By far the best video on block drafting. I've read at least a dozen books and watched who-knows-how-many videos, and they always have "standard assumptions" which they never explain. I knew they existed, but it baffles me that even lessons intended for professionals never bother to mention this stuff. Thanks from another "athletic but still drop bottom" club member. 👍
It is so wonderful to find a person teaching pant drafting that also has a droopy bottom. This condition for me alway cause me to have saggy fabric under my droopy bottom as well as drag lines going from the front around the side of the leg to the knee. I haven't watched the whole video yet but my guess that is a common problem with droopy bottom as well.
Thank you thank you thank you. I am a couture level seamstress; I have taken patternmaking courses and practicing for years but pants have been my biggest struggle. I read everything I can about pants fitting and drafting. Many of my efforts come very close, but that saggy fabric under my bottom all the way to nearly the knee in back is a formidable issue. I have instinctively come to many of the conclusions you point out ( my figure is like yours but with a bit of a forward thrusting “muscular thigh” in addition) but have been held back because I was taught the back crotch curve should not be drawn below the crotch line. Your illustration of what your back pattern looks like has been a breakthrough for me. I have never seen this explained, and so well, in Threads Magazine or Eureka Pants that Fit class, or anywhere else. So many years of wasted paper, time and fabric!! But learning is a journey, right?
Thank you Maria for sharing your knowledge! I love tailoring exactly because it demonstrate that you don't need to have regular shapes or measures when you have a gorgeous brain as yours!
I love this talk about Bottoms and thighs. Fabric MCotton with 2% Spandex generally. I was curious to see how 3 different Jean Designers designed the Foundation crotch curve for high waist jeans. Total J Curve circumference split 60% Back 40% Front. Only Old Navy were shy, and that's probably why they were not comfortable. Back 58% and front 42%. Thanks Marie!
I was intrigued by the image of the ladies riding trouser pattern of 1892. Store bought trousers don't fit me because I am short with prominent buttocks. Manufactured trousers are way too high at the waist in front and pull down at the centre back. Which is why, for 40 years, I have been making my own trousers. Years ago, in a men's tailoring book, I read about the slash and spread method of lengthening the centre back and shortening the CF with folds. Works well for me. Funny thing is, when I finished the alterations on my commercial pattern, the result is the exact shape illustrated in your plate 33.
Hi Chris. Yes, I have the same problem (ready-to-wear pants being too long in the front and far too short in the back), which was one of the many reasons that pushed me into patternmaking...
I liked this video so much, really appreciate you saying:" it is what it is". Who has the perfect figure, and who decides what the perfect figure should be? I do, I decide that my figure is great even so it greatly differs from the " standard" figure. I did a lot of exercise too, i lost some weight but kept the same shape. So be happy what and who you are, is my approach to life.
Hi Sigrid Getting older helps. I did have a few more hangups when I was younger, but then back in those days the Betty Grable (flat) bottom was the ideal, whereas nowadays it seems more like Kim Kardashian. Yes, I agree ... longing for unattainable things is the quickest way to misery.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! This soooo helpful. I've been puzzling on understanding pants for months now, and your videos explain exactly what I've been wanting to understand deeper. Keep it up!
And as we age our bodies change shape which may include more of a saggy bottom. And more exercise won't alter that either - haha. Thank you so much for such a wonderfully informative set of tutorials. I have sewn many years but never undertook drafting patterns but find now I am very interested to learn more about it. Your videos are an invaluable resource to us all!
Hi Catherine. You'll have noticed that the third part has now become the third, fourth and fifth parts. I am working on the 5th part now. I was hoping to have it up by tonight, but I always underestimate how long it takes. (I sometimes get struck on how to explain certain things, too!).
This exactly explains my triangle, dropbot considerations. Going to watch vids twice through for info to stick then draft on the third watch. Thank you🙂
This is The fitting problems that my bottom struggles with! Commercial pants have always been a big disappointment. Using stretch fabrics & altering my pants back has been a long road & you explain it well - sister. Thank you for the visual insight 😁
Hi Maria! These videos were very helpful to watch. I have a better understanding of drafting pants. Do you have any examples of how to properly correct the back pant of a sway back? Thank you !
omg, my thigh measurement is EXACTLY 60% of my hip measurement...which makes sense, bc I mostly fit well into standard pants (usually the crotch seam is wayyy too short tho)
So grateful! I'm learning to make my wears by myself, and hopefully, to add it as a side hustle, since I desire to engage my creativity. I love Details. You gave it a real time "Wow!" Thanks. I do have a little altered shape from yours, but I definitely have had a droopy bottom, which I can tell, is somewhat changing (lifting now), with acupuncture treatments I do, not necessarily because of the bottom, but which affects it, when I work . I have always felt that there's something not really right with the pants sewn for me, or most of the ones I buy. You gave it (o, almost all the errors I note), a sound touching, in this video. Grateful. Does drafting out a pattern from a ready made wear really work? I have a pant that fits so well. On shapes, ... I hope to make contributions someday, to the world, in videobooks i title "HEALING OUR SHAPES". I intend to include stuff about droopy bums, there. And flat upper chest areas, etc. They affect our Wears. Though this is getting too long, I must add that neurotoxic substances prevalent in the air in the pandemic, are creating a huge negative impact on our looks depending on the acupoints that are affected. Acupoints play a huge role, in determining our shapes. Acupoints are getting attacked easily nowadays, from odor molecules in the air, so ... shapes are being affected. Including the shapes of our faces. I can't wait to start chipping in contributions in that light in my Channel on BodyWorks, {which majorly addresses health for now}, but I must fully or at least, reasonably grab enough stuff on perfecting my sewing, before taking on that. Else, it will become a wrong distraction. Thank you Maria.
Hello Petras Hello and welcome. Regarding your query whether 'does drafting out a pattern from a ready made really work?' The answer is yes, if you do it properly. Having said that, if you drafted the same thing using a block that you have fitted correctly, you may get an even better fit... In my case, at the beginning I did occasionally deconstruct some garments, now it's much easier to look at the design and draft the design with my block. Regarding health, everything plays a role. Of course good food, good clean air and good water go a long way, but I think stress is the worst thing. Good luck with your sewing and your BodyWorks work. I personally would love to be able to afford lots of massages, but....
@@Dresspatternmaking Thanks. I appreciate the guides. On massage... I think it is not all about sitting under a masseuse, for Effleurage massage, etc, . I'm trying to take people to simple places (Acupoints in the body) they can improve things. BY THEMSELVES,, in few minutes of a session they give themselves.
So just to clarify, when we measure the thigh circumference, should we include any of the bottom in that measurement if we have a dropped bottom? You say to get the measuring tape as high in the crotch as possible and keep it parallel to the floor - if I do this, it includes some of my buttock and makes the measurement much larger. Should I just measure right in the crease of the buttock instead so as not to include the extra?
If you mean a slack pattern with a zip fly, etc, I do plan on doing that ... eventually. I haven't posted anything for quite a while now, but I hope to start posting again in about 1 month. The problem is my content takes a lot of time to create and the first thing I will be doing is a dress pattern and finishing off the content I started but haven't finished.
I noticed in the majority of these videos (which are incredible, we have very similar figures! ) that the grain line hits very close if not past the centre back waist point. A lot of the videos I've seen would suggest this is 'bad', can you help me understand the impact of the grain line being like that?
I've also heard some patternmakers say it is bad. I've never heard of a reasonable explanation of why it's 'bad'. The only way to get extra length in the back crotch (or the front crotch if you have a large stomach), without increasing the thigh measurement, is to do the cut and spread as shown. One explanation I've heard is that the side seams curve of the back and front should be the same, but that is a very silly reason as I've concerned. (If this was the case I could never make a pair of pants that fit me) There are times when adjoining seams just can't be on the same grainline. (I have some textbooks on drafting Trousers published in 1908 where the pants back has the titled crotch and the very different side seam from the front pants, so the aforementioned reason is not really valid). This is my opinion on the subject.... Most patternmaking theory comes to use from people working in the industry and therefore working within the confines of the 'grading' system where all figures have the same proportions. The 'rules' that are made within that context work .... within that context. So of course when different sizes have the same proportions (same difference between waist and hip, where the thigh is always the same proportion of the hip).... the rule always works. But when working with non-standard figures, the rules don't seem to work as well. (That is not to say that none of the rules are valid. There are a lot of rules that remain valid even for non-standard figures.... This, however, is one of the 'rules' that can be broken.) Now... the other part of your question ... the impact of the grainline being like that. Firstly; the side seam of the front and back have very different shapes therefore the grain will be different; you just have to take care when sewing and ease the pieces together if necessary. Secondly; the back grainline may end up on the bias and may stretch a little; again, you may need to shorten the length a bit to take that into account, and if you put a zip in the back you need to stablize it where the zip is to be sewn.
@@Dresspatternmaking thank you so so much for the comprehensive response, whilst I'm still learning, I've been trying to follow the 'rules' as much as possible to hopefully end up with something that might work, but as you point out, they may well need to be broken! Thanks for the tips on construction too :)
Question!: I’m a “Jane” type and have cut out my first version and was wondering about hinges versus the vertical line. When I’m making hinges to fix the fit here and there while wearing it, is it important to keep the grainline vertical, or the horizontal lines horizontal? Or do I just do whatever until it fits and then redraw all lines? Or is it a mix? What lines should I be focusing on keeping on their plane? Thank you!!!!!!
When cut and spread to get extra length in the crotch, the grainline will of course veer off above the cut. You redraw the grainline from below the cut and so it continues up 90 degrees from the pant's base.
@@Dresspatternmaking Hi! Okay, this was clear to the point of “the pant’s base”. Do I draw a new horizontal line at the midpoint of the knee (or ankle) after I get the right fit and draw that line up and through the center of the dart? I’ve been watching “top down center out” videos to contrast with cut and spread and yeah, it seems no one is taking about grain lines so I’m feeling dumb for not intuiting this…
Hi Angela, I'm a bit confused about what you are actually asking. The Upper Thigh is used when plotting points C to D - and this relates to both front and the back blocks. (As I explain in a lot of detail in Video 1: What is usually the [hip + crotch extension] in most instructions is in actual fact the thigh. Therefore, rather than use the hip + an arbitary 'crotch extension value', my instructions use the thigh measurement plus ease). When you say "my crotch is 13 inches" do you mean your Crotch Length? And do you mean your Crotch Length Front? The crotch length front measurement is used to determine the curve from the waist down to point D. So the thigh measurement is a horizontal measurement (C to D), and the crotch length is a vertical measurement (waist down to point D). I am unsure how these can be confused.
I'm not sure if this is what they meant, but on my body the largest thigh circumference is actually below my crotch level, as I have very muscular legs. At 1.5 inches below the crotch, my thigh circumference is almost an inch larger than it is right at crotch level. If I draft a block using my thigh circumference at the crotch, it will be too tight over my upper thigh... but if I draft it using my largest thigh circumference for the crotch extension, I end up with excess fabric in the crotch. Do you have any recommendations for adjustments to use in a case like this?@@Dresspatternmaking
Hi Isabel, Yes, there are subtitles (on this video). Have you click on the CC button at the bottom of the screen? Most of my videos have subtitles, but 5 videos don't have subtitles yet: The 4 Bodice Block Tutorials and the Empire Bodice. It will be a while before I can get to those. The auto-generated ones have so many mistakes that I can't use them, I have to do them by hand.
![Twenty One Pilots - The Line (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCz7WUotXs8/mqdefault.jpg)
Here is a link to Pants Part 4:
ruclips.net/video/yZXjEEh2N6s/видео.html
These videos are pure gold 🙏🏼
By far the best video on block drafting. I've read at least a dozen books and watched who-knows-how-many videos, and they always have "standard assumptions" which they never explain. I knew they existed, but it baffles me that even lessons intended for professionals never bother to mention this stuff. Thanks from another "athletic but still drop bottom" club member. 👍
It is so wonderful to find a person teaching pant drafting that also has a droopy bottom. This condition for me alway cause me to have saggy fabric under my droopy bottom as well as drag lines going from the front around the side of the leg to the knee. I haven't watched the whole video yet but my guess that is a common problem with droopy bottom as well.
Thank you thank you thank you. I am a couture level seamstress; I have taken patternmaking courses and practicing for years but pants have been my biggest struggle. I read everything I can about pants fitting and drafting. Many of my efforts come very close, but that saggy fabric under my bottom all the way to nearly the knee in back is a formidable issue. I have instinctively come to many of the conclusions you point out ( my figure is like yours but with a bit of a forward thrusting “muscular thigh” in addition) but have been held back because I was taught the back crotch curve should not be drawn below the crotch line. Your illustration of what your back pattern looks like has been a breakthrough for me. I have never seen this explained, and so well, in Threads Magazine or Eureka Pants that Fit class, or anywhere else. So many years of wasted paper, time and fabric!! But learning is a journey, right?
I don't think I can say thank you enough for this video!!!!
So many excellent points! I’ve seen for many years but have already learned so much, watching your videos! Thanks.
Glad you like them!
Thank you Maria for sharing your knowledge! I love tailoring exactly because it demonstrate that you don't need to have regular shapes or measures when you have a gorgeous brain as yours!
Thank you Elizabetta. Nice to think I have a gorgeous brain!
I love this talk about Bottoms and thighs.
Fabric MCotton with 2% Spandex generally.
I was curious to see how 3 different Jean Designers designed the Foundation crotch curve for high waist jeans.
Total J Curve circumference split 60% Back 40% Front. Only Old Navy were shy, and that's probably why they were not comfortable.
Back 58% and front 42%.
Thanks Marie!
You have a fab brain Maria. I don't know how you do it. Well done that girl!
I was intrigued by the image of the ladies riding trouser pattern of 1892.
Store bought trousers don't fit me because I am short with prominent buttocks. Manufactured trousers are way too high at the waist in front and pull down at the centre back. Which is why, for 40 years, I have been making my own trousers. Years ago, in a men's tailoring book, I read about the slash and spread method of lengthening the centre back and shortening the CF with folds. Works well for me. Funny thing is, when I finished the alterations on my commercial pattern, the result is the exact shape illustrated in your plate 33.
Hi Chris. Yes, I have the same problem (ready-to-wear pants being too long in the front and far too short in the back), which was one of the many reasons that pushed me into patternmaking...
I liked this video so much, really appreciate you saying:" it is what it is". Who has the perfect figure, and who decides what the perfect figure should be? I do, I decide that my figure is great even so it greatly differs from the " standard" figure. I did a lot of exercise too, i lost some weight but kept the same shape. So be happy what and who you are, is my approach to life.
Hi Sigrid
Getting older helps. I did have a few more hangups when I was younger, but then back in those days the Betty Grable (flat) bottom was the ideal, whereas nowadays it seems more like Kim Kardashian. Yes, I agree ... longing for unattainable things is the quickest way to misery.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! This soooo helpful. I've been puzzling on understanding pants for months now, and your videos explain exactly what I've been wanting to understand deeper. Keep it up!
Glad it was helpful!
Loved the fruit and bottoms tangents :D Thank you for providing background knowledge; I like knowing the 'why' too.
And as we age our bodies change shape which may include more of a saggy bottom. And more exercise won't alter that either - haha. Thank you so much for such a wonderfully informative set of tutorials. I have sewn many years but never undertook drafting patterns but find now I am very interested to learn more about it. Your videos are an invaluable resource to us all!
Hi Dianne, hope you have kept at it...
Thank you so much for posting the third part! Been looking forward to this.
Hi Catherine. You'll have noticed that the third part has now become the third, fourth and fifth parts. I am working on the 5th part now. I was hoping to have it up by tonight, but I always underestimate how long it takes. (I sometimes get struck on how to explain certain things, too!).
This exactly explains my triangle, dropbot considerations. Going to watch vids twice through for info to stick then draft on the third watch. Thank you🙂
Hope you've had a chance to try it out. Let me know how you go.
This is The fitting problems that my bottom struggles with!
Commercial pants have always been a big disappointment.
Using stretch fabrics & altering my pants back has been a long road & you explain it well - sister.
Thank you for the visual insight 😁
You are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
Hi Maria! These videos were very helpful to watch. I have a better understanding of drafting pants. Do you have any examples of how to properly correct the back pant of a sway back? Thank you !
Thank you!! So well explained!!
omg, my thigh measurement is EXACTLY 60% of my hip measurement...which makes sense, bc I mostly fit well into standard pants (usually the crotch seam is wayyy too short tho)
Missed you
Sorry that I haven't been able to do more. Hopefully will start again soon.
So grateful!
I'm learning to make my wears by myself, and hopefully, to add it as a side hustle, since I desire to engage my creativity.
I love Details.
You gave it a real time "Wow!"
Thanks.
I do have a little altered shape from yours, but I definitely have had a droopy bottom, which I can tell, is somewhat changing (lifting now), with acupuncture treatments I do, not necessarily because of the bottom, but which affects it, when I work .
I have always felt that there's something not really right with the pants sewn for me, or most of the ones I buy.
You gave it (o, almost all the errors I note), a sound touching, in this video.
Grateful.
Does drafting out a pattern from a ready made wear really work?
I have a pant that fits so well.
On shapes, ...
I hope to make contributions someday, to the world, in videobooks i title
"HEALING OUR SHAPES".
I intend to include stuff about droopy bums, there.
And flat upper chest areas, etc.
They affect our Wears.
Though this is getting too long, I must add that neurotoxic substances prevalent in the air in the pandemic, are creating a huge negative impact on our looks depending on the acupoints that are affected.
Acupoints play a huge role, in determining our shapes.
Acupoints are getting attacked easily nowadays, from odor molecules in the air, so ... shapes are being affected.
Including the shapes of our faces.
I can't wait to start chipping in contributions in that light in my Channel on BodyWorks, {which majorly addresses health for now}, but I must fully or at least, reasonably grab enough stuff on perfecting my sewing, before taking on that.
Else, it will become a wrong distraction.
Thank you Maria.
Hello Petras
Hello and welcome. Regarding your query whether 'does drafting out a pattern from a ready made really work?' The answer is yes, if you do it properly. Having said that, if you drafted the same thing using a block that you have fitted correctly, you may get an even better fit...
In my case, at the beginning I did occasionally deconstruct some garments, now it's much easier to look at the design and draft the design with my block.
Regarding health, everything plays a role. Of course good food, good clean air and good water go a long way, but I think stress is the worst thing. Good luck with your sewing and your BodyWorks work. I personally would love to be able to afford lots of massages, but....
@@Dresspatternmaking
Thanks.
I appreciate the guides.
On massage...
I think it is not all about sitting under a masseuse, for Effleurage massage, etc, .
I'm trying to take people to simple places (Acupoints in the body) they can improve things. BY THEMSELVES,, in few minutes of a session they give themselves.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
So just to clarify, when we measure the thigh circumference, should we include any of the bottom in that measurement if we have a dropped bottom? You say to get the measuring tape as high in the crotch as possible and keep it parallel to the floor - if I do this, it includes some of my buttock and makes the measurement much larger. Should I just measure right in the crease of the buttock instead so as not to include the extra?
Could you show us how to draft slacks?
If you mean a slack pattern with a zip fly, etc, I do plan on doing that ... eventually. I haven't posted anything for quite a while now, but I hope to start posting again in about 1 month. The problem is my content takes a lot of time to create and the first thing I will be doing is a dress pattern and finishing off the content I started but haven't finished.
I noticed in the majority of these videos (which are incredible, we have very similar figures! ) that the grain line hits very close if not past the centre back waist point. A lot of the videos I've seen would suggest this is 'bad', can you help me understand the impact of the grain line being like that?
I've also heard some patternmakers say it is bad. I've never heard of a reasonable explanation of why it's 'bad'. The only way to get extra length in the back crotch (or the front crotch if you have a large stomach), without increasing the thigh measurement, is to do the cut and spread as shown.
One explanation I've heard is that the side seams curve of the back and front should be the same, but that is a very silly reason as I've concerned. (If this was the case I could never make a pair of pants that fit me) There are times when adjoining seams just can't be on the same grainline. (I have some textbooks on drafting Trousers published in 1908 where the pants back has the titled crotch and the very different side seam from the front pants, so the aforementioned reason is not really valid).
This is my opinion on the subject.... Most patternmaking theory comes to use from people working in the industry and therefore working within the confines of the 'grading' system where all figures have the same proportions. The 'rules' that are made within that context work .... within that context. So of course when different sizes have the same proportions (same difference between waist and hip, where the thigh is always the same proportion of the hip).... the rule always works. But when working with non-standard figures, the rules don't seem to work as well. (That is not to say that none of the rules are valid. There are a lot of rules that remain valid even for non-standard figures.... This, however, is one of the 'rules' that can be broken.)
Now... the other part of your question ... the impact of the grainline being like that. Firstly; the side seam of the front and back have very different shapes therefore the grain will be different; you just have to take care when sewing and ease the pieces together if necessary. Secondly; the back grainline may end up on the bias and may stretch a little; again, you may need to shorten the length a bit to take that into account, and if you put a zip in the back you need to stablize it where the zip is to be sewn.
@@Dresspatternmaking thank you so so much for the comprehensive response, whilst I'm still learning, I've been trying to follow the 'rules' as much as possible to hopefully end up with something that might work, but as you point out, they may well need to be broken!
Thanks for the tips on construction too :)
I know you call it triangle and it's meant to reflect the lower half and not the top and lower half combined, but, that's a rhombus.
Question!: I’m a “Jane” type and have cut out my first version and was wondering about hinges versus the vertical line. When I’m making hinges to fix the fit here and there while wearing it, is it important to keep the grainline vertical, or the horizontal lines horizontal? Or do I just do whatever until it fits and then redraw all lines? Or is it a mix? What lines should I be focusing on keeping on their plane? Thank you!!!!!!
When cut and spread to get extra length in the crotch, the grainline will of course veer off above the cut. You redraw the grainline from below the cut and so it continues up 90 degrees from the pant's base.
@@Dresspatternmaking Hi! Okay, this was clear to the point of “the pant’s base”. Do I draw a new horizontal line at the midpoint of the knee (or ankle) after I get the right fit and draw that line up and through the center of the dart? I’ve been watching “top down center out” videos to contrast with cut and spread and yeah, it seems no one is taking about grain lines so I’m feeling dumb for not intuiting this…
What if the high thigh is the largest measurement? I got 15" while my crotch is 13" which measurement should I used at the crotch level?
Hi Angela, I'm a bit confused about what you are actually asking. The Upper Thigh is used when plotting points C to D - and this relates to both front and the back blocks. (As I explain in a lot of detail in Video 1: What is usually the [hip + crotch extension] in most instructions is in actual fact the thigh. Therefore, rather than use the hip + an arbitary 'crotch extension value', my instructions use the thigh measurement plus ease).
When you say "my crotch is 13 inches" do you mean your Crotch Length? And do you mean your Crotch Length Front? The crotch length front measurement is used to determine the curve from the waist down to point D.
So the thigh measurement is a horizontal measurement (C to D), and the crotch length is a vertical measurement (waist down to point D). I am unsure how these can be confused.
I'm not sure if this is what they meant, but on my body the largest thigh circumference is actually below my crotch level, as I have very muscular legs. At 1.5 inches below the crotch, my thigh circumference is almost an inch larger than it is right at crotch level. If I draft a block using my thigh circumference at the crotch, it will be too tight over my upper thigh... but if I draft it using my largest thigh circumference for the crotch extension, I end up with excess fabric in the crotch.
Do you have any recommendations for adjustments to use in a case like this?@@Dresspatternmaking
🥰💞👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you!
Why aren't here any subtitles available? Am I doing something wrong? Thanks
Hi Isabel,
Yes, there are subtitles (on this video). Have you click on the CC button at the bottom of the screen?
Most of my videos have subtitles, but 5 videos don't have subtitles yet: The 4 Bodice Block Tutorials and the Empire Bodice. It will be a while before I can get to those. The auto-generated ones have so many mistakes that I can't use them, I have to do them by hand.
@@Dresspatternmaking thanks I suppose It was an error though Chromecast, It really helps having aitomatef
Automated subtitles on RUclips mobile phone app! Thanks for confirming!