Submitted by Debby Bowles, leader of Designing Divas Neighborhood Group
Do you need your top to fit? Do you always struggle with getting your patterns to fit? Do you keep making several muslins before you get that perfect fit?
I’m sure you’ve heard – You need a sloper. Yes, a sloper does help with the fitting issues, although it is not the end-all solution to all pattern fitting. A sloper, frequently called a block, is a base pattern for developing all those pieces of a garment that we wear – skirt, pants, bodice. The bodice sloper is what I’ll be discussing.
There are several methods to creating a sloper.
One, you can use a basic pattern and tweak it to fit your body. Then use that same pattern in various fabrics, style variations, etc.
Two, you can use an industry bodice sloper pattern and tweak it to fit your body. Then use that same pattern in various fabrics, style variations, etc.
Three, you can do the couture method by first making a moulage from your measurements, make a few fitting tweaks, then add the ease needed for your bodice sloper. This sloper becomes your base pattern for patterndrafting your own creations.
This summer eighteen of our guild members worked with Suzy Furrer to make that perfect moulage and developed it into a sloper.
Suzy Furrer is the author of three books on Patternmaking*, owns Apparel Arts Productions, and is a nationally acclaimed teacher for patterndrafting. The steps were intense, but all eighteen ladies now have that perfect sloper for developing their own creations.
Here is how we did it.
Suzy Furrer worked with us step by step. She sent a video on how to take our measurements. We spent one day taking each other’s measurements the Suzy Furrer method. With those measurements, we were ready for the two day workshop.
Suzy, in person, met us at the retreat center ready for us to draft the moulage. We used the worksheet with our measurements and drafted the moulage. It took all day to complete the 88 steps that were required to make the moulage. The moulage is a fabric cast of our body!
The second day we traced the moulage onto muslin, including all the needed balance lines. We added seam allowances, then cut our muslin into eight sections. Then onto sewing the eight sections back together.
Most of the participants finished sewing the pieces, but did not have time to fit the moulage onto their bodies. Another session was scheduled for fitting. Actually, two more sessions. Each fitting session lasted about an hour. We were able use Suzy’s advice on fitting and how to make the fitting changes through another video Suzy sent us.
Then pictures of how we thought the moulage should be fitted were sent to Suzy Furrer. With her wizard of an eye, she was able to suggest so gently if we needed to do what we thought, and if we needed to do more.
After these two fitting sessions, we had another meeting to take the moulage pattern with its fitting alterations and add ease to the pattern to create the sloper. That proved to be only 26 steps. A sloper with 1 ½ inches ease now was complete.
Since most of us don’t wear sleeveless tops, now was time to make the sleeve pattern. We used Suzy Furrer’s method for drafting a sleeve. After a two hour session, we completed the 53 steps needed for the perfect sleeve.
Each of us now crafted the perfect sloper with the perfect sleeve. Many of us have put these pattern pieces on tagboard. Others prefer to keep it as a paper pattern until they are sure how it will be used.
Not sure what we learned more. How to stretch our minds or to just create a sloper. A summer of intense work, but so worth it!! I hope to share many of our creations from this sloper for years.
If you want to continue with patterndrafting basics with these eighteen ladies and several others, join Designing Divas – We meet monthly on the fourth Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano. For more information, contact designingdivas@planoasgsews.org
*Find all of Suzy Furrer’s information at www.apparelartsproductions.com
Plano Chapter American Sewing Guild
