate putting on and taking off, especially if you didn't add any ease in the chest area.

2 FLARING from the WAIST


Again, keep the bodice as is, and slant the side seam outwards from the waist, extending the bottom hem to meet the new side seam. This gives a dress with a gentle and flattering side flare to just the skirt region. Classic nurses' uniforms in the old days followed this style.

Here's another variation -you could also flare both the side seam and the center front seam as shown below.

When laid out on fabric, this new front pattern must now be cut out as two pieces and no longer cut on the center front fold as previously. It will also have a seam in the center front, and not just a fold. This gives a fuller, 4-gore skirt that flares symmetrically. It is a popular style for many costumes, including princess type dresses.


3 THE EMPIRE LINE

Also known in its shorter variation as The Babydoll.


The babydoll is a short dress that has its waist higher than the natural waist. It is fitted in the bodice through the chest region, below which the skirt begins.

Chop off the sloper at the chest area, and insert a skirt. This can be an A-Line skirt (trapezoid in shape - like Kate's Strawberry Shortcake suit), a gathered skirt (rectangle in shape, and gathered to fit the chest circumference) or circular or part-circular (donut or segment thereof).



4 CHOPPED AT THE WAIST

Two variations:

The first has no ease at the waist.
The sloper is chopped off at the waistline, and a separate skirt joined to it. Here are three- of many- common skirt variations -

• the gathered skirt (which can be made into multiple tiers),
  
• the circular (or part circular) skirt and
• the paneled/gored skirt.

The circumference of the skirt's waistline is the same as the circumference of the bodice's waistline, so they connect exactly.

As these designs are fitted to the waist, you'll need a zipper or button placket that extends through the waist and as possibly as low as the hip. For more instructions in the construction and dimensions of the skirts themselves, you might like to mosey over to my ancient summer skirts tutorials.

The second variation has ease in the waist.
Again, chop the sloper off at the waist, but (duh) add some ease to the waist.


A gathered skirt can be added to the bodice just as before, but the entire waist area - including the bodice - will be gathered. A popular version of this is in knit, with elastic sewn into the gathered waistline itself (serge directly over the elastic while stretching it!) so that it pops on and off over the head without needing a zipper.

This can also form the basis for overalls or bib-shorts, if a trouser pattern is added instead of a skirt.


5 THE DROP WAIST

The opposite of the empire line in that the skirt begins below the natural waist.

In this first variation, there is no ease added.
The sloper is chopped off below the natural waist and a skirt joined to the new waistline. This new waistline can be horizontal, assymetrical or V-shaped/curved. I used this adaptation for the Renaissance Festival costumes for the girls here.


The second variation has ease added to the waist, and then chopped off below the natural waist.
A simple skirt is then sewn to this new lower waistline. I like pleated skirts a lot, and this makes a cute school-uniform-style pinafore.

6 THE SKIRT

The simplest of all uses of the sloper, the bottom half itself has a fancy name - it's called The Skirt Block/The Skirt Sloper. This means it is a stand-alone sloper for just making skirts! Here are some examples of fitted (non-elasticized waists) skirts:

• Pencil skirt
• Wrap skirt
• A-Line skirt
• Flared panel skirt
• Drop-waist flared skirt

Some of these designs are deconstructed in those summer skirts tutorials mentioned earlier. Some good news: you can use the skirt block for yourself (i.e. yes, women!!!) too, so it's not only the kids that have all the fun. I'll mention this again in the next post where we take pity on the boys, men and women and invite them to our drafting party!