Patternmaking For A Perfect Fit: Using The: Rub-...

With her fresh paper pattern cut out, Clara was ready for the ultimate test: the muslin toile. She cut the pattern pieces out of cheap unbleached cotton and basted them together on her sewing machine.

The art of dressmaking often feels like a conversation between the fabric and the form, but for Clara, that conversation had become a series of frustrating arguments. Her latest project—a vintage-inspired Dior-style jacket—was a masterpiece on the hanger, but on her own body, the shoulders pulled, the bust gaped, and the waist sat an inch too high. Clara was an expert at following commercial patterns, but she was realizing that her body did not fit the industry standard. Patternmaking for a Perfect Fit: Using the Rub-...

Clara cleared off her large wooden dining table and gathered her tools: The target garment (her beloved denim jacket) A large cork tracing board Dozens of fine straight pins Translucent medical pattern paper A tracing wheel with a serrated edge A mechanical pencil and French curve rulers With her fresh paper pattern cut out, Clara

The next step was "truing" the pattern. Clara took her French curve and straight rulers to connect the dotted lines left by the tracing wheel, smoothing out the wobbles. Clara took her French curve and straight rulers