The basis of the skirt pattern: detailed step-by-step instructions

Sewing a skirt is absolutely not difficult, as it might seem at first glance. This article provides detailed instructions for creating a pattern that will help even beginners create a unique outfit. After reading the article, you will learn what measurements are needed and how to take them correctly, how to correctly create a pattern base, what it is used for and how to correctly cut the future product.

Skirt measurements

The diagram perfectly displays all the measurements that are needed to build skirt base patterns. First you need to take measurements in full, without any additional divisions. In this article, size 42 indicators are taken as an example, and you substitute your data.

• The length of the finished product is 50 cm (measured from the waist line to the desired length of the skirt). Don't forget about seam allowances and hem allowances. The standard margin is 2 cm on each side. That is: 50 cm + 4 cm = 54 cm.
• Waist circumference - 66 cm (measured at the narrowest point of the torso).
• Hip circumference - 92 cm (measured at the fullest part of the buttocks).

Then, the measurements of the waist and hip circumference must be divided by 2 to obtain a half-circumference. It turns out:

• St - 33 cm (half waist measurement).
• Sat - 46 cm (half hip measurement).

That's it. All measurements have been taken, now you can proceed to constructing the drawing itself. Take graph paper, or regular Whatman paper, a pencil, a ruler, an eraser and go ahead.

Building the base of the skirt

First, the actual pattern itself.

Now step by step how to build it. Remember, this example measures women's clothing size 42. You, along the way, substitute your data that was obtained by measurement.

1. Construct rectangle ABCD. Side AB=CD and AD=BC. Sides AB and CD are equal to measurement Sb+1 cm (for all sizes). 33 cm + 1 cm = 34 cm. Sides AD and BC are identical to the length of the product, i.e. 50 cm (the seam and hem allowances mentioned above must be placed on the fabric).
2. Next you need to draw a side seam line. Divide the segment AB in half and place a point T. From the resulting point, draw a perpendicular until it touches the line DC.
3. From point A down, along line AD, set aside 22 cm (for all sizes) and place point L. From it to the right, draw a straight line, and at the intersections with lines T and B, place points L1 and L2.
4. Now you need to determine the depth of future darts. To do this, subtract the waist circumference from the hip circumference measurement. The measurement should be taken taking into account the 1 cm increase that you made at the very beginning: 47 cm - 34 cm = 13 cm. Half is removed into the side dart (coming from the side seam), i.e. 6.5 cm, 3.25 cm on each side. The depth of the front dart is slightly less than the back one, by 1-2 cm, - 2.5 cm, i.e. 1.25 cm per side. And the back one “takes” the rest - 4 cm, 2 cm per side.
5. Now you need to transfer the calculations to the pattern. From point T to the left and right, set aside 3.25 cm (half of the side dart). The dart should be raised above the waistline by 1 cm (for all sizes). From the resulting point 1, draw a straight line to point L1 on both sides of the dart, as shown in the figure.
6. Divide segment 1L1 in half, and at the dividing point at a right angle, measure 0.5 cm. Place a dot.
7. Using a template, draw a curved line. If you don’t have a pattern, do everything by hand, the main thing is that the line is smooth.
8. Create a front dart. From the calculations it is clear that the depth of the dart is 2.5 cm. Set aside 6 cm from the side seam line to the right and lower the straight line at a right angle to the hip line. The length of the front dart is 10 cm (all sizes). On the waist line, from where the perpendicular was laid, set aside 1.25 cm to the right and left (half of the front dart) and connect the resulting points, forming a full-fledged dart, as in the diagram above. For beauty, you can move point 10 by 0.5 cm to the side, the main thing is to make sure that the height of the sides of the dart is the same.
9. Create a back dart. Its depth is 4 cm (from calculations). Divide the segment AT in half and at the division point set aside 2 cm on each side. Draw a straight line down and measure 13 cm from the waist line - this is the length of the dart, the same for all sizes. Connect the dots to create a back dart.
10. Design of the skirt halves. On the back side: connect lifting point 1 to dart point 2. On the front half: connect lifting point 1 to dart point 1.25.

That’s how simple it is, literally in 10 steps, to build the pattern for the base of the skirt.

How to cut a skirt

As soon as the pattern is ready according to your individually taken measurements, it needs to be transferred to the fabric. As a standard, the pattern is placed along the grain thread, which runs parallel to the edge.

The pattern needs to be pinned to the fabric with needles so that the first one does not crawl all over the space. When transferring the design to the fabric, do not forget about the allowances for the seams. It is customary to leave 1 to 2 cm for processing.

If the skirt is made with elastic, then there will be 2 parts of the product - the front and back half. The same applies if the future new thing is sewn with a side lock. But if the skirt is made with a zipper at the back, then there will be 3 parts - the front half and 2 back ones.

Finished parts are processed on an overlocker and only then stitched. Do not underestimate the role of ironing seams, and always steam the product before trying it on. As they say, most tailor's mistakes can be corrected by an iron.

The base pattern has this name because almost all types of skirts are sewn using it. Before manufacturing, you only need to carry out a modeling operation. For example, to create pencil skirts It is enough to adjust the line of the side seam by narrowing the bottom of the skirt by the desired number of centimeters.

And the godet skirt is designed on a pattern basis with wedges and a slight offset of the darts.

In this matter, only your imagination can serve as a limitation. Don't be afraid to experiment and you will definitely succeed!