In this tutorial, we are going to join the Basic Bodice and the Basic skirt together to form the Basic dress/torso block. This block can be used for both shirts and dresses depending on the length.
Tools you will need
1. Basic Skirt block
2. Basic Bodice block
3. Straight ruler
4. Set square
5. Curve ruler
6. Pencils / Eraser /Sharpener
7. Brown paper/ Drafting Paper – 1 sheet (45L x 50W inches) or (115cm x 130cm). It should be long enough to accommodate the bodice and skirt at least to the hip level and wide enough for both front and back. You can, of course, use separate sheets of paper for the front and back and tape sheets of paper together to get the right size.
1. A to B - Leaving about 2inches of space, square a vertical guideline down on the left side of the paper. Similarly, draw another line on the right side of the paper and label as A1 - B1. These are for the centre front and Back of the dress. The distance between the lines should be about half hip plus 3 inches.
2. W to W1 - About midway down the first line, square across a horizontal line for the waistline
3. Copy Front and Back skirt pieces below the waistline, aligning skirt centre front to line AB, centre back line A1B1, and the waist to line WW1. Note the points of the dart legs and the hip line
FRONT
4. Place Front Bodice block above waistline, aligning the centre front to line AB and the waist line to line WW1. Mark a point at mid-shoulder. Hold down the Front and Trace around from the waist upwards, stopping at the mid-shoulder point.
5. Without lifting up the bodice, Place a pin at the apex and Pivot it to the right until the second waist dart leg of the Bodice touches the second dart leg of the skirt.
6. Trace around the bodice from mid-shoulder down to the waist. This should open up a new dart at the shoulder. Mark the apex point.
7. Remove front Bodice block and use a ruler to connect the dart legs at the shoulder to the apex. Blend the side of the Bodice into the skirt with a smooth line.
8. For the Waist dart, do the following;
a) Note down the width of the waist dart and save it for later
b) E to F - Square a straight line down from the bust apex to the hip line. You can extend this line down to the skirt base.
c) Points G-H - Using this line as the centre of the waist dart, split dart width equally across it for the dart legs, E.g. if dart width is 1inch (2.5cm), then each side will be 1/2inch (1.2cm).
d) Connect points E-G-F-H-E to form waist dart.
BACK
9. Place Back Bodice block above waistline, aligning the centre back to line A1B1 and the waist line to line WW1. Mark a point at mid-armhole or across back line. Hold down the Back and Trace around from the waist upwards, stopping at marked point.
NOTE: If the Back Bodice waist dart is the same as the skirt dart or even smaller, then there is no need to create another dart in the armhole. Simply trace around the Back Bodice as it is and Skip to Step 12 below.
10. Without lifting up the bodice, Place a pin at the apex and Pivot it to the left until the second waist dart leg of the Bodice touches the second dart leg of the skirt.
11. Trace around the bodice from mid-armhole down to the waist. This should open up a new dart at the armhole. Mark the apex point.
12. Remove Back Bodice block and Blend the side of the Bodice into the skirt with a smooth line. Similarly, redraw the armhole, closing off the gap created.
Note: You may create a dart at the armhole to the apex if gap is more than 1/2inch (1.2cm), by connecting it to the apex with straight lines
13. For the Waist dart, repeat step 8 above.
True the Sides
As a final step, measure the sides of the blocks from waist up to the armhole and compare to the original measurement. It may be shorter or longer. Correct it to be the same as the original measurement and redraw the armhole.
This completes the Dress/Torso pattern. This can be considered an all-in-one pattern as you can separate it into a Bodice and a Skirt. You can use it for tops, shirts, skirts and dresses.
Please let me know how it works out for you. Thanks for reading.
Appendix.
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