Drafting a Built-Up Bateau Necklin

Video Transcript

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Hi. In this video, I'm going to show you how to draft a built up bateau neckline. But before that, a short introduction.

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Hi, my name is Maria. I design my own clothes and draft my own sewing patterns. I began patternmaking at 40 because ready to wear clothing was uncomfortable and poorly fitting. To draft patterns that truly fit, you first need a well-fitting block. That was my first and seemingly impossible challenge. Most block making instructions come from the fashion industry, built on assumptions about standard figures. That pushed me to develop my own unique block making system for nonstandard figures.

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My bodice block method includes the upper bust to determine the correct cup size, and my pants system adds the thigh measurement. With a proper block, you can create clothes that fit well in styles you love, using fabrics you choose. So welcome to my channel!

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This dress that I'm wearing has a built up neckline. Here is the definition of a built up neckline. A built up neckline is one that extends slightly above the natural neckline of the body. Creating a subtle rise will stand without being a separate collar. Rather than cutting the neckline at the base of the neck or along the collarbone, the pattern is drafted so the neckline curves upwards.

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It can follow any neckline shape. Round, jewel, bateau, v...

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But the defining feature is that the neckline rises from the base of the neck as part of the bodice itself.

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That definition says the base of the neck, but it also says that it can be used with a bateau neckline. So in that case, really curves up from the shoulder. You can hopefully see how this neckline curves or scooch upwards. Now here's my bodice block that I used to draft the pattern, and here is the shape of the final built up neckline on my dress.

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So you can see that scooping up shape. When I drafted this pattern, I was following instructions for and fully intended to draft a built up bateau neckline. So now let's look at the definition of a bateau neckline. A bateau neckline, also known as a boat neck or Sabrina neckline, is typically defined as a wide, high neckline that follows the curve of the collarbone,

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extending horizontally across the front and back of a garment to the shoulder points. It's characterized by an elegant, almost straight line from shoulder to shoulder. And here is the definition of a bateau.

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Built up neckline. A bateau built up neckline combines the wide horizontal line of a classic bateau or boat neckline, with a vertical rise of a built up neckline. Instead of sitting flat along the collarbone, the neckline extends upwards slightly while still running across the shoulders in a near straight line. So if you want an example of a built up bateau neckline in the fashion world, there is a Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the movie ‘Charade’ with this neckline.

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The dress is the GIvenchy Autumn Winter 1962 cream wool dress and a custom version of the dress was drafted specifically for Audrey Hepburn for the movie. Now I will provide a link to a website where you can see that dress. I won't show you that image here because of copyright reasons, but you can go to that website and scroll down a little, and there's an image of Audrey wearing the dress on the left hand side and on the right hand side next to it, an image just of the dress itself.

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And this is the, website where that image can be found, that there should be a link to it in my description box also. So back to the neckline on this dress. It looks like a built up neckline doesn't it? Well, at least that's to me it doesn't really look like a built up bateau neckline, does it? Now, as I said before, when I drafted this pattern, I was following instructions and fully intended to draft a built up bateau neckline.

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However, I made two changes, one deliberate and one inadvertent. That changed the outcome so it didn't end up quite as it should have, a little less the bateau-ish. The inadvertent mistake I made was I sewed some back neckline darts into the neckline, into the back neckline. Now, when drafting the built up bateau, part of the shoulder dart of the bodice back is moved into the neckline.

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It's supposed to be left there as fullness to open up the neck, but I move that dart into the neckline and then marked it as a dart, and sewed it up as a dart instead of leaving the value of the dart there as fullness. So that was the inadvertent change. The deliberate change that I made is that I didn't raise the center front neck.

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Now, the center of that neck was supposed to be raised 2.5cm to an inch, 2.5cm or an inch higher than the block. And at the very last minute, I decided that I didn't want to raise it because it felt too risky to me. I always found high bateau necklines or any bateau necklines actually extremely uncomfortable. I hate garments touching me here that just feel so yucky to me.

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So at the last minute I decided I would not raise the neckline. So I ended up with this and it definitely looks like a built up neckline to me. I think it suits me. I liked it so much. I used it in this dress too. So this dress has the exact same neck shape but with a collar on top, but the underlying neck shape is the same as this, and the collar also is the same shape.

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So both the neckline and the collar scoop, they both built up. So although I really liked this neckline, I was puzzled because it didn't seem very bateau to me. Now I, I understand bateau as a wide neckline and it seemed to me it wasn't wide at all. As I said before, I know I didn't raise the center front, so I didn't get the straight look, but the straight line of the bateau is one thing and the width is another.

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So, okay. And I must mention that the neckline did actually look wide on the pattern. So here I'm showing you the black outline is the block and the blue outline is the final pattern. So on the final pattern it looked quite bateau-ish but on the dress ... not so much. Now of course if I wanted a really wider neck, neckline, I could have just redrafted it with a wider neckline as wide as I wished.

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But when I realized that I had sewn in the back neck dart, and when I realized I could raise the front without it driving me crazy, I decided to try again with the original instructions just to see how different it would be. And here's the outcome a top this time not address. This is as per the original instructions I was following with the neckline raised at the front and no darts in the back neck, so still doesn't seem very bateau-ish, does it?

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So I did some research and I did some testing, and I came to some conclusions. These are the conclusions I came to: (1) The bateau neckline doesn't suit me because of my square shoulders and forward neck. Now here it is. I actually made a dress with a bateau neckline just to prove it to myself. And yet look the classic bateau neckline than me.

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My square shoulders, my forward neck.. neck. No no no

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So I'm going to go off in a little bit of a tangent here. Some people may look at this photo and say: “Your shoulders aren't really square. I can see some slope there.” But what you're actually seeing, the curve from my rounded upper back. To show you what I mean. Here are two more examples. This first one is me wearing the same bateau dress, but you can compare my shoulder slope with Audrey Hepburn's.

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If you draw a straight line from shoulder to shoulder tip, and then use that line as the base for drawing a triangle with a neck hollow as the top point, you'll see the difference more clearly. And in the second photo it's even more obvious. This photo was taken when I was making a duct tape body form.

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Conclusion number two because of my forward neck, I'm never going to get a straight for the bateau neckline. It's never going to look really straight and I'll show you in due course why that is. Why ... and I'll show you that by comparing the neckline that I've drafted with a standard figure block and that neckline drafted with my block.

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And conclusion number three,

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I am not interested in pursuing a built up bateau neckline for me. In future, I plan on drafting a few other built up necklines, a built up neckline on a v neck, or a stovepipe one that goes right up the neck, for example. But as for a bateau, no, no no, it doesn't suit me.

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However, my instructions that are coming are for a built up bateau neckline, which you could make as wide as you wish. But if, like me, you have a forward neck, or if like me, you have square shoulders, you might. Or if you have both, you might prefer to make the same adjustments that I made

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to draft a widened, built up neckline rather than a bateau built up neckline.

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Because if you have square shoulders, a bateau neckline really, and if you have a forward neck, you're not going to get the straight line of the bateau anyway. And I will show you what this. Now, before I get to the instructions for drafting the built up, bateau neckline and/or the widened built up neckline, I want to discuss the, classic, I want to say plain the classic bateau neckline a bit first.

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If you want to go straight to the instructions,

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Here is the time stamp for that. Now I have seen tutorials that give instructions for a classic bateau neckline that just ends up with a scoop neckline rather than a straight neckline. For example, one of my fashion textbooks actually gives the following instructions for the bateau. It says that you take the block and you draw a neckline, as in this example.

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You lower the center front a fraction and then draw a curve out to the .. near the edge of the shoulder, leaving one and three quarter or two inches at the shoulder that 3 or 4cm. Again, this is more of a scoop neckline rather than a true bateau. It will not give you that linear bateau look. The look seen in most of the iconic garments worn by Audrey Hepburn.

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Those straight bateau necklines need the center front to be raised above the center front neck point on the block.

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and in order to raise the center front neck and not feel like you're being choked, you need to add ease into the neckline.

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So the usual way to add ease is to move some of the side seam dart into the neckline and leave it there as fullness. Like so.. so now drawing the neckline, you see, you get a straighter look. So here's an image of Audrey Hepburn I can show you because it's in the public domain. Now this is an image that comes up when I searched for Audrey Hepburn.

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bateau neckline. But notice here that there's more of an upwards curve in a straight line. So for this neckline going upwards, you need to add even more ease than you would for that straight linear neckline. You can see here in that image that there is some ease in there.

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Now I'm going to go through all that again.

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But this time introduce my block and compare what happens with this neckline on my body with a forward neck.

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So the comparison is the standard block on the left and my block on the right, my block showing my square shoulders and a forward neck. So this series of comparison will show you (1) Why ready to wear clothing with a bateau neckline doesn't work for me and people with my kind of figure at all in terms of fit and comfort, and (2) why a standard bateau drafted with my block doesn't give me that straight bateau shape.

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So ..notice on my block I have a deeper neckline that's due to my forward neck. Notice that the bateau line, drafted as per the block is rounder on my block, it looks more like a rounded neckline than a bateau. Compare the shape of that curve on the standard block. Now in this slide I have moved the curve from the standard block straight across to my block, just to show you where that would sit on my body if this was drafted for a standard figure.

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And this was a neckline on a ready to wear garment and it was put on me, you can see it would be far too high on me and choke me profoundly. Now raising the neckline, which, as I said previously, means moving some of the side seams into the neckline here. That's been done, and the dashed lines show the original block, and the unbroken lines show the shape.

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After some of the side seam dart had been moved to neckline and left there, as ease. Now when I raise the neckline and draw the bateau neckline, you can notice that on the standard block a straight line can be achieved. So the Audrey Hepburn bateau neckline can be achieved in this manner for people with fairly standard features. Notice that for me, I don't get that straight line.

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So this is about as straight as I'm going to get the bateau neckline.

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and this is the shape here. No no no no. It this is no good for me. Despite that I drafted this with my block and I have the necessary ease.

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It's not comfortable for me and I'm not making anything else with this neckline. It doesn't suit me because of my square shoulders and forward neck... rounded upper back, forward shoulders, etc..

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I also want to make sure that if I took that straight bateau neckline drafted for a standard figure and put it on me, it would be completely unwearable probably up to my chin.

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So now we're going to compare the built up bateau neckline for the standard figure and my figure before it was with the classic bateau. Now it's the built up bateau I sometimes say wrongly, but there you go.

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So as I've established, the look for me is rounder and lower than for the standard block. And what I've covered so far explains that. But notice also that the neckline looks wider as well on standard figure, and that's more to do with the proportions of the standard figure. I'm using a standard block that has the same bust measurement as I do, so usually ready to wear clothing with my bust measurement.

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It's too big in the shoulders for me because the neck and shoulders of the standard person with is larger in proportion with the bust, so my neck and shoulders are not in proportion with my bust size.

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So if I bought a ready to a garment with this neckline, this is how it would sit on me. Too wide and too high. So second thing, going back to myself drafted one notice is because of my finger differences. It does not look as straight and as and as wide as it would on the standard figure because of my forward neck.

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now. Again, I could just draft it wider like so. Notice though that for the standard figure, it will still look very bateau ish for me. Not so much.

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So onto the instructions.

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And if you've got fairly sloping shoulders, you might want to try to draft a built up that to a neckline. If you've got square shoulders or a forward neck,

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you could also make a built up neckline that's wider, but without trying to achieve the bateau look.

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So on with the instructions. Let's go.

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So first I'll show you the final outcome. In this slide, the black outline is my starting block, and the blue outline shows the bateau neckline that I will be drafting. However, I will also show you how to make the neckline wider if you want it wider. As I've mentioned, this dress has a slightly modified version of the neckline and I will show you the modifications I made for my personal preference.

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The pink lines show you the two adjustments I made to the bateau neckline in my dresses. The pink arrow on the front block shows that I drafted my center front neckline the same level as my block, rather than raising it the standard amount for the bateau of one inch or 2.5cm. In the back neckline, indicated by the arrow, I added a small dart, so the neckline on my dress sits a bit closer to my body than the blue outline.

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These two adjustments have been used in the two dresses shown in the video.

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So step one. This is in preparation for moving some of the side seam dart into the neck to be left as fullness. So I will mark the midpoint of the front neck.

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Then I'll draw a line from that neck point to the bust point, and from the bust point to the top dart leg, then cut along both of those lines from the outer edges towards the bust point, leaving a little hinge at the bust point.

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I will rotate the cut portion anti-clockwise to open up the neckline three quarters of an inch. That's two centimeters. There will be an overlap at the side seam when that is rotated, and that results in a smaller side seam dart. I will then redraw the neckline. See the blue arrow on the image?

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From here on I the blue outline with the amended neckline will be shown. The original one will be erased.

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So now I'll raise the front neckline. I’ll draw a vertical line one inch long, 2.5cm up from point A - the center front neck point. So that must be a continuation of the center front line. And on that point A1.

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Next I will locate the mid shoulder point - that is, measure it and divide it by two - and label i point B.

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If you want to wider neck, measure from the shoulder to inwards for the strap measurement you want, for example, 1.75 to 2in or 4 or 5cm and mark point B. This is the standard for a classic bateau shoulder width, so if you choose to make your neck wider, just follow along with a different point B. The steps will be the same.

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It's just that your point B will be in a different place.

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Now I'm going to mark the points with a new raised shoulder. From point B, measure up for 1.5in that 3.75cm to point C at the angle required, so that from point C to the shoulder measures three quarters of an inch or two centimeters. So you'll need to use a ruler and pivot until you get those measurements. The line from point C to the shoulder must be at right angles to the B to C line.

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As shown here, the three points that are needed to draw the neckline are points A1, B, and C.

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I'll draw a straight line from point B to point C, and then a curve from point C to point A1. Of course, if you have make your neckline wider, the neckline shape will be different. Use the curve ruler to get a nice curve.

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So here is a new front neckline in green. The black outline is the original block. So just notice that the opened up neckline has in effect moved the shoulder point over because of the ease that's being added into the neckline. The front pattern is finished, except that you would need some kind of facing on this neckline, and the facing would depend, of course, on your garment design.

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So I would like to show you the facing that I drafted for my dress.

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Remembering, though, that I chose to keep the original neckline depth so my neckline isn't as built up as the standard. My new neckline is indicated with a pink arrow.

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I also want to mention that after drafting the bateau neckline, I would then continue to draft my dress pattern. So the bodice pieces shown in this slide. The center front bodice in green shading the side front in yellow shading, and the front facing which is the white shading on top of the green and partly on top of the yellow, makes up the pattern pieces for my Bernese bodice.

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This pattern includes an Empire line and a shoulder princess line and as I said previously, facing is required. My facing has a center front seam and a button extension placket. A button placket extension the same as the center front bodice pattern piece. If you were to draft a dress with a closing in the back, the facing would be different

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So now onto the back bodice piece. The back neckline will be widened in the same manner as the front with that manipulation. In order to open up the back neckline, half of the shoulder will be moved into the neckline and the other half moved into the armhole. Note you could, if you wish, lead the half shouldered part that is left over after moving half into the neckline in place, rather than moving it into the armhole.

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This will depend on your design intentions. Since I am drafting a shoulder princess line, I could have left some of the shoulder dart in place and incorporated into the shoulder princess seam line. I didn't though, I moved it into the armhole. So first measure the back neck curve and mark the center point. Then draw a line through the middle of the shoulder dart, extending it some distance past the shoulder line.

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This is to provide a guideline when closing half the dart.

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So draw a line from the dart point to the mid neck point. Cut from the center neck point to the dart point and cut the dart leg closest to the neck line from the shoulder to the dart point, leaving a hinge.

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Now rotate the cut section on the hinge point in a clockwise direction so that half the shoulder dart is closed using that midline drawn previously as a reference. So you'll need to place paper underneath the opened up section. Tape to secure the pieces in place.

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So now I have moved half the shoulders into the neckline and I need to redraw the neck curve. The new lines now are in blue. I'm going to label the new shoulder neck point Point A, and I'll label the dart leg closest to the neckline point B.

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The remainder of the shoulder dart will be moved into the armhole the simple way, i.e. without cutting and spreading. This method achieves basically the same result with less effort. So, using the shoulder length measurement, I'm going to draw a line from point A to point B and mark point C. Now the shoulder length measurement can be obtained by measuring the neck point to the first leg, then measuring from the second leg to the shoulder point, then adding them together.

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But a simpler method is just to bring in the bodice front block and use that as a reference. You can use the edge of the front block to draw the line instead of a ruler, and get the required shoulder length at the same time. This is still the block shoulder length. We haven't yet started drafting the built up design on the bodice back.

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So from the new shoulder point - Point C - I'll redraw the armhole down to the underarm point and the shoulder lines are not relevant anymore and can be erased.

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Now we will create the same shoulder line shape as I did for the front. I'll mark the halfway point of the shoulder and label it point A. If you made the front shoulder length shorter to widen the neckline, use the same measurement that you used for the front here, of course.

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From point A, I'll create the same shape I did for the front. I'll measure up for 1.5in 3.75cm. Add an angle and mark point B, so that point B to the neckline measures three quarters of an inch. That's two centimeters. The line from point B to the shoulder line must be at right angles to the A to B line.

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Next, I'll draw the new shoulder neckline with a straight line from point A to point B, then draw curve from point B to meet the center back midpoint. If you have made the neckline wider, obviously this curve will be wider.

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So this is the outcome for the back. But now I need to do some truing and create the facing. So the truing is to make sure the curves flow from the back to the front for both the armhole and the neckline. So align the front and back patterns up at the shoulder line, starting with the shoulder edge, checking the flow through curve and redrawing the back armhole if necessary.

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Usually the back is straight to the front so my back arm needs to be redrawn. The pink with the original back armhole curve and the green is the trued line.

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So next is checking the neckline curve. I'll move the pattern pieces so that the shoulder lines that are angled up towards the neck are aligned. And check the neckline curve. Redraw the back end or the front neckline if necessary.

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So now the back facing measure down at the center back and at the shoulder for 2in or 5cm. Trace around the neckline of the pattern and draw the inner curl so that the facing is the same width all the way around.

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Now this back facing shaded in blue is a different shape to the one I've shown you just before. This is where I placed a dart in the back neck. In this case, the dart value can be removed from the facing as shown. So this is the facing I used in my address. The front facing is drafted the same way as the back facing.

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But as I've mentioned before, I have a 1.5cm or 5/8 of an inch button extension added. So I will measure out and draw a line 1.5cm or 5/8 of an inch out from the center front line before measuring 2in or 5cm along the shoulders and waist. Tracing the neckline and drawing the inner curve. So these are the final outlines for my pattern pieces.

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But then, of course, I had gone on to draft the pattern pieces as my design. And here are my final pattern pieces with seam allowance.

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That's the end of this tutorial. Thanks for watching and it's ciao from me.