Edit 11/21/12: Here is a link to another iteration I finished today.

Here is the much delayed follow up of this previously two part series, do review part one and part two as needed. Today’s entry is inspired by Lesley’s post in the forum, in which she shows various renditions of this theme.

I’m not going to give you fast pat answers, instead I thought I’d go through the laborious and multi step process I use to solve drafting problems -because I did draft this solution, I didn’t drape it (a nod to those who say styles like this can’t be drafted).

The first step is analysis: what is the most salient feature of the style, does it look similar to something I already know? If not, how can it be torn down (reverse-engineered) more easily?

I can’t speak for you but the angle of that design detail is an unnecessary point of confusion (at this stage) so my first step is to change the angle of the top (below). Straightening the folds on a horizontal plane gives me a better idea of what is going on with the style.

So this is a lot clearer to me. There are folds along the center, and as I imagine, flattening to zero at the sides. This becomes a lot more doable.

To replicate this in paper, I created some folds.  Just simple ones without measuring. That is below:

Now I need to find a way to get rid of the fold depths at each side. Again, it’s a matter of folding.

As you’ll see above, there are now folds on the vertical -which explains why there are seams running into folds of this type in every example we’ve seen. Including Lesley’s above. In her sample, note the seam running from the shoulder down to the midpoint of the deepest part of the fold.

Maybe the illustration below will help?

Probably best of all is a pattern for this fold? Okay, here’s one:

The red dotted lines indicate an outside fold; the black ones are a valley fold.

So, this all very good and well but how does one put it into a draft? I can’t speak for you but that is the easy if not laborious part.

My first step was to make a larger fold pattern, one that would fit across the front of a bodice. The second step was to overlay it onto the bodice -at the proper angle it should lie. Below left is a guesstimation, to its right is with the excess fold pattern cut away.

Now begins the process of iteration which can be the most time consuming part of the whole job. Obviously one must create extra depth in the bodice itself to allow for the folds. That could be as simple as cutting a bodice apart and laying in a repeat. The other option is to shift the darts around to match the fold cut outs and then create depth in the bodice. Having done it both ways, I think the latter is better.

Feel free to post questions and illustrations of your samples. Forum member can follow along there and you can see samples that Lesley has already posted -several styles, all cool. I plan to post a pattern in pdf now that I seemed to have figured out how to make those (thanks to Ann Vong). Edit 11/21/12: Here is a link to another iteration I finished today.

~oh that’s one thing I forgot to mention, renewing members can download a beta jeans pattern I made. It has a gusset in the crotch and has a real bottom. Not one of this new-fangled mono-butt jeans.