Making your own made to measure skirt block pattern – and understanding the process!

If you are new to pattern drafting I always think a skirt is a good place to start. I have carried out a lot of research on block drafting, I have even published an academic paper on the subject! The draft I am going to show you here is a combination of all my research and a method I developed as a result of much experimentation and perfecting the skirt draft.

I also realised that most drafting books are very rigid and do not allow for any manoeuvring in the process. Many of us are not drafting blocks because we are a standard shape. Being an unusual shape may well have led us to this point. So my instructions give ranges and options!

This post is a long one, at this moment I have been working on it for 2 days and it will no doubt go into 3 days once I make a toile and take some photos. What I am trying to do as I go along, is to explain the drafting process. Most, if not all, block drafting instructions out there just give basic follow the dot instructions, with barely any reasoning behind them. I am the type of learner that can’t accept anything myself until I understand it. Hence my desire to go into much detail in my posts! By the end of this you will be an expert skirt bock drafter, I promise!

Gather together:

• A tape measure
• A small piece of paper and a pen for notes
• A calculator (I use my phone)
• A large piece of paper to draft on – even wrapping paper or wall paper will do
• A long ruler and a set square
• A pencil (3H)
• A rubber – you will need one!

You will need some measurements too!

• Waist – measured at the natural waist level, What do I mean by natural waist? Having come from an era where the waist was the waist, I found myself explaining to students where the waist actually was! This is because fashion has lowered the place where most garments sit on the body. For example most trousers are now designed to sit below the waist and those garments that do actually sit on the waist are often referred to as ‘high wasted’ when in fact the sit directly on the natural waist.
• If you are a plus size then the waist measurement may be more difficult to take so take a piece of string and let it settle at the waist level where it wants to. Another way to identify where the natural waist is, is to bend over to the side and see where you crease. The natural waist is usually above the belly button.
• Hip measurement. The hip is the fullest area over the hips and bottom. You may sometimes be asked for a high hip or top hip measurement and this is located above the full hip. For this draft you need the full hip measurement which is normally located between 21 to 22 cm (8 1/4 inches to 8 11/16) below the natural waist (depending on your size) the smaller the size normally the higher the hip. Again if you are a plus size then the hip may be lower and if your measurement around the thighs is the largest measurement then use this. The skirt must pull over your largest part, so make sure you take a moment to make sure you have this measurement correct. Again make sure the tape is level.
• Take a note of your hip depth, as instructed above.

• Skirt length. This is entirely up to you. For a basic block I recommend drafting to the knee. You can always lengthen or shorten the skirt later.

 

Now there are a couple of things we need to consider before selecting which draft to use. If you have a hip that is more than 12 cm (4 3/4″) larger than your waist, you will need to draft a skirt with 2 back skirt darts, as one back skirt dart will not fit you well at all. However we will solve that problem once we have drafted the basic block and I will show you how to add an extra back waist dart as part of the process below.

Jot down your measurements here

It’s always advisable to make a note of your measurements and calculations when you are drafting a block or pattern. I have filled in the chart below with the measurements I am planning to use for this example. You will find a blank Skirt drafting measurements log here. I work in centimeters but I am aware many people work in inches so I have supplied conversions throughout the post.

The drafting process

We will begin by drawing a rectangle – the length of the rectangle will be your selected skirt length and the width will be half of your hip plus ‘some’ ease.

How much ease should I add?

firstly, remember we are working on half a pattern here, this is normal for pattern cutting and drafting when the block or pattern is symmetrical. Ease is extra allowance for movement and is the extra you add to a block or pattern above the actual body measurement. Ease will allow you to breath, sit, bend and function in the garment. Older people and plus size ladies usually like more ease. Young people and those that have a preference for a snug fit would add less ease. ( Babies and children also need more ease).

Another consideration to the quantity of ease you add at the hip is that those of you with wider hips and smaller waists will have more to take out at the waist (suppress) in the form of darts (suppression) as there will be a larger difference between hips and waist. What I recommend is that if you have a small waist and large hips, you may want to go for a smaller quantity of ease at the hips. Hope that all makes sense.

But – it  all depends on your personal preference, I would recommend anywhere between 1 to 2 cm (3/8 inch to 13/16″) to be added to the half hip measurement (half of the total ease of  2 cm (13/16″) to 4 cm (1 9/16″) ease). Lets go with 1.5 cm ease for this example (that would be 3 cm (1 3/16″) total ease). But its really up to you. Don’t forget this is a basic block and you will use it to develop your patterns from, so adaptations can be made later to the styles you want.

Next lets mark in the hip line

This can be anywhere between 20 cm to 22 cm (7 7/8 inches to 8 11/16) or even lower for larger sizes. Here is a link to my size chart up to a size 30 UK ( 26 USA), if you want to check your measurements against this and see how hip depth relates to size with a free PDF guide.

Detailed size chart –Waist to Hip Depths uk and usa sizes

I have decided to use 21cm (8 1/4″) as my hip depth for this example.

Now find the center of the hip line. In my example the hip line is 53 cm (20 7/8″) across so I will measure 26.5 cm (10 7/16″) across. This is where the side seam is located. Remember all lines must be square so use a set square to check.

Now raise the side seam at the waist level by 1 cm (3/8″) and square out each side by about 4 cm (1 9/16″).

Now we are ready to adjust the waist line to fit by adding in the darts.

calculate half your waist and let’s decide how much ease we want at the waist line. The minimum we can add realistically is half the amount be added to the hip measurement, and the maximum is 4 cm (1 9/16) for you to be able to ease that amount into a waistband. I have decided to add 3 cm (1 3/16″) total ease to my waist, this means I need to add half of that to half my waist. It’s important to always remember we are working on half a pattern, so the measurements are halved.

My waist is 77 cm (30 5/16″) divided by 2 that is 38.5 cm (15 3/16″).

I am choosing to add 3 cm (1 3/16″) total ease to the waist – divided by 2 that is 1.5 cm (9/16″)

38.5 cm (15 3/16″) + 1.5 cm (9/16″)  = 40 cm ( 15 3/4″)

This measurement needs to be subtracted from the measurement of line B-C

This will give the amount you need to take out (suppress) at the waist, in the form of darts (suppression).

For my example, measurement of line B-C (which is half my hip and half my ease at hip) is 53 cm (20 7/8″). From this I need to subtract 40 cm (15 3/4″) – this leaves me with 13 cm (5 1/8″) to remove at the waist line.

My hip is more than 12 cm (4 3/4″) larger than my waist so I will get a much better fit with 2 darts in the back skirt. I want to avoid having a huge back dart and having all the suppression in one place.

The process is the same for adding one or two darts up to a point, so let’s carry on.

I am actually using my dress stand as ‘my’ measurements. I wish they were my measurements!

She is a size 10 USA and a size 14 UK, and was used  to make a dress for Beyonce once, I bought her privately from a tailor on Saville Row ,not knowing this, but its a nice thought. She is very curvy and suits my size charts.

Lets go on. My difference is 12cm (4 3/4″). You can take at least half from the side seam, plus an extra cm if you need to. Another 1.5 cm (9/16″) to 2.5 cm (1″) can be removed in the front dart and the surplus that is left is removed at the back.

Its not ideal to remove more than 3 to 4 cm ( 1 3/16″ to 1 9/16″) in a back dart. It can be stretched to 5 cm (2″) at the maximum but really this is too much.

In this case I will remove 6 cm (2 3/8″) at the side seam, this leaves 6 cm (2 3/8″) .

I will take 2 cm ( 13/16″) at the front and this leaves 4 cm (1 9/16″)

I will take 2 darts at the back to balance the suppression.

 

Step one

Remove the quantity you have calculated from the side seam, do this equally at each side.

In this case 3 cm (1 3/16″) each side – measure along the lines you extended out from the point where you raised the waist.

Draw a straight line from points 1 and 2 to the side seam at hip level and then softly curve the lines outwards to shape them, not too much as the hip will be too curved, up to 1 cm (3/8″) at the center of the line is about right, however this does depend on how curvy the hip of the wearer is. I chose to curve out 0.75 (5/16″) in my draft.

Planning the front and back darts

Draw in a guide line from point 1 to A and again from point 2 to +

Divide line 1 to A into thirds and drop a line parallel at a third along from the side seam down to the hip line. This is where the front dart will be placed.

Place half of the quantity you have calculated to be taken by the front dart either side of this line and connect to a point 9 cm (3 9/16″) down the line. In my example I am taking 2 cm (13/16″) in total so I will place 1 cm (3/8″) each side of the dart center line.

Now for some fine tuning. The dart legs must both be the same length. To ensure this we will make sure that both dart legs rise above the original horizontal waist line guide by 0.5 cm (3/16″). Use a rubber to erase the surplus on the right side.

Gently shape the rest of the waist making sure the center front is at a right angle for a short distance so it lies flat without a bump or a dip!

Now on to the back – if you have 4 cm (1 9/16″) or less then you can get away with one dart at the back. You can push it and get away with a 5 cm (2″) dart at the back if you are passionate about only having one dart. We will cover putting 2 darts in the back next.

Divide line 2 – + into half. Drop a perpendicular line parallel to the CB – from this point to the hip level. The dart will be planned each side of this line, with half the amount placed equally either side of the line. The dart can be a maximum of 15 cm (5 15/16″) long, I am choosing to have my dart 13 cm (5 1/8″) long. This dart as with the front needs perfecting and the dart legs should lie approximately 0.25 cm (1/8″) above the waist guide line. Measure and perfect the darts and the waist shaping as with the front.

I have 4 cm (1 9/16″) left so I will be placing 2 cm (13/16″) each side of the dart center line.

 

The block now needs to be cut out in paper and the darts folded in to achieve the correct shape. If you want to learn a technique for planning the shape of the darts without having to cut the block out in paper then see my technique on mirroring darts in my last post.

You also need to make sure that the waistline run is smooth once the darts are folded in. We will take a look at that shortly. Lets move on to planning for 2 darts at the back for us shapely ones!

2 darts in the back

At this point we have 4 cm (1 9/16″) or above that we want to pop into 2 darts at the back. This time instead of placing the first dart directly in the center of the waist guide line as we did for the example with the one dart back, we will move 3.5 cm (1 3/8″) along from this center line towards the center back. This dart can be up to 15 cm (5 15/16″) long. I prefer to use a length of 13 cm (5 1/8″)

The second dart will be placed half way between the remaining portion. The dart closest to the side seam needs to be shorter than the first dart by 2 cm (13/16″).

Place between 3 cm (1 3/16″) to 4 cm (1 9/16″) in the dart closest to the center back and the remaining quantity in the dart next to the side seam. Hopefully there shouldn’t be any more than 3 cm (1 3/16″) left to distribute, but if there is let me know as I have never come across this and would like to take a closer look.

 

 

Again the darts need perfecting and the dart legs need to be the same length. Make the dart legs 0.25 cm (1/8″) above the original waist level guide for the dart closest to CB and make the dart legs 0.5 (3/16″) cm above this line for the dart next to the side seam. Curve the waist gently.

 

At this point I need to stop myself, as I could go on forever about how to fit and adapt this bock, but I will save that for another post. I would love to hear from anyone that has followed my draft an any feedback is much appreciated! I will be making this draft soon and will post the pictures and some more tips for making the shape even better.

I will be adding to this theme with posts on how to make your skirt into a range of styles so keep posted and make sure you are subscribed!

If you have read all this and would love a bespoke skirt draft then please let me know as we offer a service to create a basic block to your measurements, but why not give it a go yourself!

Happy pattern drafting.

Nicola