Video Transcript

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Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me
Starlight and dew drops are waiting for thee...
Hi, this is Maria from Dresspatternmaking.com. 
This started as a 3-Part series on drafting the pants block, but now it's turned into 5-Parts. This is Part-4, drafting the block for Jane. This system for drafting pants that I've devised is a work in progress.

00:00:30:14 - 00:00:49:09
And I have thought of ways that I can improve it, since I've started making these videos. But I've continued, in this video and I will continue in Anne’s video to do it the same way that I've started in the others. But I do plan on improving it. I'll be changing it a bit and hopefully making some things a little bit simpler.

00:00:49:22 - 00:01:18:15
I'll be publishing an epub booklet, not a paper version that I'll be selling, and I plan on publishing that in the next couple of months. Before I take just a couple of minutes to compare Jane's figure to the Standard Figure. I just want to remind you why I'm doing these comparisons. I'm going into this detail for people like me who have used other block making instructions and have struggled getting a good fit with those instructions and who want to understand why. After getting bad results, a number of times....

00:01:18:21 - 00:01:43:15
In the end, I wanted not only a block that fitted, but I wanted to understand why these block making instructions weren't working for me. And I'm wanting to pass on what I learned. Jane has less of a difference between her waist and her hips than the Standard Figure. Her thighs are proportionately smaller, slightly but smaller. She has a drop bottom, which means she needs a longer crotch length and her largest circumference is at her crotch depth, not two inches above her crotch.

00:01:44:06 - 00:02:09:24
So these are the things that would have been a problem using the other system, but we're going to cover them all, account for them all. So it won't be a problem for Jane in my system. In Video 2, I drafted up to this point for the Standard Figure, but those instructions are valid for all figures. I will point out, though, that as Jane's larger circumference is around her crotch, the width of the foundation from point C to point I is based on her circumference around her crotch level rather than her low-hip.

00:02:10:22 - 00:02:29:07
So I'm starting from here, and now I'm going to zoom in at 200% so we can focus on the foundation and do the waist shaping. So I'm zooming in to 200% of the previous image so I can focus on the foundation and you can see it better. Currently, the crotch depth is the body measurement depth and we need some ease.

00:02:29:07 - 00:02:53:20
Therefore, I'm going to drop the crotch point. From point D, I will measure down 5/8 of an inch , at right angles to the C to D line and mark point D1. I'll continue the L to I line down below the C to D line for an inch or so. That's shown with the pink arrow and then draw line at right angles to touch the new point D1 and that's shown by a blue arrow.

00:02:54:08 - 00:03:16:16
These are just guidelines that may help us draw the crotch curve in later. Now I need to do a calculation to do the waist shaping. I'll take Anne's waist measurement, which is 29 and a 1/2 inches and add 1-inch ease. The sum is 30 and a 1/2 inches, and I'll divide that by 4. So the waist for both the front and the back will be 7 and 5/8 of an inch.

00:03:17:07 - 00:03:40:04
I'm going to try to apply the standard waist shaping for Jane and see what we get. On the waistline from point L, I will move in half an inch and mark point P. Just to explain or remind you, if you've watched the previous videos, what I mean by standard waist shaping, I'm referring to giving step by step instructions that work well for a figure that has ten inches difference between the waist and the hips.

00:03:40:13 - 00:03:57:19
So if you have ten inches difference between your waist and hips, those instructions will probably work well for you. The problem is that it might not work so well if you have more than ten inches difference or a lot less. Whether or not it ends up working well, also depends on whether your high hip is in proportion to your waist and low hip.

00:03:58:00 - 00:04:14:13
So basically, although I've been able to write instructions that get a better result for most figures up to a certain point, as in including the thigh measurement and showing how to get the crotch length. As far as waist shaping goes, I can't see a way of writing one set of step by step instructions that will get a good result for everyone.

00:04:14:22 - 00:04:34:08
So I'm suggesting that everyone tries the standard way shaping to begin with, and then I work through some problem solving if that doesn't work. So I've moved in half an inch from point L to point P. I'll draw a line from point P on the waist to point J on the low-hip line at the point where it crosses the high hip line of point K2.

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Now I'll take the waist measurement of 7 and 5/8 of an inch and add 1/2 an inch for a dart. Using that total, I'll measure from point P towards point O on the waistline and mock point Q. So moving on to the high hip, I'll take the high hip measurement and add 1 inch ease for a total of 36 inches.

00:04:53:01 - 00:05:16:03
Dividing that by 4 gives me 9 inches. On the high-hip line, I will measure from point K2 towards point N and mark point R. Now, I said at the beginning that Jane's largest circumference is at her crotch depth and from C to I is that width and from J to M is that same width. Therefore, that means on her low hip level, I need to plot another measurement.

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I'll take her low hip measurement add 1-inche ease and then divide that total by 4. On her low hip line I will measure 9 and 3/8 and an inch from point J and mark point M2. Now for Jane, this difference isn't enormous. It's only 3/8 of an inch total around her body. But if you're trying to get a consistent 1-inch esaein the foundation, then she may end up with a bit of puffiness there or just extra ease that just doesn't look right.

00:05:42:07 - 00:06:05:05
So and this is 3/8 an inch of Jane, but for someone else, it may be a lot more. So I'll try to take this extra ease out if I can. Now, when I try and join up those points, either to lose some at the crotch level or I can't shave off that bit at the low hip. Now, while you don't have to draw the curve in one pass, meaning that you can draw two curves and blend them.

00:06:05:13 - 00:06:25:14
In this case, that just won't work. You can maybe see by the straight lines that this is not going to lend itself to blending into a curve that makes sense. Now I'll just go back to the option of shaving some off at the crotch level. When I drafted the front for the standard figure, I shaved some off at the crotch level, but the standard figure is smaller there.

00:06:25:14 - 00:06:50:22
The widest part of the standard figure is the low hip. When I drafted mine, I did not shave any off at the crotch level because that's where I'm the widest, and that is where Jane is the widest too, so I don't want to shave any off at her crotch level. Instead of plotting the points starting from the center front line going towards the side theme, I'm going to start at the side seam and move inwards towards the center front.

00:06:51:06 - 00:07:26:08
I'll do this for the low hip and the high hip, not for the waist. Now, in so doing, I have renamed the end points. So now on the low hip, it's from M to M2 towards point J and from N to N2 towards point K. And then I'll redraw the center front line from P to M2. I then can draw a side seam from point Q at the waist through point N at the high hip. M the low hip and C at the crotch depth, without sacrificing any of the width at the crotch depth and without having any extra ease in the low hip.

00:07:27:04 - 00:07:47:04
Now, given when I drafted my block, I came in at the center front more than the Standard Figure. For example, the distance L to P was more than 1/2 an inch because I'm curvy. You may think that for Jane, the answer would be to make the L to P distance shorter and try to do the waist shaping that way rather than the way that I just did it.

00:07:47:15 - 00:08:08:12
Now, you could try that. And for example, you could try many things, but I just want to point out that what I have done is, in effect, that same thing. I have reduced the distance from L to P, reduced that waist, that dart in the center front. Because I've moved the low point over to the left, so M2 is to the left of J.

00:08:08:20 - 00:08:31:23
If I draw a line straight up at right angles to the lower hip line from M2 to the waist, that's the pink dashed line in the image. You'll see that the point where that crosses the waist is to the left of point L So the distance between point L two and P is shorter. So that front dart is actually smaller than for the Standard Figure.

00:08:32:14 - 00:08:50:06
So now to finish off this front, I made an allowance for half an inch dart which I'll center on point A. So the dart will be 1/2 inch wide and 3 inches long. Now all that needs to be done to finish the front is to draw the crotch curve and then measure the crotch length to check if it needs adjusting.

00:08:50:10 - 00:09:12:17
Now, I had actually previously drawn those guidelines, which is shown in purple on this image, but because we moved point M2 over, or we moved the low hip point over from J to M2, we’ll need to redraw that guideline. So I'll draw a line down from point M2 at right angles to the low hip line, and that's shown with a pink arrow.

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Then I'll draw a line at right angles to that line to touch the crotch point D1, which is shown with a blue arrow. So I've drawn a line which is actually a black arrow at 45 degrees to where the two guidelines intersect. Now, I want to talk about the length of that arrow, which helps you draw in the curve.

00:09:33:03 - 00:09:53:13
Now, most block making instructions give you a very clear, almost exact length for that line to help you draw the curve. Now, that Standard Figure is the one that I drafted using my system and the length of that arrow to draw the curve is very close to what most block making instructions suggest. Now, I've got there some examples.

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Joseph Armstrong says one and a quarter inches Aldridge gives more exact measurements based on the hip size, and Knowles is similar to Aldridge. The issue is that the system of determining the arrow length to be that is based on that proportional relationship between the hip and the extension which equals the thigh. So so if Jane had that proportional relationship between her hip and thigh, which is shown by the pink lines, and that difference there is a difference between her crotch length and the Standard Figure.

00:10:26:13 - 00:10:48:14
So she had those proportions, then that black arrow or that arrow that helps draw the curve would be 1 and 1/4 inches, which is what the bookmaking instructions say. But my point is that since there is not that a proportional relationship between the extension and the thigh, it's actually based on your actual thigh measurement. It's hard for me to give you an exact length for that arrow.

00:10:49:10 - 00:11:10:02
Basically, if your thigh 60% of the measurement you're using for your hip, then the length of the arrow will be about 1 and 1/4 inches. If your thigh is smaller, it'll be shorter. If your thighs larger, it'll be longer. So my suggestion is get a French curve and draw a curve that looks nice. Test it out in the toile and make any changes from there.

00:11:10:15 - 00:11:50:15
So now I'll measure the crotch length from point D1 up to the waist point P. So the crotch length is too long. I'll stop before point P and mark my new point as P2. I'll redraw the waist curve from point Q to point P and I'll need to check that the legs are the same length. Now it's better to concentrate on getting the foundation correct first, but if you really want to make sure that your leg has a good shape, it might be an idea to take an additional measurement, say the lower thigh, about 8 inches above the knee and use that additional measurement, plot the points to help you draw the curve.

00:11:50:23 - 00:12:09:19
Now, I suggest if you do that, if you take that additional measurement, you had very little ease. So you just divide by two and add, say, 3/8 of an inch, because again, a lot of the ease will be there'll be a lot more ease in the back leg. So this is Jane's front finished and I'll move on to drafting her back.

00:12:10:06 - 00:12:30:17
I won't be doing Jane's look right from the very beginning. I'll start with all the back points plotted. T is covered in Video 2, from 18 minutes and 27 seconds through to 20 minutes and 28 seconds. And like I did for the front, I use Jane's largest circumference to plot the points of D to I, not her low-hip measurement.

00:12:31:08 - 00:13:00:19
Now, these next few steps were actually covered for the Standard Figure in Video 2 from 20 minutes, 23 seconds to 23 minutes and 23 seconds. I'll cover them again quickly for Jane, because there's a couple of extra points I want to make for her. So I'll start by drawing straight lines from the knee to the ankle, from knee point E to ankle point G and from knee point F to ankle point H. I’ll draw a short guideline about two inches long, down from point C and at right angles to the C to D line.

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I'll take Jane's block and turn it upside down. I'll match the inseam knee point of the front block with the knee line of the pants back at point E. I'll rotate the front block until the crotch point touches the guideline I drew in the last step. I'll name that point C2 That's now the back crotch point. I'll set aside the pants front for the minute and measure in a 1/4 of an inch from point D and mark point D2.

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So I’ll bring the front block back again and flip it over to match the outseam knee point of the front with the knee point F of the back. I'll rotate the block so it passes through point D2 and touches the low hip at point M and I'll trace that front block from point F to point M. I'll rotate the front block so that the crotch point, low hip, high hip and waistlines match up and the front is exactly on top of the back at those key points.

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I'll trace the front side seam line from the low hip point M to the waist, and label the point at the waist point P. Now this shaping of the side seam. We did this for the standard figure and we actually did it for my figure too. But someone might question this because we've moved in quarter of an inch from D to D2.

00:14:16:02 - 00:14:36:04
We've shaved off some of the circumference for Jane. And since we went to the trouble of making it wider here..well, you know, is it going to be too small for her? Well, two things on that. Well, firstly, if I had plotted D to I using her low-hip measurement as shown by that pink dashed line. And I had come in here from D to D2..

00:14:36:14 - 00:14:58:08
Then she would be smaller there than she is currently. But more to the point, on the back here D to I does not correlates to the place where I measure the circumference around Jane's crotch level. At the front it is but here at the back it isn't. Let me explain ... that pink line on the green block shows where that crotch circumference would be.

00:14:58:20 - 00:15:21:22
It is not from D to I. It is that angled up from D to I. The 12 that is shown is my toile, but the concept is the same. I'm just showing it to you here in 3D because sometimes in 2D it's hard, harder to see, harder to say. Here it is. In 2D, what should be obvious is the length of the pink arrow is longer than the length of the blue arrow.

00:15:21:22 - 00:15:42:20
So Jane will have a bit more length than is indicated by D to I, or by the blue arrow. Now, another thing is that Jane does need an extension to her back crotch length because she has a drop bottom. Her crotch length is longer than the Standard Figure, so it might be clearer once I've done that. So here's another example, another pictorial representation.

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The blue line, which is the crotch depth at the back goes underneath the bottom. When you're measuring around the body at the crotch level, you do it at the front crotch level parallel to the floor. So the blue line going underneath the bottom is not where you're measuring where the tape measure goes around. When you're measuring, that's circumference.

00:16:03:04 - 00:16:30:12
Part of the problem is this three this two D representation doesn't give an indication of how the fabric drops down underneath the bottom. Now have given some examples of that in the previous video. So if you haven't watched that, that might help. If you don't understand this. So this is where we're up to. Before I digressed to explain why it's okay to shave a little bit off from D to D2,. So we're up to doing the waist.

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So of course I use the same waste measurement as I did for the pants front. I'll take the waist measurement, add 1-inch ease and divided by 4. So I'll measure across from point P for that waist measurement, plus 3/4 inch for a dart and mark point Q. I'll measure up from point Q at right angles to the waist line for three quarters of an inch.

00:16:53:04 - 00:17:23:14
And mark point R. Now will draw the waist line from point P to point R. Moving down to the crotch area. I'll continue the L to I line down below the crotch line for a few inches. I’ll then draw a horizontal line at right angles to the one just drawn from point C2 to cross that line. I’ll mark the intersection of those two lines with an X. I’ll mark point S halfway between point L on the waistline and point I on the crotch line.

00:17:24:10 - 00:17:49:01
Now I'll draw in the back crotch line. I'll start by drawing a straight line from point R at the waist, through point S to touch the low hip guideline. Then I'll draw a curve from the crotch point C2 blend to that point, using a French curve. The length of that arrow drawn at 45 degrees to the two guidelines is 1-inch for Jane.

00:17:49:01 - 00:18:10:02
It was 1 and 1/2inches for the Standard Figure, and for me it was 1 and 1/8 or 1 and 1/4. As a general guide, the bigger your thigh is in proportion to your hip, the longer that the length of the arrow will likely be, and the smaller your thigh is in proportion to your hip, the shorter it will be.

00:18:10:13 - 00:18:31:10
But the Standard Figure is about 1 and 1/2, so around 1 and 1/2, a bit more or less is a good starting point and you will check that on your toile. So in the center of the back waistline, I'll draw a dart that's 3/4 of an inch wide and 4 and 1/2 inches long. The dart should be at right angles to the waistline.

00:18:32:23 - 00:18:53:08
So I've checked the crotch length and it's too short. It's 13 and 13/16 of an inch. Jane needs 15 and 3/4 inches. So I'm going to have to cut and spread to get that extra length like I did on my block. I'll draw a straight line from point D2 through the low hip line and cut and spread keeping a hinge.

00:18:53:21 - 00:19:11:17
So that means I'll cut up point D2 on the left and then cut in from the low hip. And so, yes, keep a little hinge at point D2. So I've put some yellow paper underneath and I've opened it up, measured it, and I might have to close it and open it up a bit more to get the right length.

00:19:11:24 - 00:19:30:06
When I've determined that I've got the right length, I'd stick it down with sticky tape and then smooth that curve. I will also need to smooth out the side seam curve. Now in cutting and spreading, the grain line has moved up the top. So the correct grain line is the one that comes up straight through the middle of the leg.

00:19:30:12 - 00:19:51:21
So extend that grain line drawn by the black dashed line and grain line is written there. The pink dashed line is the previous grain line that's kind of skewed off when we cut and spread. So that can be rubbed out or gotten rid of. You want the grain line that goes straight up the leg. Now here's Jane's final block, front and back.

00:19:51:21 - 00:20:34:01
I actually haven't notched it. Make sure you notch your block. I suggest you draw all of your lines on your toile. If you have added to your crotch length, I suggest you keep a note as I have done with that yellow wedge and draw it on your toile as well. So that's the end of this video. Next time, drafting the blocks for Anne, and after that “Why Upper Bust”. For the moment ... chao.
Beautiful Dreamer, wake unto me..
Starlight and dew drops are waiting for thee
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day

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Lulled by the moonlight, has all passed away...