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Wednesday 24 January 2018

Pattern Cutting and Garment Construction - Week 2

Last week I had the second lesson of my course.  Read more about the first lesson here.


Creating a collar pattern and using front and back blocks.

This time we didn't even get onto the sewing machines - it was all paper based.  That's fine with me, as what I'm really interested in learning is the whole pattern side of things - working with patterns, adjusting them, understanding them in order to get a great fit.

We were working with body blocks - a front and back one - ready for attaching a collar.  We therefore did not need the whole of the body blocks, which is why my pieces are short in the photo above.


Front Block
We learnt how to remove a shoulder dart - which transfers the dart material elsewhere on the block.  In this case, it transferred it into a lower dart that went up the front - which meant that that dart grew wider, but once it was sewn it would be no different than it would have originally been.  It just meant that the dart was removed from the top.  It's one of those things you have to see in real life to make it click - so don't worry if you have no idea what I'm talking about!  It was really interesting to me to understand that.

We also added extra to the side of the pattern that would make the button band down the front.

We then added 1.5cm seam allowance around the block.

Back Block
For the back, we just added the 1.5cm seam allowance.

Collar
Then we drafted an inner and outer collar, using some standard measurements, and the neck measurements of the front and back blocks which we will be attaching the collar to.

We then added 1.5cm seam allowance around the neck pieces.


Would you believe that took us the whole two hours?!  We were supposed to cut it all out of calico fabric and have a go at sewing it together, but time ran out.  Therefore we'll be doing that in the next lesson.

I have to admit that I can't actually see us ending the course with a finished garment, as it all seems to take so long to do.  The time absolutely flies by!  Again, I don't mind really, as I'm more interested in the skills I'm learning rather than ending up with a finished item I can wear.  I'll have plenty of chance to do that in my own time - it's the knowledge and understanding I'm interested in.  I might be wrong, anyway, maybe I will finish a lovely shirt or blouse!

You can read my other posts on the course here:

Week 1
Weeks 3, 4 and 5





Check out my sewing projects here.


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2 comments:

  1. It looks promising! And I can understand it taking two hours. You really want to get the basics right. And it sounds you already have a trick up your sleeves - moving darts around!xxx

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    1. Oh, it is even more fun now that I have started to make it in fabric! I will try to do a post soon - I actually sewed a collar on, and it looks like a real collar!! xx

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