How to cut and sew the opening

In the front draft the AB part which is 2 " should be cut separately and not with the pattern. This will be later used as an extension to the left side  which will have the spaces for hooks to attach on to. The right side will have the hooks. The right side overlaps the left side. In the left side hook loops are located near where the extension AB and the left mid side of the blouse meet. I will be posting a picture of this very soon for everyone to understand  clearly. If you decide to have a front opening you do as explained above or if you wish to have back opening  you apply the same concept to the back side.

Things to note when drawing and cutting the patterns

When cutting the back blouse pattern on your fabric you have to do it two times.Once without the 2" extension and then with the 2" extension,since this is a blouse with the back opening. Also remember to flip the patten according to the right and left side.


When cutting the front blouse pattern you need to do it only once.Fold the fabric and place the front blouse pattern with the midside aligned with the fold of the fabric and cut along the pattern.To mark the darts I found that making slits through the pattern till the dart point ,allows me to insert the pencil to draw till the end point. Again flip the fabric and the pattern to the other side and draw the darts.Three in each side. The longer you make the blouse the longer the dart at the waist is going to be.

How to draw the sleeve pattern

• A-C: From point A measure 4.5" and mark point C .This is a standard measurement.
• C-B: From point C measure  [sleeve length  minus 4.5"] =3.5"
• B-F: From point B measure 1.5" and mark point F.This for the fold.
• C-D:From point C measure [shoulder /2=8] and  mark point D
• B-E: From point B measure[base of sleeve /2  +0.5"=6.5"] and mark point E
• A-D: Join point A and D
• D-E: Join point D and E
• H: Find the midpoint of line A-D and mark point H
• I:  Find the mid point in line H-D and mark point I
• J: Now measure 0.5 inches from point H upwards in 90 degree angle  and mark J
• A-J-I: Now join point A ,J and I  in a curved line
• F-G: Measure 1.5" from point B upwards and then find the width from that point to line D-E. Use that measurement and measure from point F and mark point G. The idea behind in doing this is ; we want line E-G  to align with line D-E when we fold the pattern at line B-E upwards.

The final step is to cut the pattern .Therefore you cut along line A-J-I-D-E-G-F-B-C-A.


Congratulations !You have made your first saree blouse pattern.You can  now tweek the pattern to incorporate any kind of neck design or sleeve design to make your very own custom made blouse.

Measurements and Calculations

Before showing the steps to draw the sleeve pattern,we have to do some calculations.Here are the measurements I used earlier for the sleeve in the general template.

Sleeve Length: 6"
Base of Sleeve: 12"

How to take the measurements:
Sleeve length: Measure how long you would like the sleeve to be from the edge of the shoulder where you can feel the joint.

Base of sleeve: Measure around your arm at the point your sleeve length ends.

Calculation:

Sleeve length:Measured Sleeve length + 0.5+1.5[stitching allowance]= 6+0.5+1.5=8

Shoulder/2= 16/2=8

Base of Sleeve= base of sleeve measurement /2+0.5=12/2+0.5=6.5

Sleeve Pattern

How to draw the back blouse pattern

As you can see I have used the front blouse pattern but outlined a few lines in red. This is where the back blouse pattern differs from the front blouse pattern. Another point to note is that there are no darts in the back so its even easier to draw than the front pattern.
So basically you draw the pattern like the front with these differences.

1. Back neck depth is 0.5 inches lower than the front neck.But if you wish you can make it even lower.The difference between line J-I and J1-I1 is 0.5 inch.
2. Now from line B-W measure 0.5 inch inward and draw a straight line starting from line J1-I1
3. Next the length of the blouse in the back is 1 inch shorter than the front.Therefore measure 1inch inward from line W-X and draw line W1-X1
4. The length of  W1-X1 is the back waist length.
5. Join point X1 and point H
6. As you can see I extended J1-I1 and line W1-X1 to meet line A. When cutting the pattern and if you decide to have a back opening;one half of the back pattern should get the 2 inch part extension attatched and the other side should be cut according to the pattern. This is for the opening and I will discuss it in a later post.

To cut the pattern cut along E-I-J1[not till the point where it meets AB  but 0.5 '" in wards]-W1-X1-H1-M[curve]-D-E. Well thats how you draw the back pattern. I hope it has not been too confusing. If you have any questions please post it on my blog . My next post will be on the final part of the pattern making which is the sleeve part.

Back Blouse Pattern