Waist knot

YOU WILL NEED

■ Pattern-drafting supplies (e.g. Ruler, French curve, pattern paper)

■ Lightweight woven fabric with drape and body, such as viscose challis, crepe, viscose linen blends, soft linen, silk satin, or flannel. Amount to be determined by your self-draft paper pattern.

■ 3.8 cm wide elastic: up to 38 cm long

■ Bias binding: 2m

DRAFT THE BODICE FRONT

Step one Take a large piece of pattern paper and draw in a vertical line for your centre front (CF). Step two About a third of the way down the CF line, draw in your horizontal bustline: Add 2" (5 cm) ease to your full bust measurement and divide by 4.

Step three Next, measure vertically down from your bustline to your waist and draw in your waistline from this point: Add 1" (2.5 cm) ease to your waist measurement and divide by 4. Add an extra 1½" (3.8 cm) for a dart (Fig. A).

Step four Take your apex-apex measurement and divide by 2. Mark this point along your bustline. From there, draw a vertical line to the waist (Fig. B).

Step five Draw in a notch ¾" (19 mm) on either side of the vertical line that represents the centre of the dart.

Step six Starting 1" (2.5 cm) below the apex (your dart’s vanishing point), draw dart legs out to the notches at the waistline (Fig. C).

Step seven To create the extra length needed in the waistline to wrap around the back, extend the waistline by the same distance you have between the dart and the CF.

Step eight Draw a vertical line up from the waistline for 1½" (3.8 cm) to complete the side-seam (SS) extension (Fig. D). This is where the elastic will be sewn in.

Step nine From the apex, measure up using your neckline-to-apex vertical measurement. The top of the line is the edge of your shoulder seam and the start of your neckline (Fig. E).

Step ten From here, mark the lowest point of your neckline at the CF (measure on your body to check where you want your neckline to sit), and use your French curve to draw in your curved neckline (Figs. F and G).