with

Patternmaking + Design: Suzy Furrer

Creative Darts & Seam Lines What You'll Need

Supplies & Resources

SUPPLIES RESOURCES
• Awl Instructor's website: apparelartsproductions.com
• Drafting curve and circles template
Building Patterns: The Architecture of Women's
• Muslin
Clothing by Suzy Furrer (Apparel Arts, 2008)
• Pattern paper and tag or poster board
• Regular and red pencils and eraser
• Scissors — paper and fabric
• Tape measure
• Tracing or carbon paper and tracing wheel
• Transparent ruler (2"x18" with grid)
• Transparent tape
• Pins and pattern weights
• Optional tools: Dress form; identifying stamps;
notcher; pattern hooks; pattern punch

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 Creative Darts & Seam Lines
FRONT
1. Trace the front sloper to the low hip.
2. Adjust length: Either bring the base up evenly or
lengthen the base evenly. Maintain base width.
3. Adjust ease at underarm/bust to 1" (maximum
for sleeveless garments): If you added ½" ease
to the moulage when drafting the sloper,
reduce front and back side seams by ¼" at bust
guideline only. If you added 3/8" to the moulage
when drafting the sloper, reduce by 1/8". Maintain
sloper ease at waist and low hip.
4. Adjust ease at waist and hip (if desired).
5. Decide center front neck depth.
6. Decide high neck point placement.
7. Draft neckline connecting center front neck and
high neck point.
8. Decide how shoulder dart will be handled: sewn,
ignored, or manipulated out?
9. Adjust end of shoulder as desired. End of
shoulder can be brought in ½” or more on
sleeveless garments.
10. Bring cross front in by half the amount of end-
of-shoulder adjustment.
11. Lower base of armhole, if desired, by squaring
straight down.
12. Redraft armhole: Connect new points for end of
shoulder, cross front, and base of armhole.
13. Draft new style lines: princess seams, dart
manipulations, etc. Draft skirt lines, if applicable:
flare, pencil line, straight skirt, etc.
14. Decide how waist dart will be handled: sewn,
ignored, or manipulated out?
15. Redraw side seam if necessary.
16. Draw in waist shaping if garment is fitted or semi-
fitted. Remember waist shaping can be taken at neck
and shoulder if garment does not have a princess or
waist seam. Ignore waist shaping if garment is loose.
© Craftsy Craftsy.com
with Suzy Furrer What You'll Need
Pattern Drafting Order of Operations
17. Include pocket placement, if desired. Draft
pocket pattern pieces.
18. Shape base as desired.
19. Cut pattern apart at style lines and manipulate
darts, if necessary. Fold or cut away waist
shaping if necessary. Finish drafting skirt, if
necessary with insertions, extensions, etc.
BACK
1. Trace the back sloper and adjust the length as
front.
2. Adjust the ease at the bust, waist and low hip as
front.
3. Draw in back contouring if there is a center back
seam.
4. Decide the depth at the center back neck. If
the garment will pull over the head and is a
woven (as opposed to a knit) then draft in a slit
of about 4" at the center back neck to pull the
garment over the head. It can then close with a
button and loop. Think about how the garment
will close. Remember to interface the seam
allowance around a closure.
5. Adjust the high neck point as front.
6. Will the shoulder dart be sewn, ignored or
manipulated out?
7. Adjust the end of shoulder as front.
8. Adjust the cross back by coming in half the
amount the end of shoulder was adjusted.
9. Lower the base of the armhole if lowered in
front.
10. Redraw the armhole by connecting the end of
shoulder, cross back and base of armhole.
11. Decide if there will be a princess seam, dart
manipulation or other style line and draft that in.
Draft in the lines needed for the skirt as front if
you are drafting a dress.
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 Creative Darts & Seam Lines with Suzy Furrer What You'll Need

Pattern Drafting Order of Operations

12. How will the waist dart be handled? Sewn,

ignored or manipulated?
13. Draw the side from bust to low hip.
14. Draw in the waist shaping if necessary.
15. Finish drafting the skirt if you are drafting a dress
(i.e., insertions, extensions, etc.)
16. Shape the base as desired. Make sure there is a
smooth transition from front to back.
17. True the back to the front pattern at the high
neck point, end of shoulder, under the arm,
along the side and check the transition from
front to back. Adjust either the front or back as
necessary.
18. Cut the pattern apart at the style lines and
manipulate the darts as desired. Fold or cut away
the waist shaping if necessary.

FRONT AND BACK FINAL PATTERN

1. True the entire pattern again once the front and
back are cut apart.
2. Include notches and awl punches as needed.
3. Add grain lines to each pattern piece.
4. Trace off the pieces for lining patterns as
necessary. Remember, lining pieces are the same
width, but they are often drafted slightly shorter
so they don’t hang below the fashion fabric.
5. Mark all pieces with a style name or number,
piece name, how many to cut and out of which
fabrication. Always mark the date and the client
name.
6. It helps to mark on the pattern if any trims are
needed (buttons, zippers, etc.). Note where that
trim will be applied and how much/many.
Once the pattern has been perfected by testing in a
like fabric and adjusting as needed (it is not unusual
to have to sew three mock-ups until you are satis-
fied with the fit and style of a new garment), then
turn this working pattern into a production pattern.
Production patterns have all the seam and hem al-
lowances added and trued. Also, no pattern pieces
are on fold in a production pattern.
Trace out each pattern piece for a clean copy with
seam and hem allowances added. Pieces that were
previously on a fold should be traced off for a full
pattern piece. Mark grain lines, notches, awl punch-
es. Be sure to notch seam and hem allowances
as well. Stamp each pattern piece and write in the
pertinent information (style, piece, cut, date, client
name, etc.). Use a pattern record card and punch
with a pattern punch and hang with a pattern hook.

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