I’ve been drafting a lot lately. I’ve used a number of resources for my drafts, but truthfully you could buy a book, take a class or use a good fitting TNT as your block/sloper and experiment. I went through multiple muslins to get my fits refined, there’s only so much you can do on yourself. So, you start from the top and see how it goes. You work one area at a time and you exercise patience. I learned to pinch, pin, tuck and ask questions until I got it right, there is no short cut to fit. I want to really refine my sewing techniques so I figured if I’m not spending all day fitting new patterns I can focus on the sewing. I have a pretty classic style so sometimes it’s easier to draft something from my block but you don’t have to. I made a pair of Burda pants recently and with my pants block I was able to make the adjustments quickly on the pattern and sew them up. I worked on welt pockets last week and I’m excited to share my walking shorts.
All fabric is over two years old and no longer available. The lavender pants are a poly woven bottom weight remnant probably from FabricMart. The shorts are a lightweight Tencel fabric I believe from Joann’s. The top fabric is a precut I purchased from FabricMart, it’s a dreamy Cotton + Steel rayon poplin. Rayon poplin is really nice to sew with.
For the pants, you can use any basic trouser/slack pattern and for the top, you can use a casual drop shoulder boxy top/ dolman sleeve top. I traced off my slacks to the knee, added eight inches for the lavender pants and added 1.5 ” to the side seam hem grading to nothing at the hip line to give a little flare. For the shorts, I traced off my pants block to the knee added 1″ to the side seam at the hem grading to nothing at the hip line. I also added pleats and pockets to the front of the shorts. You can use any design features to your basic patterns as most don’t effect fit. My pleats need to move an inch or two closer to center front, I will correct that when I make them again.
Cashmerette’s
Calder pants and the
Cedar dolman top will work here or you can look through Big 4/Burda. McCalls has a few, just look through the line drawings on the website and pick one you like. These are not as size inclusive but you get the gist
McCalls 7786 elastic back pants with flat front.
Bonus: here’s a lost file, a hacked Cashmerette Concord T shirt dress in a double brushed poly. This dress was made almost a year ago lol, I just found it and wore it for the first time. The dress was under some fabric I never put up LOL. I really like the stripes and the neon colors. The fabric came in a bundle last year from FabricMart.
That’s it, these are all wearable muslins, I’ll share later this week my Burda pants and another top I made using this top pattern.
6 Comments
DebbyLA
Love the dress on you. I also love the tennis shoes- finally comfortable shoes are back in again!
Abbeydabbles
This black & white top though! Wardrobe workhorse! So versatile and great with both pants. And this Concord dress is so fun!
Vanessa
What a wonderful wealth of information on your process for slopers. I use some of my TNTs as slopers to tweak new garments or add length. I would love to see some visual tips concerning the pants fitting that compares your sloper with the Burda pattern. Your garments all look beautiful!
MadebyLaQuana
Thank you! I think I took some photos of fitting.
Rtrittel
Good for you for getting your fit on pants! Looks like you are ready for Spring/Summer. Love that striped dress!
MadebyLaQuana
Thanks!