The God of Tailoring comments

Schneidergott comments:

Hi, Jeremy!

Thank you for the link. A few tips to make your life easier when drafting and sewing.

Take pictures of and for yourself in a tight fitting shirt and some trousers with a belt. Have a straight line in the picture for guidance to set the picture to an correct 90° angle. Take shots of front, side and back and have a close look at them.

All humans are unsymmetrical, some more, some less. Unless there is a severe distortion of the spine, the side with the lower shoulder usually has a stronger hip. If you do not compensate for that in your pattern the coat will rest on that hip later.

Get yourself measured properly. Immensely important are the balance measures. Start with a string or tape around your natural waist, make sure it's the same distance to the bottom all the way around. If you don't have one of the special "Lotmaßband" just use an ordinary measuring tape and attach something heavy to one end.

Using that tape around your waist as a starting line (use the point where the spine meets the tape) measure from there up to the nape at your neck and to your outer shoulders (across the blades). Do the same at the front.

When you have your proportionate draft apply those measures. Also, skip the front lapel dart, you don't need one.

And of course you are right about the pattern being too crooked in the front. It's easy to correct. Make a cut from about 1/2 the front armscye depth to the centre front line. The pivoting point will be at 1/2 of that line, or just lengthen the front chest dart further up. Now close the new dart at CF line until you get the front neck point to the position you need (from seeing the pictures I'd say about 1cm at the dart). The armhole will become slightly bigger (by the same amount you pinched away at the CF), keep that in mind when drafting a sleeve or using the pattern you might already have.

D.
Once you have the balance right, the rest is a piece of cake! :Big Grin: