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Design and Sew Your Own Leggings

Design and Sew Your Own Leggings
Cal Patch is a renaissance crafter, with know-how spanning the fields of crochet, pattern-making, sewing, embroidery, dyeing, printing, spinning, and beyond. She is the author of Design-It-Yourself Clothing, writes a blog, and can can be found teaching classes around New York state (and beyond). For this week’s How-Tuesday, Cal will teach us how to make a custom pair of leggings. I adore leggings. You’ll need to measure yourself, draft a pattern, get some stretchy knit fabric, and stitch it up. Materials You’ll Need: For the pattern: Paper to make the pattern. For the leggings: About 1 ½ yards of nice stretchy knit fabric, like cotton/Lycra jersey.About 1 ½ yards of cheaper stretchy knit fabric, like cotton/Lycra jersey (for the muslin).All-purpose thread to match.PinsScissors (for fabric)Sewing machine You’ll need the following measurements: Okay, now let me explain how to go about measuring each one, as I’ve no doubt you might have a question or two! So we’re ready to draft our pattern! Related:  Block drafting

Leena's.com: PatternMaker Tutorial Web Site The following measurements are needed for PatternMaker women's macros. Use these instructions also when drafting patterns according to the instructions on the pattern drafting pages. If you need ladies' standard measurements you can get them by clicking here . Important! Important! To view the larger pictures and to print them click on the picture in question. BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL WHEN TAKING THE MEASUREMENTS PRINTED IN RED . Important! YOU CAN USE CENTIMETERS OR INCHES.

Grosgrain: Free Pattern Drafting Calculator for Your Measurements....and my commentary on drafting patterns for dummies;-) I will admit, when I first saw the calculator (ie Excel document) it looked as confusing as a building schematic. But here are a couple things that might help put it in more "layman's terms". First download the file here at Mediafire. See the tabs at the bottom? Now, see that on FBodice 1 AND every other page there is a top and a bottom table? First off in column B type in your own personal measurements. Now, you can start! Look at the measurements under the column "Lines". First off, line A. Now, look at the number in the "Lines" column next to "B". Measure down your vertical line using that measurement and make a mark. Now, look at the number under P1 in row A (P1 stands for "point 1", each horizontal line that you just drew ie, A, B, C, D....has one or more points on it). Using that number under P1 measure from where your axis points meet out to the right along your A line. Now, look at the number under P1 in row B. For Line E you must make several points. Now comes the fun part! Side

pattern drafting You need 1 18″ reversible nylon closed zipper2.5 yds. of shell fabric, 60″ wide1.5 yds. of liner fabric, 60″ wideCoordinating thread1 roll of kraft paper or pattern-making papper1 tracing wheel On a sheet of kraft paper, draw a straight line about 2″ from the edge along the length. In the middle of this line, mark point 1. 2 from 1 = 29″ 3 from 1 = 29″ 4 from 1 = 29″ Connect points 2, 3, 4 with an arc radiating from 1 as shown. 5 from 1 = 1 ½” 6 from 1 = 3 ½” 7 from 1 = 4 “ Connect points 5 and 7 with a shallow curve. Join points 6 and 7 with a deep curve as shown. 8 is located midway between point 6 and 3. Square down from 7 and across from 8 to locate point 9. 10 from 5 = 1 ½” 11 from 7 = 1 ½” Connect 10 to 11 with a curved line parallel to line 5-7. Draw a tangent line from 11 passing through point 9 and continue to locate 12 at the intersection. With a tracing wheel, trace out onto a new sheet of paper the following from this draft: For the shell: trace points 6-7-5-2-4-12-3-8-6.

constructing the basic sloper pattern If you want to get into pattern drafting, having your own sloper of pattern block is a must have. Instead of calculating all of your measurements over and over again, do it once thoroughly and adjust that pattern to every shape you can imagine. It's really not that difficult. When I started out making patterns I came across lots of wonderful tutorials on how to construct your own basic patterns, none of them were completely to my liking however. Technique Materials ruler, L square, French curve, calculator, pattern paper, set of body measurments Circle skirt calculator – for the drafting of full, half and 3/4 skirts. With bonus grading worksheet! | The Snugbug Mercantile Special Sunday greetings you naked molerats! Since you’re so naked, I thought you might want to make yourselves some nice little circle skirts. And perhaps, like me, you find yourself with little mole rat patterns just a touch on the small side. But the grading of a circle skirt isn’t so easy, is it you naked rodents? Oh no, not so easy at all… OK. Recently I’ve been plotting about two separate circle-skirt related issues in my head. For molerats who are unfamiliar with circle skirts, here’s the difference between the three styles. For a much more interesting comparison, here’s a full circle skirt. {image Whirling Turban} Here’s the oh, so lovely three-quarter circle skirt. And a slightly pixelated half circle skirt… {image Get Go Retro} The other circle-skirt related problem I’ve been mulling over has to do with grading up circle skirts. OK, I admit I usually grade up my circle skirts the ‘wrong’ way. My problem is (hopefully) solved! Okee dokee. Whew! OK! There we have it!

Using Adobe Illustrator for flat pattern drafting | Tien Chiu I draft my own sewing patterns. I had been doing this on paper, but got tired of having to copy, cut, tape, and recopy patterns every time I wanted to modify a design. I also wanted to be able to save old versions of designs without drowning in a sea of paper. I investigated professional pattern drafting software, but they typically cost about $5000, far out of my reach. And it worked! Here is a tutorial on (or maybe just some examples of) using Adobe Illustrator for flat pattern drafting. The first section discusses drafting a sloper – which contains all the concepts you need to draft any pattern. Part I: Drafting a Sloper I started by drafting a sloper from scratch. Using the Dynamic Measure tool, I clicked on the first endpoint, then dragged the mouse out to create each of the red lines. Here is my screen after I had finished all the measurements and laid out all the points: Next I took the Pen tool and created anchor points at each of the points indicated in the pattern: Ta-daa! Ta-daa!

Sugar Tart Crafts: Drafting a Bodice Front In case you missed yesterday's post. We are jumping right into the kids pattern-making series today with the Front Bodice, but first I'm going to show you the tools of the trade. I hope it is obvious that we will be using paper, pencils and a ruler, but there are a few other things that make pattern-making simpler. The first (and also my favorite) helpful tool is a french curve. They come in many different shapes and sizes, but the one you will need has the curved shape of an armhole. The next helpful tool is called a hip curve and it's purpose is exactly what you'd think. Or, You could just get a combination ruler that is both the hip and the arm in one. So, now that we have all the necessary equipment assembled, let's make a bodice! If you are not using the chart and are taking the measurements directly from your child, you will need: #4 - Center Length - Measure from the center of the neckline (that little dip in the collar bone) to the waist. Did that make any sense? Thanks for Visiting!

Grading For such a quiet little web site, my site does require quite a bit of work – hence the silence. I am happy to report that I’ve mostly won the battle and added lots to it in the past few weeks, both seen and unseen. There are now kits, needles, notions and a few books I’m enthusiastic about. Also had a wee sale on black Friday which was announced to newsletter subscribers only – I will continue to announce any price breaks solely there, so sign up if you’d like to be in the loop! But, back to the subject at hand… It’s been a while since I promised to write about grading, but it’s a lengthy subject and requires an uninterrupted block of time. Before we can start about grading, let’s take a quick look at patterns and where they come from. Flat patternmaking begins with what is known as a block or sloper – these are shells which fit the body with only wearing ease added. Once a block has been perfected, it can be used again and again to create new styles by drawing new style lines. Anyhow.

A Few Threads Loose: How to Draft a Trousers Pattern - A Tutorial Hello my dear readers, This month I have really had trousers on my mind. A trip to Banana Republic where everything was lovely, expensive, and way too short for my long legs had me thinking, "I can make this! Why would I pay $100 for something that just won't quite fit right?" I always do this. I call it the seamless loop. I also decided that I would create a tutorial here in case any of you might like to try trouser drafting for yourselves! Paper, long enough for your high waist to floor measurement plus a few inches more, and wide enough for 1/2 your hip measurement plus a few more inches. And of course, you'll need your measurements! And now for how it's done! I. - See illustration above. A to B - Equals side length measurement. C to D - Equals 1/4 of hip measurement plus 3/4” for ease. II. - See illustration above. III. - See illustration above. And there you have it! Aaaaand on a completely separate note, I have decided to have a sale this week at Mrs. Happy sewing!

20 Tips for Writing Good Quality PDF Patterns - Things for Boys If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my Monthly Newsletter. Thanks for visiting! I love that there are so many indie pattern designers around these days. Modern day sewists are really spoiled for choice! A lot of bloggers who like to sew are turning to designing patterns as a way to explore their creativity and earn a little income from what they love to do. I have one pattern for sale, The Big Tote Bag and another pattern in the works. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. If you’re after an in depth course showing you in great detail how to create PDF patterns using Adobe Illustrator, then I can recommend Lauren’s course over at Pattern Workshop. Alright, that’s enough from me… Have you got any tips to add?

Introducing the Pattern Drafting Jeans Sew-Along! - Laura After Midnight I have been making my own Jeans and Trousers since I was about 16-ish, and I still remember the utter satisfaction- after another failed shopping trip to buy Jeans, any Jeans!- of rushing to my local Fabric Shop, buying the only Jeans Pattern available and making my first pair that very same day. They were great, I mean I’m sure they had a little wobble in the stitching here and there but even my Mum was impressed and I literally haven’t shopped for Trousers or Jeans since. Blessed with my Grandmothers huge hips, as well as height it has always been difficult to shop for clothing. I honestly haven’t looked back. Not only did it make sense in a way that made me happy, I was good at it! Simply because I need some new Jeans myself I thought I’d start with Drafting a Jeans Pattern, Toiling and making the resultant Pattern up with tips on how to do so, fit and I am sure all sorts of further nonsense! Sound good? You’ll need a Pattern Master Happy stitching!

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