Hi Readers!
I just want to say that it was a loooooong night last night and just about the only thing positive to come out of it was that I managed to get the Back pattern pieces finished.
Jamba was up just about every hour with the need to go out. I’m just not sure how much more innards this guy can squirt out! I’ve just never dealt with this much goo before and that vet appointment cannot, I say, CANNOT get here fast enough!
So wasn’t that a great opening? Okay, let’s put those images aside and get down to this pattern business.
The sketch…did I mention I’m doing this at night? Sorry for such a grainy photo but I think you can see what I want to do…
For the Back, here’s how I worked up the pattern pieces. I followed basically the same process as I did with the Front.
1. I traced off the Back Basic Fitting Shell and then using the Front pieces for the band and the yoke as my guides marked out the locations for the Back Band and the Back Yoke.
For the Band I just sketch in from the Center Back (CB) curved up to the dart for right now. I’ll be transferring out that dart in the next step.
2. I transfer the shoulder dart into the waistline dart by slashing down through both darts into the bust point (actually, in the back it’s not really a bust point but rather the location of your scapula protrusion).
Can you see the closing of that shoulder dart? Here’s a close up.
3. I then complete the Band curve into the the shoulder seam, seen above in the close up.
4. I cut the three pieces apart and prepare to work on the Back Bodice.
5. The Back Bodice will get as much ADDED FULLNESS as the Front Bodice which was a total of 4”. Why be different right? Since I am essentially mirroring the Front I want to take a moment and mark out exactly on the Back the same location as the Front where I put the horizontal guideline. I use the side seam for my reference point.
The pattern pieces are upside down in the above photo. Had to do that or else my patterns would be flopping off the floor. (yes, I know I could just rotate the photo in the photo editor, but hey…may as well have you seeing what I’m seeing okay?). I just match the side seam up and put a little mark where that guideline hits the Back.
And then mark out the horizontal guideline and the slash guides just as I did for the front.
6. The Back gets slashed and spread the same as the front for a total of 4 inches.
7. I measure down 29 1/2” from the guideline for the length along the CB and then match up the Front pattern side seam with the Back side seam. I need to make sure this side seam fits together and is the same angle.
You can see in the photo above that my Back pattern piece (the Front is face down on top of the Back) is slightly out of grade on the side seam angle. I true it up with a straight edge so that the Front and Back side seams match (the Back pattern is just slightly larger than the Front so it actually swings out a bit from the CB).
7. I curve in the hem to the CF (Center Front), cut out the pieces and check my work.
At this point, if I don’t see anything glaringly obvious that I may think is wrong I’m good to go with cutting and sewing up a sample. So friends, that is exactly what I’ll be doing next!
~Cathy
Related articles
- The Nightgown Project – Part 2, The Front Pattern Pieces (sewingforlife.wordpress.com)
- The Nightgown Project – Part 1, Sketching Some Ideas (sewingforlife.wordpress.com)
Sewing.for.Life! 
I don’t know, Cathy… I have always been intimidated by the “mystery” of making a pattern. Have been watching the Silhouette videos by Peggy Sagers and she has been very helpful in showing that the “mystery” is not that complicated and we all can do it if we want to. Your demo is very helpful even with all that “cut and slash” business. Explaining every step with how you want it to fit you, yourself, may make the difference. I can more readily fit myself into that picture. Too bad I didn’t have all this knowledge when I was young and really into making all my clothes! But, of course, then I didnt need all the alterations.
Love, MOM
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