skirt design - croquis

 So the next step of the designing process is the croquis. The class recommends using a photo to use as a base, so I had my husband take a handful of photos of me. I've got front, diagonal, and back views, but I'm starting with just the front view. I might have him retake some pictures - the forward leg screws with perspective and makes it harder to draw on it. Suddenly I understand why so many clothes-showing photos have the leg to the *side* not forward, but this is a detail I hadn't really noticed until I started looking... One then traces the outline of the body onto paper.

skirt design - inspiration

So it turns out that learning to make clothes that fit me is not the easiest thing to do. After a lot of frustration with commercial patterns, I tried taking in-person classes locally in patternmaking. While it was super helpful, the particular instructor I chose doesn't really work from blocks/slopers like I'd hoped. Instead, she drafts to measurements using the patternmaking method she was trained in (which of course involves some 'standard' measurements) and then adds design before fitting. I've got an excellent trouser pattern now, plus I got help in fitting a half dozen other patterns/designs, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I want to learn how to use a sloper or block to both make my own patterns and to adapt commercial patterns more easily to me.