13 Basics of Pattern Making – Flat Pattern Method

R. Sheela John

13.1 Introduction:

Food, clothing and shelter are three basic needs of mankind. Clothing is a part of a man’s personality. It reflects culture, status and the personality of the wearer. People prefer garments that are comfortable and in addition to the comfort fit plays a vital role. Pattern making aids in creating comfortable and fit garments. A well designed garment will look beautiful and appropriate on the wearer. The success of the designer lies on creating unique designs not just on paper but on fabric too and to attain this, a thorough knowledge on pattern making is indispensable.

13.2 Learning Outcome:

• At the end of this lesson the student will
• Types of pattern making methods
• Significance and limitations of pattern making methods
• Drafting Bodice block and sleeve pattern using flat pattern technique
• Creating a garment is a laborious process. The process of developing a garment involves four main stages.
• Developing designs
• Preparation of patterns Cutting of fabric
• Sewing

  Developing designs – Designer sketches and number of designs based on the fabric and colours predicted by fashion forecasting. Customised designs also evolve by interacting with the customer and by knowing their preference and taste. Designs are created by the combination of lines, shapes, texture, colour and space.

Preparation of patterns – the silhouette of the design is analysed and a patterns are created in a paper or muslin cloth. The art of pattern making requires skill and creativity because the pattern making is a process of creating two dimensional pattern pieces for a three dimensional garment.

   Cutting of fabric – following the instructions given in the pattern, the fabric is cut. Cut-pieces may vary from one to many pieces (approximately 15-20 pieces)

Sewing – Cut fabric pieces of different shapes are sewn together to form a garment.

13.3 Methods of Pattern Making

Patterns making can be broadly divided into two types –

13.3.1 Drafting and

13.3.2 Draping.

13.3.1Drafting method – Principles: It is also termed as flat pattern method as the patterns are drafted on flat paper. Patterns are drafted for a style and it is based on the body measurements of an individual or standardised body measurements.

a) It involves mathematical calculations and has set of instructions for drawing.

b) The patterns will be drafted with an extra allowance called ease allowance. This gives free movement for the wearer. Ease allowance can be defined the difference between the body measurements and the garment measurement. It allowance given at chest, hip, armscye varies. It is more at the chest and hip from 4 cm to 12 cm whereas it is 1-2 cm the armscye.

c) For styles that are symmetric the patterns are drawn for one side only and for the asymmetric styles the pattern is drawn for both the sides

Example – Style 1 is a symmetric pattern

    a)  Name of the pattern – It refers to the name of the garment like frock, kurtha, shirt etc., If it is intended for bulk production. It will also include style number or order number

b)  Name of the pattern piece – It states whether it is a front or back or sleeve or collar and so on. If it is front it is shown as ‘Bodice Front’

c)  Basic pattern or final pattern – the basic pattern is also termed as block pattern or master pattern. Any alterations, if any will be made in the basic pattern only. When the seam allowance is made it becomes final pattern and the fabric is cut using this pattern

d) Number of pattern pieces to be cut – It refers to the count of patterns to be cut. For example, the sleeve pattern will have the cut number mentioned as ‘Cut-2’ which means cutting of fabric has to be done twice using this pattern

e) Grain –It refers to the direction of the warp yarns in the fabric. The details of the grain are usually referred with an arrow pointed on one edge or both the edges with the notation ‘S.G’. For bias cut the arrow is tilted at 45 degrees

f) On Fold – this detail tells us that the fabric to be cut should be folded a this position. It is usually in the centre of the pattern. It is written vertically with single letter placed one below the other.

g) Notches – This mark is shown as small line or ‘v’ and is placed at the outer edge of the pattern, usually in the seam allowance. It is placed in parts which will be stitched together for example bodice front and back is joined with sleeve. A notch is placed in the armscye of the bodice front and sleeve front and another notch is placed in the bodice back and sleeve back. While sewing the notches of the bodice block and sleeve are matched and this helps in perfect stitching and neat finishing.

h) Dart positions – the position of the darts are drawn as inverted ‘v’ for a single pointed dart. For a double pointed dart the inverted ‘v’ is placed over a straight ‘v’.

i) Pleats and tucks – the position and width of the pleats / tucks are marked in appropriate places as two parallel lines

   Methods of drafting / flat pattern technique:

Drafting or flat pattern technique can be divided into two groups

Patterns drafted for individual measurements and Commercial patterns

Patterns drafted for individual measurements – This method is widely used by homemakers, tailors and in the garment units. The advantage of this method include:-

It is cheaper as it involves only brown paper and drawing tools like pencil and scale. As it is drafted on paper, it also saves the cost of fabric, because wastage in fabric will be costlier.

Creative garment designs can be created and the patterns can be drawn accordingly.

   Alterations, if any needed can be made in the basic pattern

It is more ideal for bulk production where cuttings are made many times.

The patterns can be preserved for a longer period of time and if it is made on a thick brown paper. For longer duration it can be glued to a chart or cardboard.

The patterns can be reused when the order is repeated even after a year. Thus we see it saves time and labour

With one size of pattern, other patterns sizes can be developed by the grading process. Grading can be defined as process of increasing or reducing the sizes. Example: With ‘S’ size pattern, M, L and XL, pattern can be developed.

Economic cutting can be achieved with a suitable layout which is done by arranging pattern pieces on the fabric in different ways. Thus fabric cost can be minimised. This is vital when it is a bulk cutting where layers of fabric are cut. Wastage of one cm in one layer leads to 100 cm in 100 layers.

The limitation of this method is:-

It requires a skilled person who can imagine the 2 dimensional pattern pieces which will be sewn into a 3 dimensional garment

The person should have a technical knowledge about pattern drafting and its principles

It involves mathematical calculations so it may not be easy for all It is not suitable for garments with complicated drapes.

Commercial Patterns

Commercial patterns are standard patterns prepared by companies for sale. It comprises of three components – the envelope, the patterns and the instruction sheet. The envelope will have the sketch of the garment and the set of measurements for which it is made. It will also suggest suitable fabric and the amount of fabric to be purchased. The patterns will be created on a tracing paper, butter paper or a tissue paper with all the details printed on it. The instruction sheet will give the details of the pattern pieces, method of cutting and the meaning of the details, notations, lines found in the pattern

It is prepared on for a set of standardised body measurements. It is available for certain styles only. This is ideal for people who do not have knowledge of pattern making but have learnt the art of sewing.

   13.3.2Draping Method

Draping is a process of creating patterns with muslin cloth on a body form. A piece of fabric is draped on the body form with positions of darts and pleats. This is done in a cheaper and thinner fabric named muslin. This method is ideal for garment styles with drapes. Interesting and beautiful drapes can be achieved through this method. If the person remains in the same size, the garments can be ordered through the phone and the dress maker will create it with the help of the dress form.

The limitation for this method is the preparation of body form for individual persons. It is costly, time consuming and a laborious process. In majority of the cases people change in sizes and hence the dress forms become useless after a period of time and again the process of making a dress form has to worked out.

13.4 Drafting of Bodice Block and Sleeve for Children by Flat Pattern Technique

In this module the method of creating a children’s basic bodice block, sleeve and skirt flat pattern technique will be described.

Instructions for DraftingBodice Front and Back

Conclusion

In this module the basics of pattern making – flat pattern method, the importance of pattern making, types of pattern making has been discussed. The principles of flat pattern technique, and the method of drafting bodice block and sleeve are also explained. The above mentioned patterns can be drafted using children’s measurements. The method of drafting patterns using draping will be discussed in the next module.

Books

• Practical Clothing Construction – Part I-Basic Sewing Processes – Mary Mathews
• Practical Clothing Construction – Part II- Designing, Drafting and Tailoring – Mary Mathews
• Fashion Production Terms – Debbie Ann Gioello and Beverly Berke Zarapker System of cutting – Shri K R Zarapker