Pattern Drafting

I am a big big fan of the feis dress pattern.  What I really like about it, is that it is so adaptable.  I’ve used it as the basis for several dresses even though none of them has been a traditional 3 panel dress.  In fact I think I’ve only made one real 3 panel dress from this pattern!  Once I understood how it worked, I could use the pieces to achieve almost any end.  I have come up with my own skirt patterns for a few dresses, and used the bodice pieces from Feisdress.

I’ve been deep in pattern alteration mode for the new school dresses I am working on.  They are multi-paneled, with  four in front, and three in the pleat area.  Eventually I will need to make this skirt in many sizes, so I’ve been trying to find a cohesive system for altering the original pattern.  It seems like there should be a mathematical formula to figure this out, and quite possibly there is.  I do have an addendum to the pattern with some interesting numbers that I can’t seem to decipher.  So here I am folding and refolding paper!  I did a careful photographic study of other paneled dresses to see what looks the  most visually pleasing….in terms of equal panel sizes and spacing.

There are actually three layers here.  The top four panels, the three in the pleats, and then the base layer that keeps things from getting too wide or slim.  These dresses are more traditional in appearance, and we are going for the fully stiffened look.  I think I’ve got it, and with a bit of tinkering to get the spacing even in each pleat I am very happy with the final result.  Seems like such a simple thing….till you start folding, and folding and folding!