Patterning For My FMP Dress

To start with I had to change the design of my dress as it was to similar to another students and I wanted it to e more unique. I changed the shape of the skirt into a bubble.

This was my original design.

To start with I measured the bodice measurements on the mannequin with help from my tutor. I had to figure out how I wanted the bodice to fit. I wanted it to be a strong structure and fitted to the waist.

My next step was to take the patterning paper and draw free hand around the mannequins neck to get the correct shape and size. This went well and I had no problems.

I traced a bodice block and from this I started to draw out my bodice pieces. To do this I got pattern paper, took my measurements and drew the shapes I wanted. From discussing techniques with my tutor it was decided that due to the shape of the bodice I would need to panel the front top part of the dress. I needed to panel the bodice to make sure that it fitted around the bust of the female form. I had to ensure that the two outside panels were wider than the two inside panels.

I then went on to make my back pattern piece. I did this by measuring around the back of the mannequin to get the correct measurements. I decided on just producing one panel piece for the part of the bodice rather than different panels like with the front because I felt it fit better with my design and looked more feminine.

My next step was to work out where I wanted the zip on the dress and how high it would go up the body. The fit of the dress would be tighter with the zip so I had to bear that in min. I allowed a 1cm seam allowance all the way around my dress. I decided to put the zip on the left of the dress because I felt there was already enough going on, on the right side of the dress with the neck piece. It also made getting in and out of the dress a lot easier as you weren't having to negotiate the neck piece.

I know started work on my skirt piece. I wanted my skirt to be longer at the back and shorter at the front. I measure a student who was roughly the same height as the models we would be using in the show and decided that the back of my skirt would measure 80cm and the front should measure 50cm.

To create the pattern pieces for my skirt I trace a skirt block and then adapted it to fit with my design. Again I decided I would need to panel my skirt to create the shape I wanted. I drew out my seam allowances and started to draw out the panels from my traced skirt block. Each panel got longer from the front to the back to create the asymmetrical shape. The panels were also drawn wider in the middle to create the bubble effect.

I then needed to make sure that the waist of my skirt and the waist of my bodice matched up. I measured both an realised that the waist of my skirt was 1cm bigger than my bodice. The darts on the skirt were set to 2cm an so to reduce the length I reduced one of the darts at the back of the skirt to 1 cm so that the entire skirt waist now matched up with the waist of the bodice.

I redrew all of the panel pieces of my skirt to get the adapted basic shape of my skirt. These were my second raft pattern pieces. I then colour coded these pieces to help me match them up an to stop me from getting confuse. I also did this on my design so that I had a guide to work to. I then pinned my pattern pieces on to the mannequin to check I was going to end up with the correct shape I wanted. It was perfect and I was happy.