It's taken longer than I expected due to lack of materials (tracing paper to start with). Here's the process I followed to draft my pattern:
I first of all laid the garment folded in half on top of a long piece of paper (salvaged from a delivery box). I aligned the centre front of the garment with the edge of my paper (assuming that was straight). I used paper clips to 'fix' it into place rather than pins because my sewing pins seem to have vanished so I only had a few available.
I drew with a black pen along the main seams and made little holes along the seam with a sharp pin:
I am sure I have seen a little tool to do this (instead of a rotary cutter; the same sort of tool but with a wheel)
After I finished I took the top off the paper and as you can see that's the sort of line of holes that I had left on the tracing paper. I then just needed to join dot-to-dot to get the sleeve line. It was a bit tricky to see, but it worked just fine. Below's the finished front pattern.
I did the same for the back:
I write CF (centre front) and CB (centre back) to remind myself that many years ago I did do a sewing course...
The sleeves were very difficult to trace. I folded the sleeve and placed along the edge of my 'tracing paper'. The photo below shows you that when I folded along the 'natural centre line of the sleeve' the fold line was crooked.
I decided that the fold line was going to be the right way rather than twisting the fabric. I assumed it was a 'manufactured' issue... At least the line below was quite straight:
I finished drafting the back sleeve section and thinking that it was going to be too wide for my piece of fabric😓
I repeated the process for the front sleeve pattern :
Before sellotaping the two halves of the sleeve to make just one pattern piece. I tried one half onto the fabric I had chosen :
At that point at starting thinking of a plan B, because the sleeve was too wide and the seam of the sleeve underneath would be uncomfortable because there would be too many seams ... Not sure whether you can see it in the photo:
I had a big tantrum break in between trying to find the right type of fabric ... Anyway, fortunately I found this black jersey in my stash. It's not my preferred choice, but it will look just fine ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂...
The photo above shows you the 'whole' sleeve sellotaped along the centre. I've laid it on top of the black jersey material and cut it. That's as far as I got with the photos of the project. I can't reveal the rest yet though 😉
Stay tuned for the final episode (I hope)...
I look forward to seeing your projects...
all photos and musings are by @cryptocariad
Episode 1 : Planning a new pyjama top - considerations...
With thanks to @crosheille and @crystalize for hosting #needleworkmonday and thanks to you for reading 💓
