Sorry for all of you who want cute pictures of the boys... mom... but I am pressing on with my experiment in Pattern Drafting.
Since the last episode, I traced the pattern onto tracing interfacing, cut it out, and used those pieces as pattern pieces for my block or sloper. I cut this out of a lovely (or not so) watermelon fabric I had acquired large amounts of long ago, adding seam allowances, and sewed it up...
Aside from arm holes that were too small (I have big arms. That's the truth), it fit pretty well! :) I took photos which are largely unflattering and haven't been posted. It's my blog. I can decide that.
Next step, then, was to follow the instructions to alter the "block" pattern into a basque, the period "jacket" top that goes with a skirt to make a perfect 1880s dress. In order to make room for the front darts, I did expand the front a bit... we may revisit that later...
The next pattern looks like this:
My goal in drawing and cutting all of this out (after the watermelon-print block) is to have everything period-appropriate to work on out in 1886 if necessary. So at the bottom, where I taped another strip of paper on, I have since removed the tape and pinned it together. 3M had not yet produced Scotch (TM) tape, not to mention the special matte kind used for wrapping birthday presents.
I bought cheap muslin on my recent JoAnn's run, so I traced the pattern lines onto the muslin using blue chalk, then folded it over and cut it out, thus leaving the drawing intact.
I sewed it together but haven't yet tried it on.
Stay tuned for more...