CLONING GARMENTS - Sewing Pattern Review Online ...Draft a vertical line in the center of the...

CLONING GARMENTS:I’ve heard many times, that someone has an item of clothing that they love,

and want a copy of. However, they don’t want to sacrifice the garment by taking itapart for a pattern. This method, which is a variation of what is called a “rub-off”,gets a pattern from an intact garment without damaging that garment.

It’s actually more accurate to get a pattern this way, in that you know exactlywhat finished seam lengths are, and no distortion is introduced by the stretchingthat is caused by taking seams out.

Full disclosure:

Before we go any further, I feel I need to talk about the ethical uses of thismethod. Under copyright law, if one is making a copy of a garment for their ownuse, this is legal. Also, if one is making a copy of a garment, to discover how it wasmade (for educational purposes), then this is also legal. These uses fall underwhat is called “fair use”.

Where you go afoul of the law (of copyright or Karma, or the 8th command-ment) is if you copy a garment, then sell it as your own creation. Just because“everyone does it” (not everyone actually does) doesn’t make it right. The courtssay that it isn’t a violation of copyright, if the “author of the original work” can’t seehis creation in the final product. So, if you make a copy of a jacket for the fit, thenre-design the jacket so that it looks nothing like the original but has the fit you like,you’re on the positive side of the ethical divide.

Just saying, as I believe good people will do the right thing,when they know what it is. That said, let’s begin!

Page 1Copyright 2009-2012 Kenneth D. King. All rights reserved.

THE PROCESS:An explanation of what we are doing here is in order, before we start the

process. What we are doing is a version of pattern draping, where you drape afabric over a form, to determine the pattern that will fit the form. In this case, weare using off-white silk organza, because one can see through it. Also, silk organzaas opposed to polyester) will take and hold the pencil marks.

Since we are draping, this all depends on lining up lengthwise and crosswisegrains. The discussion about darts below, gives a visual illustration of the principlewe will be using here.

A Dart Primer:

Before we go to the next section, I’m goingto cover a simple dart. This section will go far inexplaining the principle involved in the next section. This principle is copying a dart usinggrainlines.

Here we have a plaid skirt with waist darts.I have taken the liberty of darkening twograinlines of the plaid with a permanent

marker. (Not to worry—this came from theGoodwill.) I have also marked the seam line ofthe dart with another color marker.

To the right we have this in close-up. Notehow the grain lines converge in the dart area.


To set up the axes on the organza, you will bedrafting two vertical lines instead of the one shown inthe section above. These two lines, will be the samedistance apart as the two grainlines we marked onthe skirt.

You will draft these vertical lines, as well as onecrosswise line, onto your organza.

Match these pencil lines onto the twovertical grainlines, and one crosswise

grainline of the plaid, as shown. Do your pinning below the dart for now—we will get to the dart later.

This is a close-up, to show how themarked grainlines differ from the pencil lineson the organza.

To copy the dart: First, match and pin theleft pencil line to the left marked grainline, all theway to the waist.

With the pencil, draw on top of the dart line. Thiswill represent one of the dart legs.


Now, match and pin the right pencil line tothe right marked grainline, all the way to thewaist.

The ripple you see here, represents theamount taken up in the dart when it is sewnclosed.

Push this ripple aside so you can see thedart clearly. Make sure the organza is smooth inthat area.

With your pencil, again draw over the dartline. This will give you the other leg of thedart, accurately reflecting the amount takenup in the dart when it is sewn closed.

What I want to illustrate here, is that it’s the grainlines of the fabric that youwant to pay attention to. We will be matching the grainlines of the organza, to thegrainlines of the piece, to determine the finished pattern pieces.


MARKING GRAINLINES:You need to mark lengthwise and crosswise grainlines on each body section

of the piece you’re copying. If you are copying a plaid or stripe, much of the work isdone. Also, if you are copying a printed fabric, you can use the repeat in the printto establish lengthwise and crosswise grainlines. If the fabric is a solid color, youmay have to study the fabric more closely, but the guidelines below can also serve.

Grainlines on shirts and blouses:

There are times when the fabric doesn’teasily reveal its grainlines. This is especially thecase, when dealing with shirts and blouses ofsolid colored fabrics.

There are some basic assumptions youcan make about the grainlines of these garments.

For the shirt front, the line of buttonholesshows the straight grain of the fabric, and alsothe center front.

To mark the straight grain on the front, youcan either use the outer edge of the placket (if itis parallel to the buttonholes), or you can make athread basting along the line of buttonholes.

On shirts especially, since they have tails, thereis no hem on the crosswise grain to use as aguide. In this case, you can assume that thecrosswise grain is 90 degrees to the center frontline.

Draft your crosswise grain line using the under-arm point (where the armhole and side seam inter-sect), as your reference.


Generally the center back fold line is alsothe straight grain line. To find the center backfold line, fold the back in half, matching and pining the yoke seams, armhole seams, andside seams together.

Again, since shirts have tails and therefore noobvious crosswise grain reference, you will assumethat the crosswise grain is 90 degrees to the centerback fold line.

As you did on the front, use the underarm point,as your reference to place the ruler.

On the sleeve, the assumption is that thecenter line of the sleeve is the straight of grain,and the bicep line is the crosswise grain.

Fold the sleeve where it naturally folds—this fold will fall opposite the underarm seam.As you can see in this example, the fold veersoff near the cuff. This is because of the pleatson the sleeve.

Once you establish the center line of the sleeve, useyour square to draft the bicep line for the crosswisegrain. This line is 90 degrees to the fold center line.


THE SUBJECT:I have chosen this particular jacket for

demonstrating, because the plaid fabric shows thelengthwise, and crosswise grains well.

Stage one covers how to get information fromthe garment to the organza. This enables us totransfer that information to paper for a pattern.

After stage one, we will cover how to get theinformation from the organza to the paper. Thenyou have what I call a “hard copy” of the pattern.

Before beginning:

You need to prepare the garment tobe copied, by marking out the seamlinesand grain lines in either chalk, or threadbasting. If the garment is a light color, andyou can see the seam lines through theorganza, you can skip the step of markingthe seam lines.

(An aside about marking white fab-rics: When basting the grain lines, first,test the colorfastness of the thread first.Make a few stitches with an un-knotted thread, on a hidden area of the piece. Ifthe thread leaves color, don’t use it.)

As you can see in the photo, mark details as well as seam lines.

Mark matching notches on the long seams,so that you can match up the pattern pieceslater.


Here we have the jacket, front view, with allseams and details marked. You only have to markone side, as this garment will be cut on the fold.

You will also mark the back stitching linesand matching notches. Again, you only need tomark half, as this is a symmetrical garment.

Now, cut a piece of organza, longer thanthe longest portion of the garment, and twice aswide. Make sure to tear the fabric, so you getaccurate crosswise and lengthwise grain lines.

Draft a vertical line in the center of theorganza, along the lengthwise grain. Measureover from the selvedges to make sure it’s accurate. Then, draft a horizontal line that fallson the crosswise grain, measuring up from thetorn edge for accuracy.

We will start with the back panel piece. Inthe photo, the plaid lines are picked out in red, soyou can see lengthwise and crosswise grainlines.

It is these lines you will pay attention to whenlining up the pencil lines you drafted onto yourorganza.


Match up the pencil lines and grain lines, pin-ning them, as shown.

Pin the lengthwise grainlines, and crosswisegrainlines all along the entire section.

Starting with the smaller section of the garmentsection, smooth the organza outward from thepinned grainlines to the seam lines, and pin theorganza close to the seam lines.

Next, smooth one side of the organza outward,on the larger section. Pin the organza close to theseams.Then, smooth outward, the other side of theorganza, and pin close to the seams.

At the shoulder, prop the garment upon a sleeve board, to help smooth theorganza. Smooth out and pin the centerback seam and neck first…

And finish by smoothing out the organza towards thearmhole, and pinning. Finish by pinning across theshoulder.


Now, take a pencil, and trace overthe seam lines, marking them onto theorganza.

Trace out all of the lines onto theorganza.

Make sure you mark the matching notches…

....and sleeve seams that cross the armhole.

You now have the finished back sectionof the garment onto the organza.

Unpin the organza from the garment,and lay it out. This is what it will look like.Continue working around the garment, usingthe same piece of organza, and a differentcolored pencil for each body section.


Here’s the side panel, still pinned, and tracedout in blue pencil.

Next, the under sleeve: It is easier to prop thesleeve onto a sleeve board, to pin and copy thispiece.

To the right we have the under sleeve panel,with the organza pinned, and the lines traced in red.

Next, copy the upper sleeve, starting bypropping the sleeve on the sleeve board.


Pin the pencil lines on the organza, tothe grain lines of the upper sleeve. Again,smooth the organza outward towards theseam lines, and pin. This is made easier bysmoothing the organza and sleeve, aroundthe edge of the sleeve board.

To determine the shape of the sleevecap, position the cap of the sleeve at theend of the sleeve board, as shown.

Smooth the organza over the sleevecap and pin close to the seams asshown. When smoothing the organzathis way, it will form ripples. These ripples are pointed out in the photos.The ripples show the cap ease.

Again, choose a different color pencil,and trace the seam lines of the uppersleeve onto the organza.

Make sure to mark matching notches,as well as the end of the vent, and buttonplacement.

Unpin the organza and lay flat. Thisenhanced photo shows the four differentpieces that are contained on the one pieceof organza. Our next step is to transfer theinformation contained here, onto paper.


TRANSFERRING THE INFORMATION TOPAPER:

Transferring the information from the organza to the paper, is in a sense, thereverse of what we’ve just done. Begin by drafting a crosswise line, and two verti-cal lines that are 90 degrees to the crosswise line. These will be your grain linesfor your pattern sections. (As an alternative, you can have two pieces of paper,each with one vertical, and one horizontal line, 90 degrees to each other.)

For this section, I’ll call the vertical and horizontal grain lines marked onto the organza, thepencil axes.

We will begin by tracing out the body backpanel. Pin the pencil axes of the organza to thepencil lines of the paper, as shown.

Line up the pencil axes on the organza,with one set of the crossed lines. With yourtracing wheel and tracing carbon, trace out thebody pack panel seam lines onto the paper.

To the right you see the informationtraced onto the paper. Make sure you transferany matching notches you’ve marked, as well.


Unpin the organza from the paper, and movethe organza to the other set of crossed lines.

The next section to be transferred is the bodyside panel. Pin the pencil axes on the organza, tothe pencil lines on the paper.

Again, use the tracing wheel and carbon totransfer the seam lines and matching notches of theside panel section to the paper.

To the left are the complete body back, andbody side panels traced out from the organza.

Using the other piece of paper you pre-pared, pin the pencil axes of the organza ontothe lines on the paper.

Continue this process for all pattern sections you obtained from your garment.Once you have all the information transferredfrom the organza to the paper, we will do whatis called “truing-up” of the pattern pieces.


TRUING THE PATTERN:Once you have all of the information from the organza onto the paper pieces,

you need to true-up the pattern. This will correct for any distortion you may haveintroduced in the process.

In this section I use the phrase “finished seam length”. This refers to themeasurement of the seam on the existing garment. When the pattern is finished,and the test garment is made up (we always do muslins!), the seam lengths needto match the original. Truing-up will make this happen.

In this section, I will be showing the paper pieces with just the carbon tracedlines, so later you can see what the corrections will look like. Understand, that weare looking at stitching lines, not cutting lines. Seam allowances are notadded here.

Measure all finished seam lengths,and mark them onto the corresponding pattern pieces.

Here we have the body side panel, with the finished seam lengths marked. You will do thatto all pieces of the pattern.

Then, measure the actual seam lengthsyou traced from the organza, to see if theymatch the measurements on te garment. Adjustas needed to make the lines on the paper matchthe garment.


HANDLING PLEATS:

Copying pleats is easier than one might think. Instead of using the organzato copy the entire pleat, the organza will provide the design lines and silhouette.The pleats will be added later, after the information is transferred to the paper.

For some of this portion of the book, I’m going to reference the section onpleats from my CD on skirts. For those of you who have already read that one,pardon me for being redundant.

First, some definitions:

Leading edge: This is the visible fold of the pleat.

Insertion line: When flat-patterning pleats, this is the same as the leading edge. It is the line that will be cut, to insert paper, to create the pleat.

Back: The back of the pleat is the fold that is hidden inside the pleat, whenthe pleat is closed.

Distance between: This is the measurement of the distance between theleading edges of the pleats.

Depth: The depth of the pleat, is the total amount of fabric contained withinthe pleat when the pleat is closed.

Return: The return is the distance from the leading edge of the pleat, to theback of the pleat. The return is half the amount of the depth.

The garment we have here is a plaidwrap straight skirt with three knife pleats atthe side panel. It also has a dart in the frontsection.

Before you begin, measure and notethe depth of the pleats, as well as the return(just for checking your work).


Here is a close-up of the pleats. Thesepleats are stitched down from the waist, for thefirst seven or so inches, and then allowed torelease.

Begin by pinning the pleats closed, allalong the leading edges. This will make thesection of the skirt lie flat.

Baste the pleats closed, right along the leadingedge of the pleats, all the way up to the waist.

Mark a crosswise thread tracing,where the pleats are sewn closed to.


We now have the garment ready for copying. Use the same method outlinedearlier to get the information from the garment, tracing the information from the garment onto the organza, and transferring this information onto paper.

When transferring the information from the garment to the organza, makesure to mark the leading edge lines of all the pleats onto the organza, and later,onto the paper pattern. The reason you are doing this, as opposed to trying topleat the organza, is that it is easier to “flat pattern” the pleats when the informationis on the paper.

Now, this is where we will switch to theinformation from the skirts CD. The photo tothe right shows a yoked skirt with two knifepleats. If you were copying this skirt, youwould have thread-basted the leading edges ofthe knife pleats closed.

To the left is the pattern for this skirt front.You can see the lines for the leading edges ofthe pleats.


Notice in the first photo, there arecrosswise marks on the insertion (leadingedge) lines. This is for matching up later.Cut along one of the insertion lines to sep-arate the pattern.

Tape a piece of paper to the insertionline one side of the body, where the lead-ing edge will be. Since these two pleats onthe skirt demonstrated, will be invertedpleats, the leading edges are on the sidepanel.

Draft a line parallel to the insertionline, by the amount you noted for thedesired depth of the pleat.

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Fold the paper along the insertion line.

Now, fold the paper, so the insertionline falls on the line drawn parallel.

Align the other section of the bodywith the insertion line, using the matchingnotches to position it properly. Tape.

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Repeat this process with the otherinsertion line.

Then, fold the pleats closed, and,with your tracing wheel, trace out theseam line to get the shape of the backof the pleat.

Finally, lower the backs of thepleats by 1/8”(3mm), as shown, andre-draft the seam line. This will make

the pleats hang closed when you con-struct them.

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COPYING TROUSERS:Copying trousers requires a little more information before you begin, so you

can get an accurate draft. I’ll cover this now.

Definitions:

Inseam: The seam inside the leg—it intersects the crotch seam.

Crotch seam: well, you know.

Outseam: Also called the side seam, this one is on the outside of thetrouser leg.

Crease and Grain line: This is centered midway between the inseam andoutseam, mainly below the knee. The assumption in copying a trouser, is that thisis the proper grainline, and the hem is the proper cross grain.

Preparing the trouser:

As you can see, we have prepared thetrouser by marking the seam lines with bastingthreads.

Also, thread baste the pockets closedalong the style lines. This makes the copy moreaccurate. Don’t worry about drafting the pocketpieces—this will be demonstrated later.

Page 22

This photo shows the seam lines ofthe darts in back, marked in white thread.The red thread basting represents theback folds of these darts. These can befound by either looking inside the garment, or by feeling through the fabric,if the fabric is thin enough. What theselines are used for will be covered later.

Lay the trouser flat, and pin theinseam and outseam together to find thecrease and grain line. Where the trouserleg folds, is the crease and grain line.

Now, thread baste the front crease,all the way up to the waist. The best wayto determine this, is to lay the trouser onthe table, and allow it to fold where itnaturally will.

This is the trouser front, with thecrease and grainline, basted to the waist.

Thread baste the back crease andgrain line to the waist, the same way youdid the front.

Page 23

To get the crosswise grainlines, start with thetrouser front. When drafting, it is customary to put thehem on the crosswise grain. Measure up from thehem on both inseam and outseam, by the sameamount. I generally use 15”(38cm).

Thread baste the crossgrain, from these marks.

We need another crosswise grain line, higher upon the trouser. To determine the placement of thatline, lay the ruler so that a crosswise grainline, intersects the grainline at 90 degrees. It should alsointersect the crotch, as shown. Here is the secondcrosswise grainline, marked with thread basting.

To transfer the crosswise grainlines fromfront to back, pin through all layers alongthe thread basting lines.

Turn the trouser over, and baste theback crosswise grain line, using the pinsas a guide.

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Here is the trouser back, fully marked.

Take a length of the organza, and mark alengthwise grainline parallel to the selvedge. To get the hem, mark a line parallel to the cross-wise grain, about 1”(2.4cm) above the edge.

Make the two crossgrain marks on theorganza using the same measurements as youdid on the trouser.

From here, you will use this piece of organza, along with what you’ve learnedabove, to transfer the information from the trouser to the organza. One thing youneed to do in the trouser back, is to determine the dart depths at the waist. Theinformation below, will show you how to include that in the tracing.

This is where the red basting lines atthe waist darts come in. Using the bastinglines as a guide, fold the organza into adart. The white line represents the seamline and a fold; the red line represents theamount of fabric contained in the dart.


Here both darts are folded intoposition and pinned.

Once the darts are folded and pinned,smooth the organza towards the side seam andwaist, and pin in place. Use the pencil to markthe information onto the organza.

Then, you can trace the rest of the trouserback onto the organza, and later, transfer theinformation to the paper.


PATTERNMAKING:Once you get the main body pieces trued-up, and all fitting adjustments

made, you want to make what I call the corollary pieces. These corollary piecesare the facings, interfacings, and all other pieces that are needed to make a work-ing pattern that you can actually make a garment from.

Some of this information I am drawing from my CD books on pattern making,so if you have those, I apologize for being redundant.

If you aren’t familiar with my patternmaking books, please note: Theseillustrations are drafted with stitching (seam) lines, and no seam allowances added.

This makes the process less confusing when working with patterns. You can addthe desired seam allowances later.

When drafting the separate pieces, I find it useful to label the body pieceswith one color of ink, the linings with another color, and the interfacings with a third.In this way, you can see at a glance, which pieces belong together.

Since we are using the jacket as our first example, I’ll start by showing how todraft all of the jacket pieces. I’ll cover all pieces needed from one particular bodypattern piece, which will eliminate confusion.

Later on, I’ll cover drafting facings for necklines, collars, and trouser parts.

The jacket:For the tailored jacket, you need the body pieces, lining pieces, facing pieces, andinterfacing pieces. You will draw the lines for the various pieces onto the mainbody pieces. Then, after the indicated adjustments, trace out the pieces onto freshpaper.

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Body half-back

Copyright 2009-2012 Kenneth D. King. All rights reserved.

The dotted lines in theillustration below showthe body facing, thedark shading showsthe body interfacingpieces. These will betraced out onto freshpaper.

Page 28

Body lining pieces

Body front, and corollary pieces

Copyright 2009-2012 Kenneth D. King. All rights reserved.

Lapel facing piece, and favoring is shownto the right.

Shaded area is frontlining piece, shownleft.

The lining undersleeve is almost the same, just 3/8” shorter.


Lining uppersleeve, is alsoquite the same,just a few alterations.Body:

Neck and armhole facings:

Round neck, or armhole:

These facings are drafted the same way bothfront and back, so I will demonstrate on a roundneck front.

On the bodice, draft a line parallel to theopening. You can take this measurement from thegarment you are copying.

Trace the area out onto fresh paper, asshown. At the neck edge, trim off 1/8”(3mm). Thisfavors the neckline to the facing, so the seam willpress properly.

Trim off 1/8”(3mm) at the shoulder seam. Thismakes the facing slightly smaller over the shouldercurve, which eliminates buckling in wearing.

In the middle of the facing piece, draft parallellines, maximum 1/8”(3mm) apart. For thinnerfabrics, you will make this 2mm apart.

Fold these lines together and tape closed.You now have a facing that will lie flat under thegarment.


Sleeveless:

For a sleeveless garment with a neck facing, you will draft the facing line onto thebodice as shown. Use the garment you copiedas a guide.

Trim 1/8”(3mm) off all edges shown in theillustration for favoring.

Next, draft parallel lines, maximum1/8”(3mm) apart, on the neck opening and arm-hole opening, as shown.

Fold these parallel lines closed, and tape.

V-neck facings:

Generally the back of a V-neck garmenthas a round neckline, so you will use the roundneck facing instructions for that. The front is han-dled in a similar manner:

On your bodice, draft the facing line, asshown. Again, use the garment you are copyingas a guide here.


Trace out the facing onto fresh paper.

Along the V neckline edge, and shoulder, trimoff 1/8”(3mm) for favoring.

In the middle of the pattern, draft parallel linesmaximum 1/8”(3mm) apart.

Fold these lines closed to finish the facing piece.You can run the grainlines one of two ways: You can cut the center front along thegrainline on the fold, or: you can cut the facings with the straight of grain parallel tothe V-neck. When doing this, you will have a seam at the center front.

IN CONCLUSION:When drafting the facings and other details, there is so much variatin, that youshould efer back to the garment that you’re cloning, to get dimensions, as well ashow they treat the finishes, pockets, and the like. These directions will serve as aguide, so you can get a pattern that you can then make up into another garmentthat you’ll love as much as the original!


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CLONING GARMENTS - Sewing Pattern Review Online ...Draft a vertical line in the center of the...

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