Skirt. A Fast Look at Pattern Drafting. Drafting. Pattern Drafting 101- Drafting the Basic Bodice Block. The Basic Bodice Block- the only pattern you’ll ever need to make any kind of garment for the upper body- tees, blouses, tanks, sweaters, coats, vests, even bras!
Drafting the Basic Bodice Block requires a knowledge of basic high-school geometry, but once you’ve finished, you have a universal pattern for all your upper body sewing needs fit to your own body, not to a set of predetermined body measurements based on the “average” person. (These instructions taken from Gedwoods of Burdastyle.com. I have simply rewritten them for ease of reading.
His original instructional post can be found here.) Constructing the Basic Bodice Block – Learning Sewing. An alternative method of creating garments to using patterns constructed in standard sizes, is to construct a pattern using custom measurements - this results in a garment with a near-perfect fit.
The disadvantage is that all the pattern manipulation must be done by the home sewer. However, a great deal of creative variation is possible from such a custom-made pattern using even minor changes. Here I present a step-by-step method to construct the close-fitting basic bodice block. The term "block" is used to describe a pre-pattern template - additional manipulation is required at the end to generate a pattern (e.g. changing the bust dart, adding seam allowances, etc.). This version of the basic bodice block is used to support the development of the bra pattern posted previously, but can also be used for a variety of other garments.