Understanding Slopers & Blocks
A sloper, also called a basic block, is a plain flat pattern that fits your body with almost no style added. It has no design lines and no fullness for looks, only enough ease to move in. You do not sew a garment from it. You use it as the starting point for every garment after.
2D to 3D
All the drafting and sewing books talk about taking a flat piece of fabric and turning it into a three-dimensional shape that fits a body. I’ve done the same in the Academy. It’s a great concept, but I think you really need to be able to see what this actually means.
Wear Ease vs Style Ease
Ease is the room you add to a pattern so the garment fits the body and still lets you move. A pattern drafted at your exact body measurements would be a garment you could not breathe, sit or reach in. So before any style goes into a draft, you separate two numbers: your body measurement and the finished pattern measurement. The difference between them is ease.
Ease Considerations
Woven vs Stretch Fabrics
Seam Allowances
A seam allowance is the extra fabric you add outside the stitching line (the seamline) so there is something to sew. The seamline is the real shape of the garment. The cut edge is only there to give you fabric to work with.
Pattern Markings & Annotations
Every production pattern uses a standard set of marks: notches, alignment marks, directional symbols and measurements. As the pattern drafter, you get to decide what markings and annotations go on your designs. For those of you reselling your patterns, reliable, accurate, easy-to-understand markings help you build your brand and set it apart from others.
Practice Run
3 items