Whenever I make new sample garments, I always try to do something new and/or different. I don't like doing the same ol' thing! Because of this, I usually have requests for me to explain what I did. That's the purpose of today's blog. For the Ollie dress, I started with a basic jumper pattern. I chose one that buttoned down the back (e.g., Children's Corner Charlotte, Bonnie Blue Designs' Madison); however, you could use one that buttons on the shoulder (e.g., Children's Corner Lucy, Bonnie Blue Designs' Holly & Hunter). Here's how I modified the pattern.
On a large piece of paper, draw a center front line.- Tape the original pattern's center front line to this line on the paper.
- Draw one half of the pattern onto the large piece of paper. I use my ruler to draw the straight edges and short dashed lines to draw the curves.
When finished drawing the first half of the pattern, flip the original pattern to the other side of the line. Repeat the process of drawing the other side of the pattern.- Remove the original pattern when finished. Draw the seam allowances.
To shape the curves, I used starch cans because they were handy. They happened to be 3" circles. Place the cans in the desired pattern.
Draw around the edge of the cans to form the basic curve pattern.
Connect the curves either by drawing freehand or using a straight edge.
- Once satisfied with the curved line, cut the upper half of the pattern away from the bottom half. To make sure that I laid out/cut out the pattern correctly, I labeled both the upper and lower halves of the pattern to indicate the right side of the fabric.
- Along the curved edge of both pattern halves, I made a note to add the seam allowance when cutting out the fabric. Please, don't forget to do this - otherwise, your halves won't fit together properly.
You can have the curves on the front of the jumper only, or have them on the back side too, like I did. I will cover how I did the back of the jumper in the next blog.
I know that it isn't alway easy to see lines drawn on white paper in these pictures, but you can click on each picture to see a larger image.
