Sewing 208 - Pattern Drafting: The Basic Pants

Today we shall draft the Pants block. From this you can make any style of trousers or shorts and it can even be used for Jumpsuits.

Principles of pattern drafting.

We shall be drafting a whole Front piece and Back piece. Trousers are bifurcated garments as you need two sets of each piece (front and back) for each leg. Depending on the part of the body, some measurements will be divided into 2, and some will be divided into 4. It will all become clearer as we draft.

Tools you will need

1. Straight ruler

2. Set square

3. Curve ruler

4. Pencils / Eraser /Sharpener

5. Brown paper/ Drafting Paper - 1 sheet (50L x 50W inches) or 2 sheets ( 50L x 20W inches) each

Measurements you will need (Feel free to work in Inches or Cm)

1. Waist

2. Hip

3. Hip depth

4. Crotch

5. Crotch depth

6. Outseam (Waist to Floor)

7. Inseam

8. Waist to knee

9. Knee circumference

10. Upper thigh circumference

11. Foot circumference

IMPORTANT. DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET HERE FIRST.

BASIC PANTS DRAFTING

FRONT

1. Leaving a space of about 2 inches (5cm) from the top of the paper, Square a line straight down on the right hand side of the paper. Mark Point A at the top of this line.

2. Point A - B = Hip depth

3. Point A - C = Crotch depth

4. Point A - D = Waist to knee

5. Point A - E = Outseam

6. Square across guidelines from points A, B, C, D and E.

7. Line A - F = 1/4 Hip measurement

8. Line F-G-H = Square a straight line down from point F stopping on the crotch line

9. Line H - I = Front crotch extension measurement

10. Measure Line C - I and mark mid-point. From this point square a straight line up to the waist line and down to the base line. Label as points J, K, L and M as illustrated (Crease Line)

11. Line F - N = Waist + Dart measurement. Square up 1/2 inch (1cm) from point N. Label as n1

12. Insert dart at Point J = Split dart measurement equally on either side of point J. Label as O and P.

13. Point J - Q = 1/2 Hip Depth measurement

14. Connect points O - Q and P - Q to form dart

15. Connect point P - n1 with a curved line to complete waist

16. Connect points F - I and n1 - B with curved lines to complete centre front and side as illustrated.

17. Line R - S = 1/2 Knee measurement at Point L. Split the measurement equally on either side of point L. Label as R and S.

18. Line T - U = Line RS minus 2inches (4cm). Split the measurement equally on either side of point M. Label as T and U.

19. Connect Points I - R and C - S with gently curved lines

20. Connect Points R - T and S - U with straight lines

That completes the front part.

BACK

The Back is a modification of the front. Copy the front unto new paper and flip it horizontally so that the centre front is now on the right hand side.

21. Line H - 1 = 1/2 of Line H-I

22. Line 1 - 2 = Back crotch extension measurement

23. Point O - 3 = 1/4 of Line O - F

24. Joint points 1 and 3 with a straight line and extend it pass point 3 by 1inch(2cm) Label as point 4.

25. Extend the waist and hip line out to the left as guidelines (red dotted lines)

26. Point 4 - * = Measure and mark Back waist + dart measurement. Square up 1/2inch(1cm) from * to Point 5. Join points 4 - 5 with straight line.

27. Point 4 - 6 = Hip Depth measurement

28. Point 6 - 7 = 1/4 Hip measurement

29. Highlight Line J - M. This will now be the Crease line for the Back.

30. Join points 5 - 7 and 2 - 4 with curved lines to form centre back and side as illustrated.

31. Line 8 - 9 = Extend Line R-S on each side by 1/2inch(1cm). This will make the back 1inch(2cm wider than the front)

32. Line 10 - 11 = Extend Line T-U on each side by 1/2inch(1cm). This will make the back 1inch(2cm wider than the front)

33. Connect Points 7 - 8 and 2 - 9 with gently curved lines

34. Connect Points 8 - 10 and 9 - 11 with straight lines

35. Point 12 = Mark midpoint of line 4-5

36. Split dart measurement equally on either side of point 12. Label as 13 and 14.

37. Point 12 -15 = 3/4 Hip Depth measurement. Make this line perpendicular to line 4-5 or parallel to line 4-6.

38. Connect points 13 - 15 and 14 - 15 to form dart.

This completes the Back. Try it out and let me know how it goes. Please watch the video to see the final step on how to true the outseam, inseam and the crotch curves for easy sewing. Do not skip this step.

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