Bias Flare Skirt
This week is the final lesson of my first “Skirt Sloper and More” class. A skirt sloper is a garment which is built to mould to the shape your own body using a single dart for each quarter pattern and with no design features added. It is a revelation to many of us that by taking some basic measurements of our own body, often helped by someone else taking the measurements and then going back and double checking them, it is possible to make your own sloper pattern. There are a couple of industry standards that we adhere to. For example, the size and position of the dart, the length of the dart and the seam allowance variations within the garment. However as these are simply read off a table, even applying these standards is easy.
Skirt Sloper Finished
Once a sloper is drafted, it is made up in calico or some other cheap woven material. At this point we can ruthlessly adjust the garment to get the perfect fit. In this month’s class, three of the slopers were perfect first time based on measurements alone and three needed adjustment along the low hip. Once there is a successful fit, the sloper pattern is recreated in card as it will be used over and over again and needs to be robust
With the perfect mould of the body, it is a super simple exercise to add in a small amount of flare for an A-Line skirt. A greater amount of flare and cut on the bias for a bias cut flare skirt, a circle skirt, a pencil skirt with a pleat, a box pleated skirt …and the brilliant thing is that each of the skirts is built from the sloper. There are no great fit considerations for you as these were all covered with the sloper fitting. Now you are creating patterns for skirt designs that you can use multiple times
Bias Flare Skirt Pattern
Once the pattern is created it takes less than 20 minutes to create and sew a skirt … How brilliant is that. Now I can really enjoy finding fabric, as I don’t have the worry about fit !
The next set of Sloper classes starts on 5th May for 4 weeks for £85 inc. dressmaking paper, card and calico for the sloper. To book, email mail@gillymacdesigns.com to book.
A-Line Skirt
