Dress Patterns, Dressmaking Patterns, Clothing Sewing Patterns

Dear users, dear authors,
if you want to sew dresses, what do you need to keep in mind with dress patterns / dressmaking patterns / with clothing sewing patterns?

The most important thing with any pattern is to cut the fabric along the grainline; otherwise, the garment will twist on your body so that the side seam ends up at the front of your stomach. There used to be some shirts where that happened—I think they were called “Fruit of the Lums” if I remember correctly. My sister had a few of those; they all ended up in the rag pile.
It’s easy to determine the grainline—it’s the direction of the fabric along the length from the selvedge. In other words, when the fabric is laid out in front of you, right sides together and folded in half, the selvedges should be aligned, and the cut edge should face the narrow side of the fabric. To get perfectly fitting pattern pieces for a dress, top, pants, etc., the fabric should always be laid out so that you have two mirrored pattern pieces in front of you, since you need fabric for both the right and left sides of the body. If there’s no seam in the back, place the pattern along the fabric fold so you have the full width of the back without a seam. If you’re sewing a shirt or a sweater, place the fabric so that both selvedges meet in the center of the fabric; this allows you to use the entire width of the fabric and have both pieces on the fabric fold. The remaining lower part of the fabric is then folded again, and you have the fabric positioned correctly for cutting the sleeves. This way, you can cut fabric economically; personally, at a size 50/52, I only need 1.20 meters of fabric to make myself a shirt with sleeves down to the elbow.

Best regards, Inge

Thanks for the info, Inge

As with all sewing patterns, you should first make sure you have the right fabric: Some dresses are sewn from non-stretch cotton, satin, etc.,

while others are made from jersey. Next, especially with complex dress sewing patterns, I would sew a test dress. The pattern may need to be adjusted at the bust, waist, or length. A test dress is a great way to practice this before you ruin the “real” fabric.

For lightweight summer and jersey dresses without darts or adjustments, you can of course just go ahead and sew the dress right away ;). If necessary, I’d start by adding a wider seam allowance. You can usually always take it in later.

Best regards,
Sonja

No matter what kind of clothing you’re sewing, the most important thing is to have yourself measured accurately before you even think about a pattern, because 99.9% of the time, the measurements for ready-to-wear sizes are way off and won’t fit. These measurements include bust, waist, and hip circumferences. For pants, the inseam is measured along the inside of the leg from the crotch to the ankles. The side length of the pants might also be an important measurement, just like the rise, but that’s easy to determine: if you subtract the inseam from the side length, you get the rise. The rise is the measurement that determines how the pants fit around the stomach and buttocks.
For tops, in addition to the measurements mentioned above, you’ll also need the sleeve length, neck circumference, and back length—measured from the topmost vertebra at the neck to the waist—as well as the bust height, measured from the so-called “salt pot” to the waist. For the arms, it’s a good idea to also measure the biceps and wrist circumference, because with certain ready-made patterns, the upper arms are always too tight for me, so I have to let them out. Once you have these measurements, you can start working on the sewing pattern, and before you cut it out or trace it, you should compare your measurements with the selected size—this saves frustration and hassle later on.
Personally, I have my daughter measure me 2–3 times a year, because you should always have someone else do it—measuring yourself never gives accurate results. If you bend forward, you’ll end up with centimeters missing from the length or width, so always find someone who can do it for you.

Best regards, Inge

Here are two pictures showing how to determine the straight grainline when cutting out the fabric. At the bottom edge of the picture, you can see the selvedge; place the measuring tape there on the inside where the fabric begins and measure up to the marked grainline on the sewing pattern. Repeat this further up or down, depending on where you measured first, and the same measurement should show there. In my case, it is 24 cm, so my pattern piece is straight on the grain and can be cut out after pinning. Do this for every piece you want to sew.

Best regards, Inge

I think that’s a very important tip—that someone else should take your measurements!

And if you have a dress form, you should be able to adjust it to your own measurements.

Best regards,
Sonja