Pattern Drafting for Thesis

My undergraduate thesis, Of Cloth and Culture, necessitated the creation of new garment archetypes. To manifest these ideas, I had to learn to draft flat patterns of the human body that, when sewn in cloth, would slope over the body and be recognized as clothes.

I began by following instructions on constructing a “sloper”, a the conventional western method of capturing a persons chest contours on paper. I followed advice from the text book Pattern Making for Menswear by Gareth Kershaw and created patterns of my upper body.

Developing fitted chest sloper

Taking custom shirt pattern and flattening it into one piece.

Finalized butterfly patter is ready to be pinned and cut.

Cut out final flat pattern.

Pinned up muslin, ready to sew!

As the project deadline drew nearer, I expedited the pattern-making process by extracting proportions from garments that fit and existing patterns. I then manipulated those drawings to suit my needs.

Cutting out altered parts of a paper pattern by Vogue to fit design constraints.

Altered Vogue Pants Pattern Muslin

Another method I used to expedite was creating boxy forms. These were easy to cut and sew, then I pinned them on for a fit, took them off, and traced these new contours. I used these tracings to construct the final pattern and ultimately the final garment.

Shorts pattern developed from rectangular waist proportions.

Test muslin

Finalized shorts

This process gave me exposure to the truly complex nature of these objects we cover ourselves with. It’s amazing the way a combination of precise trigonometry and fudging lines can yield the pleasing, flowing contours we enjoy.

The project presentation can be seen here and the teaser goes live on the UIC School of Design Year End Show website Friday the 8th of May along with the rest of the thesis projects from the class of 2020.