Amy Brown Fairies - #1301 - patterning

How do I approach turning this piece of art into a wearable garment?

Well, a good eye is essential and being able to do basic math is very useful.

This was my doodle sketch to work out the various layers for this skirt. I have one more thing to keep in mind, and that is whatever I do has to be reasonably easy to reproduce and not have an overwhelming number of pattern pieces or crazy sewing instructions.  I'm not sure I always manage that!

For the scalloped peplum on the waist cincher for this view, I worked out how full I wanted the peplum to be and then figured out how many scallops were needed and THEN brought out my handy dandy circle template.

This was my easier solution for this peplum.  What I really would have like to have done was make a series of little wedge shaped pieces that would have to be seamed together. That would then fit right into the waistline without any gathers, but that would have been more difficult to sew and much more difficult to grade all the different sizes. So, this was my compromise.

For the wavey collar on the blouse, I drew a freehand shaped collar based on the shape of the neckline.

When I sewed this up in muslin, I didn't like the shape (sorry I guess I didn't take a photo of my first collar). So, I flared it out more by cutting and spreading my paper pattern. Sewed it up again. I can't remember how many tries this collar took.

Here is my finished collar. And how did I get all those waist pleats?

I fitted them on the dress form. I did this because I felt it was very important that the blouse lays as smoothly as possible when tucked down inside the leggings. There is no skirt in the front on this view and it would look really lumpy over the abdomen otherwise.




And I thought I would show you how I made the sleeve pattern. I used the basic slash and spread technique, starting with a pattern I know and like.

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Step 1 - Draw out pattern without any seam allowance. 
Step 2 - Draw multiple even parallel lines on the pattern, I number mine incase they get mixed up after I cut them apart.

Step 3 - Spread them out equally ... measure, measure, measure! Tape the pieces down
Step 4 - Now draw the new pattern shape and add seam allowances back on.

But this doesn't mean you will have the perfect pattern. It still must be sewn up and tinkered with!

So, these are a few of the steps I took towards making this costume.