Taking a pattern rub off

Today marks my blog's second month anniversary.  Last month I asked if there was anything people wanted me to talk about and I got a request from a blog reader, who is also a friend of mine.

 She asked how to make a pattern from a pair of shorts she likes without taking them apart. 

What a great thing to show everyone how to do.  This is called taking a rub off of a pattern.

You will need muslin, large pieces of blank paper (poster or butcher paper works), pencil, tape measure. a ruler and the garment in question.  A french curve, like in the photo above, is nice to have, but you can manage without.

Shorts are a good garment to show this technique to you.  There are only 2 pattern pieces! So, I can show the technique quickly, but this same technique works for more complicated garments.

The pattern pieces are made one at time. I recommend doing the major pattern pieces first, because as you work each piece has to be checked against the others to make sure things are fitting.  Meaning the seams are the same length and curves are the same, etc. 

It's a good idea to check your work by measuring the actual garment from time to time as well.

#1 - the shorts in question

#3 - rough cut or tear a piece of muslin to size and draw the grain line on it.

#5 - Working outward smooth and pin the muslin to the entire pattern pice of the garment.

#7 - Remove muslin from the shorts. It's time to transfer the markings to paper. This can be done in two different ways.

#9 - Or, if you can see well enough through the paper, lay the paper over the muslin and trace the lines onto the paper. Use things to weigh the paper and muslin down for both methods such as tape dispensers or staplers or ????.

#11 - and french curve, if you have one.

#13 - When the next piece is ready for it's seam allowances, check that the seams that are to be joined are the same length, adjust and fix ... THEN add the seam allowance.

#15 - Again, check that the seams that are to be sewn together are the same length by laying the stitching lines on top of one another, not the cutting lines!

#2 - On the first piece, find the grain and mark it with a thread baste.

#4 - Pin the grain line of the shorts to the grain line of the muslin.

#6 - These short have an elastic waist so the top needs to be stretched while pinning. Then draw on the muslin all the seams and other details by feeling through the muslin.

#8 - Either lay the muslin over the paper and run a tracing wheel over the lines which leaves little bumps on the paper that can then be drawn over with a pencil.

#10 - Straighten out your hand drawn lines with a ruler ...

#12 - Add seam allowances. A see through ruler makes this task easy ... First piece is done.

#14 - The waist band is just a long straight strip, so I measure the garment and then check the measurement on my pattern and draw a long rectangle using those dimensions.

#16 - Once the major pieces are all done and checked, the detail pieces can be made. For these shorts that would be the pocket. I examine closely how this pocket is constructed, then recreate that with paper, again by tracing the individual pieces from paper to paper, adding seam allowances where needed.

#17 - Here is the pocket pattern peeking out from behind the pants front pattern. In making this piece, I had to cut away the corner of the main front piece, this is why it's best to make detail pieces after the main construction pieces are all figured out.

So ... As I said above, this technique will work for any garment.  Of course, it gets more complicated with a complicated garment.  I would recommend, as usual, making a muslin before sewing it in expensive fabric.

AND PLEASE NOTE THAT I LISTEN TO REQUESTS ... SO PLEASE WRITE IN!

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