Begin by drawing a right angle and labeling the corner as point A.
A to B is 1/12th of your bust measurement minus 1/4".
B to C is 2 3/4". From C, draw a right angle line down 3/4". Connect B to D and extend the line.
A to E is 1/2 of shoulder to shoulder measurement. To find point F, draw a right angle guideline down from point E.
A to G is 1/12th of bust measurement. Draw a right angle out from point G.
Draw a right angle down from B and connect to the right angle drawn from G. Mark this point H.
Connect B and G with a straight line. On B-G line, draw a right angle to point H and mark as point I.
Divide H-I line into 3 equal sections. Mark the point nearest I as J.
Using your French curve, draw a smooth line from G to B and through J.
A to K is 1/6 of bust measurement plus 2". Draw a right angle line out from K. K to L is 1/4 of bust measurement plus 1/2" for ease.
A to M is shoulder to waist measurement. Draw a right angle out from M. M to N is equal to
K to L line. Connect L to N.
Divide A to K in half and mark as O. Draw a right angle out from O. O to P is half of front high bust measurement.
Draw a right angle line down from P to K-L line. Mark as Q.
Divide P-Q line into 3 equal sections. Mark points as R and S.
Connect R and L with a straight line. From R-L line, draw a right angle to point Q and label this point T.
Divide the T-Q line into 3 equal parts. Mark point nearest T as U. Using a French curve, draw a smooth curved line from R through U to L.
Connect F to R with a slightly curved line.
K to V is 1/2 of bustpoint to bustpoint measurement. Draw a right angle line down from V to M-N line and mark this point as W.
Measure down from point B your shoulder to bust point measurement. Mark as X on V-W line.
Congratulations!! You have now drafted a basic front bodice.
Set this aside for the time being. The next step will be to draft the back bodice. Once the back and front bodice's have been drafted, we will then use the basic bodice patterns to draft the fitted bodice.
Thanks! This is so fun, maybe I will stop buying patterns! Will you do the sleeve too? That is what really messes me up.
ReplyDeleteYes, I will be doing the sleeve. But I need to do the bodice first so the we have something to fit the sleeve to.
DeleteOnce again, your generosity and ability blow my mind! I hope to follow along. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteWoot woot! Thank you so much for this great information. I've come to believe that fitting is my biggest nemesis in sewing for myself. I will be following along and look forward to the learning experience. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteWow - my BIL asked me to measure a straight rectangular deck and order decking accordingly and I managed to mess that up. I don't think taking measurements and drafting is for me. I will leave it to the clever people. Very interesting thought to see how it all works out.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this Rhonda. I want to try this but picture 7 is confusing. I don't see how dividing line BG in equal parts gets you point J ??Sorry. It's probably evident but not to me!
ReplyDeleteHi Diana, I will address your question when I do my next post this afternoon.
DeleteDiana, I found my mistake and corrected it. Take a look back at the instructions for the neckline and I think it will now make sense. I had a dear lady from Sweden email me and point out what I had done. I drafted it correctly, but typed in the wrong letters and just couldn't see what I had done. So sorry.
DeleteWoo hoo!!! Look at all that MATH!!! This is a fabulous way to show my budding "fashionistas" the importance of Geometry and fractions! Thank you for walking us through this, it had to have been so time consuming to take all the pics along the way and then write out all the instructions!
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you might like for me to come and give a talk to your students. I can appeal to the kids with aviation and fashion. Both use math!!
DeleteAWESOME! HOW did you learn all this stuff? I have studied fit and drawing my own patterns, but I've never done this. I have done it with pants, however. I learned pants from Margaret Islander. I love to learn. THANK YOU so much for all your hard work teaching us. Really! I KNOW how much time it takes.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Joy
Amazing! It's intriguing how many measurements are based on the bust.
ReplyDeleteOh my God. That looks like Math.
ReplyDeleteSister Marie Angela told me I would use all that geometry!
ReplyDeleteIf I have really, really straight shoulders and I change the D measurement to be 1/4", do I have to change anything else or will it mess up anything that I do later (like the sleeves)?
ReplyDeleteGo ahead and give it a try. The worst that will happen is that you may have to take up the shoulders a bit in the fitting. This will not be a problem with the sleeves.
DeleteI would be late to the game. Anyway this looks a like how Chic does it in her youtube videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4Ymc9kR6I to only problem is that she uses body measurements to make a dress without adding functional ease that I can see. But I'm looking forward to seeing the next installment.
ReplyDeletehi there, was just wondering in regard to this step.....Divide A to K in half and mark as O. Draw a right angle out from O. O to P is half of front high bust measurement.
ReplyDeleteo to p, if my high bust measurement is 84, divided by 2 for just the front then 2 again for half of it, it comes out around 20.25 and that completely blows the proportion of the bodice. is there something obvious i am doing wrong here?
i've drafted the back bodice with no probs whatsoever, but have come unstuck on this step!
any help would be much appreciated!!!
Hi Teastoned.
DeleteI'm do sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I am going to start back on this project this up owning Tuesday, April 29th. I think I will be able to answer your questions with the post. If not, please let me know and we'll work it out.
HI. Im stuck at step "A to B is 1/12th of bust measurement minus 1/4 " my bust measurement is 34 inches. So do I divide 34" by 12"?? im srry, the fraction screw me up.
ReplyDeleteYes, divide by 12 and then subtract 1/4" from your answer. Good luck!
DeleteThank you so much for this tutorial.
ReplyDeleteSo grateful for this easy to follow tutorial! Been looking for a bodice pattern for over a week and this was perfect. Can't wait to see how it turns out
ReplyDeletethank you soooo much this has been very helpful. who knew maths would be so much fun when mixed with fashion :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your tutorials, but how can we get access to all your tutorials in one pace?
ReplyDeleteI am working on getting everything together. Once it is up, there will be a link in the header of the blog. Thanks for asking :)
DeleteThanks a lot for the detailed explanation with the drawings. Very helpful for a beginner like me
ReplyDelete