and I said that it gets more interesting when you look at the technical drawing.
The dress looks okay, if a bit plain, in the photo. But the line drawing reveals some interesting waistline darts and bust shaping that give it interest (to me anyway). Which brings up this topic. I am often captivated by the photograph or fashion drawing of a pattern, but the "bones" of said pattern are revealed (hopefully) in the technical drawing on the back of the pattern. Stylists work with the photographers to make a garment look just-right on a model, using pins, clips, lighting and other methods. Fashion illustrators do the same to the drawing on the front of a pattern. It's all meant to be eye candy, to get you to take a closer look and hopefully, purchase the pattern. But the back of the envelope is where the truth (or at least most of it) lies. I'm going to use this Butterick pattern as an example. Please know that I am not picking on the pattern, designer, or on Butterick. It's simply meant to be a learning experience. Let's take a look at the fashion drawing on the envelope front:
Looks cute. I like the jacket. I'm not into cropped pants myself, but they look comfy, and I like the flat front waistband. Now let's take a look at the tech drawing:
Happy sewing!
10 comments:
Some of Connie Crawfords patterns have elastic waist for the plus sizes and regular waist for the smaller sizes. Love all your wigs and outfits. Love your attitude. We just went thru a terrible medical situation with our daughter and know first hand how stressful it can make life for the whold family. Prayers sent your way.
I find the technical drawings invaluable – especially Burda's. And Burda is famous for it's photography that hides design details. I always make my decisions based on the technical drawings.
I always look at the drawing for the "truth" of the garment. By the way I also have the Burda pattern, really liked the lines when I looked at the line drawing
Technical drawings are super important. I always look at them, too, after I find one that I'm interested in. I miss a lot of good patterns from not looking at the technical drawings first. Hehe... thanks for the reminder!
I do like that Burda, now that you mention it. But darn, didn't realize it wasn't BWOF! :-)
Yep, you have to go with the technical drawings--photos and drawings are aspirational, some times too much so! Your Burda example was great. Without the drawing you'd have no way of knowing that the dress features a waist wrap!!
That is so true! The technical drawings do reveal so much more than the model shot!
You're right. I'm more interested in the lines and seam details than the fashion shot. Burda, especially the magazine, is not so good about giving a fashion shot that shows the garment well. Don't get me wrong, I like Burda because they do more of a fashion shoot type thing, but I always go to the line drawings to find out what's really going on. I also go through and look at all the line drawings for the back of the garments in Burda - often there are hidden details you'd never see in the fashion photo.
I've got that Burda on the cutting table along w/ a luscious green striped linen.
You are right; the waist pleats are curved. They pinch out 8" in the front and back (16" total). They use the same waist darts for all the sizes. Because the shaping is so extreme (29" waist on the size 38), the dress has a side zip.
The neckline has pleats in the front, sewn down for 1", and stitched darts in the back.
I am going to put the pieces on my Uniquely You dummy and play around with the pleats and darts before stitching.
I am thinking of omitting the back waist pleats so I can omit the zipper. OTOH, the unusual pleats sold me on the pattern...
BTW, the pattern includes neck facings, but relies upon bias strips at the armholes. I am going to make bias tape w/ my stripes. I might even apply them so they flip to the outside for visual interest.
Well I am adding my two cents: I always check out the back of the pattern, the technical drawing. And I do it for all the same reasons stated above!
And best healthy wishes to you. Attitude makes all the difference when fighting any disease, and with breast cancer it is ever more important.
will you post a picture of yurself in the pink wig and madras skirt?
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