Today we are going to take a look at how to make a basic blouse block or a casual dress block, from a basic bodice bock. The dress block would be suitable for unstructured and looser shirt style dresses. If you are looking for a fitted dress then I would recommend using a dedicated fitted dress block.
Step One – Prepare the front bodice block
We need to adapt the front bodice a little before we begin the draft. The basic bodice has a great deal of suppression (dart) at the front shoulder, to accommodate the bust. As we are producing a looser, casual block we can eliminate some of that dart.
- First measure the amount of suppression in the back shoulder blade dart, make a note of this.
- Mark in a new dart position at the front armhole – about 4 cm along from the underarm point as shown.
- Slash along this line and close out the front shoulder dart, leave the same quantity you measured in the back shoulder blade dart or just over 1 cm (3/8″). This dart can be left as ease at the shoulder and ignored.
4. Place the front and back bodice blocks on a sheet of paper side by side – line up at the underarm points.
5. Drop a straight line from the center front 21 cm (8 1/4″) to form a new hip line – square across and up to the center back.
6. Drop each armhole point by 1 cm and extend out by 1 cm. Drop vertical lines parallel to CF and CB from these new points to touch the hip line. Draw in new armhole curves.
At this point you can decide if you would like to keep the front armhole dart, for a more fitted look, or if you would like to allow the dart to be absorbed into the armhole shaping to create a looser style.
7. Measure up from the hip line 21 cm (8 1/4″) and square out each side of this point. Measure in from the vertical side seam – Purple line- 2.5 cm each side. Create the new side seam shape as shown with the orange line. Curve gently at the side seam so the shape is not so severe.
8. To create the fish darts, drop a line from the bust point, and extend this line 10 cm below the waist level. Make the dart 2.5 cm wide at the waist level and complete the shape of the dart.
9. For the back fish dart extend a line 13 cm below the waist level and make this dart 2 cm wide at the waist. Join the lines to form the fish dart.
10. Trace off each block from the main draft and transfer all the pattern marking and notches.
Now on to the sleeve…
- Trace your sleeve block and measure the sleeve head – assess the front and back measurements.
- Also measure your new armholes. If you chose to leave the dart as ease in the armhole then the front armhole will be larger. In this example I have chosen to still sew the dart in to gain a little more shaping over the bust so I will not measure the dart mouth.
At this point in the draft it all depends how much ease there was originally in your sleeve head and if you are sewing in the armhole dart at the front or leaving it as ease.
What we need to achieve here is a sleeve head that fits into the armhole. If the sleeve head is slightly bigger than the armhole then this is fine as the excess can be eased in over the sleeve head.
If the sleeve is smaller than the armhole then there are a couple of adaptations we can make to add in the extra.
We can extend the sleeve out at the scye line, as demonstrated below to add in some extra.
The notches will need to be re-positioned if you do this. From the underarm point on the bodice front (red line) to the single notch must match the underarm point on the sleeve to the first notch exactly. Ease is not added here. At the back the green portions must match also – up to the double notch. All ease is inserted over the crown on the sleeve.
If you need to add more ease into the sleeve again and want a flatter sleeve head the following method is also suitable, particularly if you have chosen not to sew in the armhole dart in the front bodice.
Slash up the center of the sleeve and across to each underarm point, spread the sleeve put and allow the crown to collapse down as shown. Trace the new sleeve shape, measuring the notches as previously shown.
Making this draft into a dress
If you want to use this draft as a shirt style dress then its quite simple – just add a rectangle below the hip line on both the front and back!
When I get a moment I will make up this draft as a toile and pop the photos on.
I hope this helps you make the very most of your bodice block!
Nicola x
