Breton Odyssey Adrift

My quest for Raglan & Semi-Fitted variations to my Fitted Breton T wasn’t quite the smooth sailing that I had hoped. While not Titanic disasters, they have not delivered me to safe design harbors yet. So I see more fussing with fit ahead.

The Raglan Experiment

Mug Shots & Style Shots

What went wrong

The muslin is wearable, but the position of the raglan seams just look wrong. Unbalanced as the GBSB judges might have said. And the armholes feel a bit tight. There’s also a bit more drape underarm than I would have liked.

I think the problem stems from trying to follow standard flat-pattern design drafting instruction using my non-standard Blocks. Sometimes the steps are just impossible to follow once you’ve altered your Basic Blocks to fit your figure quirks.

I first tried Stretch Pattern School’s instruction for Raglan Sleeve. But I failed at step 3. I couldn’t get the corresponding raglan seamlines to be the same lengths. So I gave up and tried the instruction in Designing and Patternmaking for Stretch Fabrics instead.

This instruction was just about possible to achieve with my wonky Blocks. But the result, as I said, wasn’t perfect. I’m wondering if its approach of disregarding any overlap of the sleeve head and bodice at the armscye-shoulder area might have contributed to the armscye tightness – ie the raglan seam ended up too short and drew the underarm closer to the body than the set-in sleeve original. Maybe it’s an approach that’d work better with looser fitting Blocks.

The Semi-Fitted Experiment

Mug Shots & Style Shots

What went wrong

Again the muslin is wearable, but I don’t like how the back is loose until it hits my hip. And it’s not that the hem is too tight for my hip. The hip actually has 2-1/2″ of ease. Releasing the side seams I discovered that it’s in fact the shaped waist that’s the culprit. Instead of letting the back fall straight from the shoulder blades to the hip, it pulls the back in slightly under the blades. The ease added gave the back a loose fit until it hits where the bum protrudes out more. Then it goes into skim the bum mode. A very weird look indeed.

If I shorten the top to above this point, then problem solved. But with the looser fit I kind of prefer a longer length so that the width doesn’t stand out more than the length. I reckon if I let out the waist about 1″ at each side seam then I’ll get the smoother loose fit I want in the back.

The other problem I discovered are slight draglines pointing to the neck-shoulder points, as if the shoulder slope is too shallow. I then check the Fitted Breton T muslin I just made, it too has the same draglines, but just not as noticeable. Urgh.

Where next…

If I weren’t planning to design from these Blocks I might let these minor imperfections slide. But because I do want to get more creative with them, I don’t want those imperfections to multiply and amplify. So I will have to go back and fix these.

But I think I will abandon my original plan to go immediately into production mode with the Breton Ts. I’m feeling a bit seaksick after three wearable muslins in the same stripy knit. Time to disembark and head ashore for a change of scenery me thinks…

Dartless Knit Top Block Take 2

As I was saying, I’ve been messing with my Knit Top Block again. I was trying to get dartless to work so I can make Breton tops and hopefully have stripes that match well across seams. Bust darts just seem like they would get in the way.

So let’s cut to the chase & show you the result. No point getting into the nitty gritty if this turns out duds right? 🙂

Mug Shots & Style Shots

 

Well I’m pretty happy with the result. The front armscye needs tweaking. But overall this muslin turned out quite wearable. So here’s how I got from A to B…

The Nitty Gritty

sps_top_2-SLPattern Voodoooing

Remember my last attempt at Dartless Knit Top by distributing the bust ease into multiple places (like I did for the woven Tunic Block)? Well, I slept on it and thought maybe the problem is that there isn’t a smooth way to hide the excess without the darts. So maybe I should go the other way: Instead of having excess length at the seams to ease in, maybe I should make the seam lines the finished lengths I want and use the fabric stretch to accommodate the girls. So how do I go about this?

Firstly I decide to use the 0-ease Stable Knit Top Block as the starting point for a couple of reasons…

  • I reckon that this process will probably result in a reduction in the front bust width. If I start with the 12% reduction of the Stretchy Knit Top Block then I might be asking the fabric to stretch too much. By starting with 0% reduction I hoped I could stay within the overall 12% reduction limit for a good fit without much unsightly distortion.
  • I decided that even for stretchy fabrics I would prefer a skimming rather than a tight silhouette. Fact is even I have Michelin Man rolls with a standard bra on, especially in the back. Until I find foundation garments that smooth the silhouette without choking me I would rather not draw attention to my rolls.

Next it took me 3 attempts to get to B.

  1. I first tried Maria Denmark’s old Knit dartless FBA approach of taping up the dart, smooching the bust mound, then attempting to trace the outline.But the method adds width at the CF hem while reducing the bust width more than my max 12% target. So I abandon this approach. (Just found out that she had updated her approach to removing the dart for a knit top. It seems simpler. But I haven’t tested it and there is no result photo, so it’s hard to tell how well it works.)
  2. My second attempt used the Seam alteration method from Fitting & Pattern Alteration. Yeah yeah it’s meant for altering ill-fitting patterns to fit, not to alter a good-fitting pattern to do something else. But nothing ventured nothing gained! I wanted to know if it’s even possible to re-shape my seam lines as I planned. It did sort of worked. But because I had used flimsy tissue paper for this exercise, the resulting pattern was a bit distorted and not usable.
  3. So my final attempt was to redo attempt 2 without all those distorted hanging chads. This time I used the Pivot/Slide alteration method from Fitting & Pattern Alteration, but pivoted at more points rather than just at corners. It worked. And I manage to get the front & back side seams to be the same length vertically as well (rather than just at the seam line) for stripe matching.

For the sleeve, I also redid the bit below the bicep so that it’s symmetrical (rather than leaving it tilting towards the front to accommodate the way my arms hang). This was necessary for stripe matching across the sleeve seam. I reckon the stretch fabric would be accommodating enough for my twisted arms.

Les Tweaks

I then muslined this with my least favorite strippy knit. This is Viscose/Cotton/5% Lycra Stripe Jersey from Tissu Fabrics with 50%H/35%V stretch. It’s OK, but not as soft as the Bamboo stripe jerseys I got from B&J Fabrics. So no tears if this experiment didn’t work out.

Much to my delight the muslin was pretty good right off the bat. The only thing needing adjustment was how the sleeve hang:

  1. the stripe in the sleeve caps were tilting up towards the back;
  2. the whole armholes were tilting towards the back as if my posture was too erect.

For A I decided to adjust the pitch and live with mis-matched seam intersection at the arm pit. I think this is the less of the two evils because it’s less visible. It does mean that I can’t sew the sleeves in the flat – I’d have to set the sleeve in after sleeve seams & side seams have been sewn.

For B since the muslin was already cut with 1/2″ seam allowance I could only increase the cross-back & decrease the cross-front by 1/4″. So the wearable muslin shown above is the result. The back armsyce seems OK now. The front I think could do with further reduction in cross-front, with the removed amount added to the corresponding area of the sleeve cap. And that is what I’m doing for my final Dartless Fitted Knit Top Block.

Caveats

Next up, deriving & testing a Raglan Sleeve version and a Semi-Fitted version. I will also need to test this pattern again in other stretch fabrics in case I was just lucky with this fabric choice. I’ve noticed that the cotton/rayon + spandex knits I’ve used for Breton Tops have generally been better at molding to my shape than the pure synthetic knits. So I’m fairly optimistic that this Block will work as master pattern for my Breton Top collection. But whether it works as a general Dartless Knit Top Block is yet to be proven.

Also, the size of my bust dart in my Darted Knit Top Block is approx. 20° in angle & I’m a pseudo-D-cup. So if you have a larger bust this approach might not work well for you – you may still be better off retaining a bust dart of some sort.

Stretch Pattern School Block Experiments

Before I show you the next snake I need to show you the Block it’s based on. This is like my Nth experiment to come up with a dependable Knit Top Block. I’ve tried:

The problem is that I didn’t really know what I was doing. And with so much variation in stretch fabrics, one minute I think I got it the next I get a wadder when I try to design from it. So my quest continues. And (Stretch) Pattern School website impresses with the theory, the background info, and the clear drafting instructions. So I thought it’s worth a try.

2020-07-20 update: GREAT NEWS! Mr Anderson is back from retirement with his (Stretch) Pattern School 2.0! I haven’t explored it in details yet, but he says the info has been updated to reflect latest developments in swim / dancewear technology. Unfortunately the free auto-generated custom block feature is gone because the company that host the new website doesn’t offer such sophisticated programming options. But there is now a Pattern & Block Shop for RTW designers & interested home-sewers. Presumably this will be standardised sizing rather than custom based on your measurements, but certainly better than nothing! There’s also a Pattern School Online Facebook group & he’s also on Instagram (pattern.school.online) if you want to get latest updates from him. Have fun!

2017-05-19 update: The Pattern School website is no longer available online, but Mr Anderson is still extremely protective of his copyrights. So to avoid lawsuits absolutely no sharing of his content if you saved pages for your own personal reference. Hopefully my report below on my experiment using his method does not constitute an infringement of his copyrights.

If you’re looking to draft your own stretch block you will have to look elsewhere for instruction. This method is no longer an option.

Since part of the fun of writing sewing blog is the sharing of experience, I’m going to look into replacing this set of blocks with one drafted from instructions that are still publicly available. Then hopefully when I design from my stretch blocks then you too can learn to create & design with your own stretch blocks. I’m thinking maybe Pattern Cutting for Lingerie, Beachwear and Leisurewear by Ann Haggar…or go back to Designing and Patternmaking For Stretch Fabrics since I’m not really looking for swimwear blocks. I may also experiment with adapting my 0-ease woven blocks – either my Kenneth King moulage or my body wraps.

If you’re looking to enter the swimwear design field & can expense professional books & subscriptions, maybe try Intimate Apparel Journal (ia-technical.com) website. They have articles on “Introduction to Swimwear Pattern Cutting Principles” & “Grading Swimwearavailable at $19.90 each. Or you can buy a subscription which costs $299/yr for verified students or $399/yr for professionals (4 issues/yr). Their shop also offers past issues of the IA Journal, special-topic compilations, or individual articles for purchase. The site is run by a Hong Kong professor with experience in the intimate apparel industry. But the above articles are written by David Morris, a British technical designer who worked for well-known intimate apparels brands & also taught at university level in the UK. David also runs Intimate Apparel Technical website (iatechnical.com) which offers a remote learning course on Swimwear Pattern Cutting & Grading for £250.)

Both are above my pay grade since I’m only sewing for myself, so I can’t comment on whether either professional sources are worthwhile. But I may just pay for an article or two from the Hong Kong site to learn the basic principles again from a publicly available source.

Anyway, back to the experiment. For not all theories works for everyone all the time. Theories need to be tested, especially when it comes to anything to do with infinitely variable human beings!

The Theory

For this experiment I tried Stretch Pattern School’s pattern drafting instruction for…

  1. One-Piece Swimwear Block for Stretchy Knit (75%+ stretch, 12% horizontal/0% vertical negative ease)
  2. Tankini Top Pattern based on 1 + variation for Stable Knit (0%/0% negative ease)
  3. Set-In Sleeve Block for Stretchy Knit

supplemented by

The Findings

One-Piece Swimwear Block (12%/0% negative ease)

(Made with Matt Lycra from Tissu Fabrics / Tia Knight with 40%H/40%V stretch)

The first muslin came out quite well. But there were a few small issues…

  1. My Front side seam came out longer than the corresponding Back side seam, even with the dart.
  2. There are some sway-back type draglines in the back.
  3. I got some draglines underarm and gapping in the armholes.
  4. The front neck chokes a bit.
  5. The crotch is a mess. My front gusset length came out longer than the Back.

1-pat1-1pHaving worked out what my key figure quirks through fitting wovens, I applied the advice from the Tweaking for Larger Sizes page for Front/Back Waist Issues and The Bigger Bust. Shifting the side seam towards the back at the waist solved #1 and mitigated #2.

Adjusting for sloping shoulder helped with #3. And forward head adjustment (raising back neckline & lowering front neckline) helped with #4.

#5 I haven’t solved yet. Not having sewn such garment before I don’t know if one has to insert the leg elastics first before one can check the crotch fit. It might also be possible that I have the “in thigh” figure quirk mentioned on the Tweaking for Larger Sizes page. Or the fact that I’ve put 4 big snaps in the gusset seam as temporary closure. In any case swimwear / bodysuit isn’t a priority, so I’m leaving this alone for now.

But I think in general wherever the instruction calls for “X cm +/-Y mm per size from size 10” it would be wise to check if the relevant Australian size 10 measurement he used matches yours. Eg going by the AUS size 10 measurement the front gusset length is in fact 0.5cm shorter than the back. I had calculated my back gusset length using the Wais-to-Waist (crotch length) and Waist-to-Crotch (crotch depth) measurements. But the front gusset length wasn’t given as a formula, so it came out longer than my back gusset length! Shortening this to back gusset length minus 0.5cm helped with #2 and #5 a bit.

Made with Matt Lycra from Tissu Fabrics / Tia Knight with 40%H/40%V stretch.

Tankini Top Patterns  + Sleeve Block

If this works it will become my new Fitted Knit Top Block. I’m hoping to have a set for

  • Stretchy Knits with 70+% stretch (12% negative ease)
  • Moderate Knits with 40-70% stretch (6% negative ease)
  • Stable Knits with 10-40% stretch (0% negative ease)

I used my adjusted One-Piece Swimwear Block as the starting point. Since I’m not making a tankini, I only followed steps 4-5, adding ease from bustline downward & shaping the hemline. I extended the hemline down to the One-Piece Block’s hip line, then superimposed my woven Pencil Skirt Block to mark where my high hip and hip levels are. These two are the most likely hemline references for tops I’d want to design from the block.

I drafted patterns for all three types of knit and muslined the Stretchy Knit and Stable Knit version. Both came out OK I think…

Stretchy: Made with Matt Lycra from Tissu Fabrics / Tia Knight with 40%H/40%V stretch.
Stable: Made with Shimmer Jersey from Minerva Crafts with 10%H/5%V stretch.

The bust dart on the Stable Knit version seems too high up. But the bustlines are exactly the same level on both version. Maybe the almost non-existent vertical stretch of my worst case scenario ‘Stable Knit’ test fabric is at fault. And to be honest I think I will avoid making fitted stretch tops out of such minimum stretch fabrics and instead use my Moulage with darts / princess seams for shaping and the minimum stretch for wearing ease.

The sleeve I only muslined for the Stretchy Knit. It came out rather long! Also the default instruction doesn’t cater for my twisted arms. I shortened the sleeve & shifted some width at bicep / underarm from front to back and at wrist from back to front. So now it looks asymmetrical like my woven Sleeve Blocks but feels more comfortable.

Going Dartless

1-pat3-top-dartlessFailThe holy grail of knit block of course is the dartless yet smooth fitted T for the busty gal. Is it possible? Stuart advise against it. So does the book I have on pattern drafting for stretch fabrics. But then in the Tankini instruction he did ofter the option of easing the dart into back side seam…provided that you also include a shelf bra which does have a bust dart.

Naughty me thought I’d try my luck and see if I can pivot out the dart here like I did for the woven Tunic Block. The result wasn’t pretty…

Made with Matt Lycra from Tissu Fabrics / Tia Knight with 40%H/40%V stretch.

Maybe it’s the fabric. I might try again with a stretchier and/or heavier weight spandex knit. But for now I will work with the dart and try to incorporated the shaping into the designs rather than risk crow feet around my bust!

Tunic Block (or Going Dartless)

As no machine sewing could done the whole of December, I prepared a couple of projects from SWAP batch 1 that required knitting which I did in the living room. First on the conveyor belt is Cowl-Neck A-line Sweater the Second.

3-mug1-4SRCowl-Neck A-Line Sweater The First was a franken-patterned Burda 013-02-121. While it’s wearable, there’s room for improvements. Being a loose fitting top, the pattern had enough width to go around the bust. But obviously something isn’t quite right if the hem hitch up at the front, right? Simply adding width maybe isn’t the best way to accommodate a pseudo-D-cup. How do you well endowed ladies achieve a great fit with a dartless top?

Anyway, being too impatient to wait for your advice (still welcome if you have any), I decided to experiment drafting my own dartless top pattern. And being a control freak I wanted to find some logic to hiding the darts rather than just haphazardly redraw the seam lines without the darts.

The Tunic Block experiment:

pat_bunka-1 The most obvious option is to pivot all the dart allowances into a massive unsewn waist dart. But surely that would result in a tent, which might be fine in limp drapy fabric, but not so great in the lofty sweater-like mohair gauze I’m using for the sweater.

pat_bunka-2 I checked all the pattern drafting books I have for other options, but found no definitive answer. The closest I got was this page in Bunka Fundamentals of Garment Design text book. I tried a variation of this, but distributed the dart allowances in more places to ensure that none are too big. So did it work? Let’s see shall we?

The Muslin Mug Shots:

Hm, why do muslin photos always come out worse than it looks in the mirror? I was quite pleased with the muslin before these photos. Now I hear the sirens calling tweaks. But I’ve had enough for now.

1-bs-2013-02-121_photo Despite the minor imperfections I think this is good enough to turn into a wearable muslin, something a bit like the Burdastyle 013-02-121 Flared Tunic that I used for Cowl-Neck A-line Sweater the First.

The fabric is from Tia Knight, which mainly sells stretch fabrics. I took a chance on this non-stretch linen woven & was a bit disappointed. The color didn’t quite match the picture on their website, so it was a bit blah. But with the right trims maybe it’ll look suitably Moroccan-inspired & holiday ready. I even added enough seam allowance in the sleeves to go casually bell shape.

The Block & How It’s Made:

Bodice:

pat_tunic-v-top

  1. Taking my Fitted Top/Dress Block, I pivoted the side front dart into a little bit of ease in the neck (3/8″), shoulder (3/8″), armhole (1/2″), side seam (3/8″), and the remainder in the unsewn waist dart. I chose the amounts based on how much I think I can ease in at seams & hems without puckering or too much gaping. The back dart allowances are simply left unsewn (waist darts) or eased into the seam (shoulder dart).
  2. Before making a muslin, I also adjusted the side seam to get the Tunic silhouette I wanted, which is somewhat fitted through the bust, then flared from the under-bust down. I worried that flaring right from the armpit would result in a frumpy look on my non-modelesque figure. And to avoid a pregnant look I reduced the front flare at the side seam, but took care to ensure it doesn’t go into negative ease territory by comparing it to the 0-ease Moulage at High Hip & Hip.
  3. Next up was the muslin which looked pretty good (sorry forgot to take pictures). There was no bust drag lines, my guidelines all looked straight and level, the front wasn’t hiking up like in the Franken pattern. But of coursfe I couldn’t leave well alone.
  4. Having ease in both front & back shoulder basically cancelled each other out, resulting in an unintentionally slightly too wide shoulder. I considered using stay tape, but ended up removing the front shoulder ease at the armscye. I find that the combination of too much cross-front width plus a somewhat fitted sleeve tends to restrict my forward arm movement.
  5. The underarm seem to have been lowered by all the front dart pivoting, so I raised it slightly (1/4″) & also shorten slightly at shoulder seam (1/8″ each, 1/4″ total).
  6. At the side seams I found I could comfortably reduce the circumference in the under-arm to under-bust area a tiny bit further for a slimmer fit (3/16″ each seam, 3/4″ total). The A-line silhouette was a bit too subtle, so I also flare out the hem a little bit more from under-bust to under-bum (1/2″).

Sleeve:

  1. Converted my Elbow Dart Fitted Sleeve Block to Basic Fitted Sleeve Block (no elbow dart):
    1. Designing Apparel Through the Flat Pattern The cap curve is the same, but below the bicep line I made the sleeve front & back symmetrical (as instructed in most pattern drafting books, I’m using Designing Apparel through the Flat Pattern).
    2. I also marked a wider wrist because the original was sized for my relatively skinny wrists, but it’s a bit tight for my normal sized hands to go through when dressing/undressing.
    3. I made no alteration for my “Posterior Arm Joint” & “Inward Rotation of Elbow” like the original sleeve block because…erm, I couldn’t figure out how when there’s no elbow dart to ensure front & back sleeve seam match in length. I just prayed that the extra ease at the wrist accommodate the wonkiness of my arms!
  2. Convert the new Basic Fitted Sleeve Block into a more relaxed fitting Tunic Sleeve Block:
    1. Removed the cap ease by lowing the cap height slightly & redraw the top bit of the cap curve
    2. Designing Apparel Through the Flat PatternConvert to a shallower cap by moving the bicep line up (reduced cap height by 1-1/4″); pivot at shoulder seam crossmark so the armsyce slopes to the new bicep line (bicep ease increased from 1-1/4″ to 2-3/4″); remeasured sleeve length at traced center line; square out at wrist level & cross-marked wrist width (same width as on my new Basic Fitted Sleeve Block); connect new armscye end points to wrist width cross-marks. BTW, my shallower tunic cap height is still closer to the Medium cap height calculated using the generic cap height formula mentioned in Dennic Chunman Lo’s Patternmaking: Portfolio Skills. The same formula would make my fitted sleeves are closer to a High cap height. The formula is basically AH/4 for Medium, then +”1-1/2″ ~ 2-1/4″ for High or -1-1/2″ ~ 2-1/4″ for Low.
    3. For the wearable muslin tunic’s bell shape sleeve I added 7″ to wrist width (3-1/2″ at front & back), but connect this to the original sleeve seam at about mid upper arm in the hope of keeping the arm looking slimish.

The Verdict:

Good enough for now but no cigar. I need to look into…

  1. Why the tunic want to tilt towards the back at the neck, creating that dread bust dragline, higher front hem, lower back pooling. Making the back neckline more shallow doesn’t help. Maybe I have rounded upper back problem requiring more shaping there to keep the upper back in place?
  2. If the sleeve setting can be improved. Not sure if draglines in the front & back is natural for a shallower cap or if the pitch is not quite right, or maybe I do also need some sort of  “Posterior Arm Joint” & “Inward Rotation of Elbow” adjustments for dartless sleeves.

Now a note in case you’re well endowed and want to try the experiment too…I’m not really a D-cup. But maybe because my arm joints seem to be set further towards the back, my front bodice sloper’s bust darts are closest in size to Vogue 1004 Fitting Shell’s D-cup pattern (in size 8 – my old size – rather than the size 12 the sizing charts would have me buy). If I connect the bust darts to the bust point, measure & add up the side & waist darts, the total angle measures about 57º. If you’re super well endowed, it may be that you need a dart to achieve the best looking shape. But maybe this approach can still give you a more relaxed fit without totally obscuring your figure.

Next up: Cowl-Neck A-line Sweater the Second proper.

Skirt Blocks redux

Next couple of projects on my plate are two I planned for this Year Of The Skirts: the 2nd & 5th from the left below…

0plans-skirts

So I better catch you up on more tweaks (yes again!) to my skirt blocks.

A while back I drafted & muslined my Pencil Skirt & “Straight Skirt” (looks more A-line to me) Blocks. They are based on Kenneth King’s Skirts CD book. I had already derived an 1-Dart Princess Pencil Skirt Block from them and made it into my reversible teal+brown floral print pencil skirt (middle skirt in the skirts sewing plan above).

Then I got talking to Barbara, a long-time sewer who trained in fashion design & patternmaking at Pratt. She advised that I create a group of mix & match block pieces so I can quickly create new designs with minimum fuss using different combinations of bodice, sleeves, skirts, etc.

Great idea. But here’s the gotchas with my current Blocks:

  1. The Top & the Skirt Blocks were developed separately. The skirts are each drafted from scratch rather than based on the Moulage/French Block. So the waist darts don’t match. Now there’s no rule that they have to match, and in fact maybe you’d achieve better fitting separates if you can consider bodice & skirt separately. But aesthetically, I really wanted the option to continue that dart seam line from bust to hip for dresses with a waist seam. (I guess for dresses without waist seam – ie with fisheye dart from bust to hip – I should be using the hip length French Top Block.)
  2. Also, when I was fitting the pencil skirt before, I made Fitting & Pattern Alteration style protruding thigh alteration. This threw some irregularities into the side seam (front is hitched up, and the front & back side seams are different angle). The irregularities made deriving further design blocks very confusing since the instructions in my flat pattern design books don’t deal with quirky patterns of non-standard bodies!

So I experimented with…

  • Moving the skirts’ darts to match the Top Block’s waist darts.
  • Adjust the side seam shaping to reflect my hip-length Top Block side seam. This also made front & back side seam more similarly shaped / angled, with the front more uniformly larger than the back.
  • Accommodating my prominent front thigh with wider front darts instead of the F&PA method.

Here are my revised pencil & straight skirt blocks:

I muslined the tweaks again, and thankfully the changes have not thrown anything off. In fact, I think the tweaked pencil skirt block might actually look a tad more flattering. Even though the side seam has the same amount of tapering at the hem as before (1″), the deeper darts seem to have shifted volume from side-side to front-back. So from the front the skirt looks a tad slimmer.

Sorry, I forgot to take photos of the new muslins for comparison. But I liked how the muslin look so much that I’m considering turning them into vintage-inspired wearable top & skirts. So you may still see them yet!

I also discovered that I can sort of get away with different positions for the darts as long as they’re within a certain range. Most of my lower half mounds (tummy, bum) don’t have as clearly defined a peak as the bodice mounds (bust points & shoulder blades). So there doesn’t seem to be an one & only one “correct” position for the skirt dart points.

However, with my front darts, I do find I get slightly better result if I split it into two darts, one for the tummy & one for my protruding hip bone (which like the bust. does have a more clearly defined peak).

So this experiment has been productive. I now know that I have options when I use my skirt blocks to design my own skirt patterns. And that comes in especially handy for my next project – the pencil skirt with the floral motif CF panel.