How I draft patterns is mostly self taught and kind of weird, but I hope someone will find it helpful!
When drafting bodices I start with three measurements: the full bust measurement (mint), the back measurement (blue), and the bodice length (purple). To measure the full bust, take the tape measure around the widest part of your bust, keeping the tape measure level with the ground as much as possible. Then for the back measurement, measure around your back at around the same height, basically from armpit to armpit. If you have boobs this should be slightly less than half the full bust measurement. For the length, measure from the top of your shoulder over the widest part of your chest and then down however long you want the bodice to be.
Next I cut two rectangles: the front piece width should be your full bust minus your back measurement, with the length just being the length of the bodice measured. The back piece is the back width with the same length. When sewn together, this should form a tube with a circumference equal to your full bust measurement. Basically, it should be a straight tube that easily accommodates the widest part of your torso.
Since I was trying the bodice on often, I then cut the front piece in half and added a 1" strip to each half so that some fabric could overlap to pin closed without reducing the width of the front piece when closed. I marked some fake button holes with sharpie so that I could close the two front pieces evenly using pins.
The next step is to sew together the front and back pieces. Sew along the top leaving space for a neckline. Then sew along the sides leaving space for the arm holes. I honestly just guessed how wide these should be for now, since we'll be fitting the neck and arm holes later in the process.
FITTING #1!
Go ahead and try it on! Carefully pin the front together using your button hole marks as a guide. Then with pins or sharpies, mark the depth and width for your neckline and arm holes. It's fine if these are a little rough as we'll have a chance to refine these in a later step. Take the bodice off and mark out the full armscye (arm holes) and neckline shapes. If you have a french curve then honestly why are you even reading this janky-ass tutorial? Go make a real pattern with those fancy pattern making tools of yours! If you don't (like me) just eyeball it so it looks generally like what you see in bodice patterns.
FITTING #2
It's time to add darts! Since we initially measured our front and back based on the widest part of our torso, there is likely excess fabric towards the bottom of your bodice. Put the bodice back on and pinch the front of the bodice at the bottom until the excess lies comfortably flat without being too tight. Pin in place. Then follow the folded fabric up to your bust and put a dot generally where you want the dart to end, somewhere close to the widest part of your bust. Remove the bodice and mark triangular darts starting from the bottom fold and ending where marked. Sew down the darts as marked and double check that the bust fits properly if you like. Once you're generally happy with the fit, we'll then move the dart to a bust dart.
Moving the dart is actually incredibly easy and it totally blew my mind when I first learned about this technique. First, cut out the excess fabric of the dart. Then, cut along where you would like the dart to be moved to, making sure it ends on the same point as the original dart. Finally, shift the inner part of the fabric over so that the original dart is closed and a new dart is opened. Simply transfer this to a new pattern piece, and your dart has been successfully moved!
When transferring the pattern with the new dart placement, it's also a good chance to fix any errors you might have noticed in your armscye or head hole sizing. I noticed that both were a bit too large in my case, so I made sure to cut out less for those in my second draft.
FITTING #3
Sew your new pattern pieces together as the first time, making sure to close the new bust dart as well. Try it on and be amazed by the magical bust dart! I was also much happier with my neckline and armscye this time, but there was noticeable puckering and gaping around my armscye still. After looking into it, it seemed like there was a little too much fabric under my armpit, so I marked with a sharpie where it seemed like the excess fabric was (this was mostly just intuition informed by where the fabric was puckering and where I normally notice my sleeve seams tend to fall on my day to day tshirts or blouses.... sorry I don't have better advice but basically "listen to what the fabric is telling you"! ^^) and then cut out excess fabric from the armscye. After that, to address the gaping on the top of the sleeve I pinned a slight downward angle on the top seam. After this fitting it still admittedly wasn't 100% perfect, but I was happy enough with it to call it a pattern!
Before adjusting the armscye
after adjusting the armscye
That's all for this bodice pattern! Once you have a mockup you're happy with you can rip out the seams and use the muslin as a pattern for your desired garments! In theory I like to keep these muslins around so that in the future I don't have to do this entire process over again the next time I need to make myself a bodice for something, but in reality I always end up losing these and having to repeat the process again ^^
Tips:
- If you're cutting out a lower neckline, I would recommend making a standard neckline first for the fitting process, then cutting out the desired neckline once the rest of the pattern has been fitted and drafted.
- Instead of moving the dart to the side for a bust dart, if you prefer princess seams leave the darts at the bottom of the bodice and then use a sharpie to extend the dart line up. Then when you're cutting out your pattern pieces, you can cut open the dart and then separate the parts of the pattern by cutting along the line marked.
- If you prefer a back or side closure rather than middle, I would still recommend drafting the pattern with pins in the front as it will be much easier for you to get in and out of it while fitting. After the pattern is done you can keep the two front pieces pinned together to create a solid closed front pattern piece, and cut open the pattern somewhere else to move where the closure is installed. Just don't forget to add seam allowance where you cut!
I wonder if anyone else makes patterns like this? Tell me in the comments about your weird or unusual pattern drafting habits!
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