Learn Classic Girls Wear Frock Pattern Making & Sewing

A description of importance of considering the right fabric direction while cutting out garments.

I am going to introduce to this course - pattern drafting for girls wear, what is pattern drafting and concepts to be applied for kids wear pattern drafting.

This is a theoretical description of the drafting sequences applied for creation of front bodice block pattern. Do refer any one standard size for drafting blocks. If already know how to take body measurements, then you can go ahead and make the blocks for personalized measurements.

This is a short lesson about the practical application of different kinds of drawing tools and curve rulers used in pattern drafting. A student must use these rulers if he / she is finding it difficult to draw long lines, curvy seam lines of armholes etc.

This is a theoretical description of the drafting sequences applied for creation of back bodice block pattern and sleeve block pattern. You will be able to watch the actual demo of drafting after this tutorial.

There is a step by step presentation of instructions needed to draft paper patterns. You can buy a useful book online titled 'Creative Garment Patterns for your Wardrobe' by Ms. Smitha D Rao. This book is available on 'Notionpress.com'.

Learning Outcomes:

• Familiarize oneself with all the body measurements required for creating kids wear garment patterns

• Learn how to apply formulae on these body measurements to create master patters for kids wear

• Learn how to draw or draft a garment pattern on paper to create re-usable paper pattern templates

Once you draft the basic bodice blocks and sleeve block, now in the next stage you need to create separate pattern templates for back bodice and front bodice. Also it is better to show the clear distinction between the front sleeve cap and back sleeve cap curve in the sleeve block. This process of separating the patterns makes it very convenient for students who have just about started to learn drafting. Having separated patterns for front and back avoids a lot of confusion.

In this stage you need to make a copy of the basic bodice block on a fresh sheet of manila kraft paper. After this you should visualize your design in your mind. Alternatively it will be useful if you can make a flat working drawing for the front and back view of the A-Line frock design as a reference. Keeping this design in mind you will learn to convert the basic bodice blocks into a knee length frock with A-Line silhouette. Further, if you wish you can make some changes to the neckline designs of front and back frock pattern. Collars like peter pan are most suitable for girls wear frocks.

Note that for visibility purpose the drawing lines seem little thicker and a color pencil was used in the demo. Students must use clutch pencil or a normal pencil that is sharpened properly. All lines must be thin, dark and neat with no overwriting.

A-Line frocks can be made to look more interesting by changing the cut and style or by adding decorative elements like gathering. An A-Line silhouette can be changed to a hip line structure. A hipline frock will have a seam join at hipline, where in a skirt with flare or a skirt with pleat  or a skirt with gathering can be attached. In the following demonstration you will learn the concepts of adding gathered volume in a garment.

Note that for visibility purpose the drawing lines seem little thicker and a color pencil was used in the demo. Students must use clutch pencil or a normal pencil that is sharpened properly. All lines must be thin, dark and neat with no overwriting.

A pretty frock can be designed as a waistline frock that has a seam join at the waistline. Here hardly any pattern modifications are applied to the basic blocks. If you wish you can think of attaching a collar to the neck or simply make the neckline design more pretty. A lovely flared circle skirt can be attached at the waistline of the bodice. This style is very much popular in children's party frocks. These look more voluminous with pleats or gathers and better if a cancan petticoat is used as an underskirt. In this demonstration you will learn how to cut flounces or circle skirts.

Note that for visibility purpose the drawing lines seem little thicker and a color pencil was used in the demo. Students must use clutch pencil or a normal pencil that is sharpened properly. All lines must be thin, dark and neat with no overwriting.

The basic bodice blocks that you have created has a closed neckline style. This style maybe suited if you are planning to enhance the neckline appearance by attaching a peter pan collar to it. Otherwise you can apply some neckline styles to the basic blocks. In this lesson I will be showing how to create a wide boat neck at front and deep round neck at back bodice. This is just an example for how you could change the neck styles. It is not mandatory that you try these same neck styles and if you wish you can try using other neckline styles of your choice.

Here you will learn how to convert a basic sleeve block to short sleeve block, puffy sleeve pattern and finally a cap sleeve pattern. These three sleeves are most liked classic sleeve styles used in girls wear.

Note that for visibility purpose the drawing lines seem little thicker and a color pencil was used in the demo. Students must use clutch pencil or a normal pencil that is sharpened properly. All lines must be thin, dark and neat with no overwriting.

There are two different video tutorials which demonstrate pattern development processes for Puffy Sleeve and Cap Sleeve Patterns. By this exercise you will learn slash-spread-retrace method of enlarging a pattern.

Peter Pan collar is preferred collar style in girls summer frocks and is flattering to use around the neckline even in women's wear. In this lesson you will learn few concepts of collar pattern development. A demo is given on how to develop peter pan collar with the help of basic bodice blocks. Note that for visibility purpose the drawing lines seem little thicker and a color pencil was used in the demo. Students must use clutch pencil or a normal pencil that is sharpened properly. All lines must be thin, dark and neat with no overwriting.

This lesson gives you guidelines on how to handle fabrics before and during cutting, preparing a fabric before cutting and factors affecting cutting like fabric designs, fabric grain etc.

You can watch the videos shared in 'Resources' as these videos give a theoretical description for the entire procedure of cutting operation for this garment.

After understanding the theory of garment cutting you can watch a demo video on actual cutting of the A-Line frock patterns on the fabric in the following demo video.

In this demo you are going to learn how to change the frock pattern into a summer frock style with reduced shoulder width.

You will learn later how to  layer the fabric on the cutting table, procedure for frock pattern layout on the fabric, marking the pattern on fabric, adding seam allowances and cutting out the patterns.

Here you will learn how to prepare the Peter Pan Collar Cut & Sew Part and application of paper interfacing on collar and on the placket.

External YouTube Resource on 'Underlying Materials': Learn something about the choice of lining fabrics and materials, interlinings, fusible iron-on type of interfacing etc.

This garment has center back full opening and you can use snap fasteners here. Snap fasteners are most suitable for kids wear frocks. 

Note that you can sew the plackets either before finishing the neckline or after finishing the neckline with collar and bias tape.

In this demo video you will learn how to attach the 'Placket Facing' (narrow placket) and 'Placket Extension' (wide placket) to the Center Back Seam of the frock. Girls wear have placket in which the right hand side of the placket will overlap on left hand side of the placket. That means 'Placket Extension' will be stitched to left hand side of the garment at center back.

In this demo video you will learn how to hand tack parts of a collar. For a beginner it is easier to construct a garment on the sewing machine if most of the cut and sew parts are assembled by hand tacking.

Collar has to be fixed on the neckline in such a way that the notch on the collar is aligned with the shoulder seam position of the garment. Also the finished back edge of the collar is placed aligned with the center back seam of the garment. The center back seam is little away from the cut edge of center back as you have left a small amount of seam allowance from the actual center back and the cut edge of center back.

In the first sequence you will learn how to hand tack front and back shoulder seams together. This is followed by a demo on how to attach collar to neckline by temporary hand tacking. Final demo is on sewing the front and back side seams.

In the upcoming session you will learn the entire garment construction procedure for A-Line Frock

In this lesson you will understand how to draft the pattern of baby zabala.

Here you will see a demo for how to prepare the cut and sew parts of baby zabala garment.

Note: 'Under Pressing' is ironing and pressing the garment while you are sewing and sometimes tailor's ham is used to mold the garment shape. 'Top Pressing' is the process of ironing the garment after it is completely stitched. Remember to under press during the garment assembly for a better finish.

This is a demo to understand the assembling of baby zabala garment.