Autor: AbelisDesigner

Most patterns tend to come for only one type of fabric. This can be woven (no elasticity) or knitted (elastic). I’m going to show you how to change a woven pattern to knit.

Doing it the other way around is more difficult because you need to make tweezers and that requires knowledge of pattern making and tailoring. Although now almost all designers make the same pattern for both types of fabrics. In my case, it’s just a few designs. Others look better with woven fabric because of their cuts or the volume they must have.

Let’s get started then.

The first thing is to remove the darts. To do this, you must close them so as not to lose your waist and chest measurements.

Once both darts are closed, we give a little shape to the sides. Make sure they’re both symmetrical. And in the back equal with the same measure of sides so that it fits us when sewing the pieces.

And that’s how you change a woven pattern to knit. You just have to take into account all the measurements so that it matches and fits on the body.

Download the base pattern to make these changes and always have a base to make the necessary changes in all the patterns you want to change. So you only have to copy this one, in which you want to change without destroying the other one.

Knowing how much elasticity of a fabric has is very important especially if we are going to make sportswear or swimwear. The elastic fabric has different properties than other fabrics. The main characteristic is that it adjusts to the body without using any clips.

In swimsuits, clothes must be tight so that nothing comes off and the body is molded. Because you have to reduce or enlarge the measurements of the pattern.

To do this we have to calculate the elasticity of fabric. It requires a small account. I recommend that you keep a piece of that fabric and put the elasticity and what needs to be reduced on a piece of paper attached to it. That way you won’t have to recalculate it.

Percentage of elasticity of a fabric

Before you start cutting the fabric you have to see where the highest percentage of elasticity is so you can put it where it will stretch the most. That is to say, if you are going to make bikinis you have to put the chest and the hip in the direction of that thread.

In a piece of 10cmx10cm we will calculate that percentage. We put the meter on the table. Take our piece of cloth and put it at the beginning of the meter. We hold and stretch the fabric as much as possible and see where it marks us. The minimum stretch of the elastic fabric is usually 12cm, the maximum should be 18cm or 20cm (the maximum and 100%).

To know the percentage we make a rule of three.

10cm is 100%

1cm is x%

Example:

If the fabric stretches to 12cm the bill would be like this.

2×100/10=20%

The fabric stretches by 20%. If instead of 12cm it is up to 18cm the percentage would be 80%.

Once this percentage has been calculated, we will see how we can deduct it from our patterns measurements.

Example: Our hip measurement is 96cm and the fabric has 20% elasticity. The bill would be this:

96-20%=76,80cm

That’s our hip measurement. That measure has to be divided by 4 depending on the pattern. Therefore, we would have a hip measurement of 19.20 cm instead of 24 cm. We should take off at 4.8 cm. But be careful. You have to reduce that measure to the whole pattern so that it’s scaled. If you can use the size that fits that new measurement.

You can use this rule for all garments that fit your body. It is not necessary to do so for garments such as T-shirts unless you want them to be tight like neoprene garments or sports shirts like sports bras.

And finally, stop by the store to see the new swimsuits where you can put this rule into practice. Or in this category.

The facings of a garment are very important to professionally finish off a collar and armholes if it is going to be sleeveless or no collar at all.

To make these facings you do not need the base pattern but the pattern you have already modified. If you have changed the collar or have already removed the sleeves

The facings are pieces of fabric to finish off the neck and armholes and make the finish more polished and professional. These pieces are also used to finish off the seams so that they do not fray and show.

These pieces are interwoven so that they are glued together and the pieces are more assembled. I use a very thin interlining so that it doesn’t get too stiff and can be molded to my body. Many times I don’t weave it, especially if they are very fine fabrics.

How to make the facings

Let’s take our pattern and a sheet of tracing paper to trace the shape of the armholes and the neck separately.

The views are usually 2 cm wide (not counting the sewing margins) to ensure that nothing will be seen.

The width of the facings is made towards the inside of the pattern. For the armholes, we take 2cm from the shoulders and 2cm from the side of the chest. And we follow the shape of the armhole without losing those 2cm of width all around. Then we add the sewing margins.

For the ones on the neck, it’s the same. Only we take 2cm from the center front and back and another 2cm from the shoulder.

When you already have them cut with the same fabric of the shirt or dress, we can weave them if we want. But don’t glue it yet. Sew it to the garment, fold the edges of the facings inwards so that they are glued too, and they are finished off. Another option is to finish it off with a blind stitch.

It is possible to have a single pattern and make several simple collars to change the look. Modifying a neck you only need a base pattern and the pattern to be modified. You don’t need to know pattern.

The necks I’m going to show you are the most basic ones like the Peter Pan and fantasy necks for the more advanced ones. You’ll have to make a separate pattern on these.

Modifying a flat necks

Flat necks are those that do not rise from the garment. In this category are the Peter Pan, mao, pilgrim, etc.

I’ve also put in the normal ones that aren’t around because they don’t have a category. But these necks I showed you in a post I made in the blog about modifications with a base pattern.

The first one I’m gonna show you are the baby neck or Peter Pan. One of my favorites. Most of my employers have it because I find it very sweet and feminine.

The good thing about this collar is that you can make the collar separate from the pattern and wear it whenever you want without having to sew it to the garment. You’ll have a removable collar.

To make this neck, we join the front and back patterns by the shoulder line.

Now we trace the pattern using the front and back collars as a guide.

You must always leave the same neck width measurement all around. Especially in the center front, shoulders and back.

You can make this two-piece collar that you attach to the back or with the fabric folded over.

If instead of a round neck you want modifying a neck to spike, the system is the same.

These collars are usually armed with an interlining on the inside so that they keep their shape and look more beautiful. For that, you have to make a cloth sandwich.

The fabric below (the one you can’t see) + Interlining + Fabric above (the one you can see)

Even if you don’t put in interlining, you must have the other two fabrics. You can do it with the same fabric all or combined.

In short. You have to have 4 neck pieces if you are going to join it from behind (my personal recommendation) or 2 pieces if you do it with the fabric folded.

Modify Fantasy Neck

You can imagine what a fancy neck is just by the name but I’ll explain it to you anyway.

They’re necks that are out of the ordinary that we all know. These are the ones you create. They can be wavy, heart-shaped, square, and even cat ears if you get very creative.

These are an example of what you can do, but there is an infinity. The limit is in your imagination and your sewing skills.

To finish these necks you need views, which I will show you how to do in the next post of this blog. Very thoughtful.

And so you can start with this collar I leave you here below in link to download the base pattern.

Many times you have a dress that you love the body but the skirt is too short, or we don’t like it. But since you don’t know how to modify it, the solution is changing skirts.

And there’s another problem, which skirt should I put on? What if that one doesn’t fit? How do I do it?

Changing skirts is very easy. You only need to know the measurements of the dress body waste and the skirt waist. Besides knowing where the skirt starts and the body ends.

How Changing Skirts

Suppose the body of our dress ends at the waist. What we need is a skirt that starts at the waist as well.

Measure that the measures of both coincide so that we do not have to make any modification and that the pattern fits perfectly. The ideal is to use the same company of patterns for both, so that the measurements will always be the same and nothing will have to be modified.

The patterns I have used for the example are these two.

You can even create your own dresses following the same method I just explained. By wearing a T-shirt and a skirt you will have a dress.

You just have to take into account the measurements of both and the position where it ends. Whether it’s the waist or the hip. Also, both patterns are for weaving or knitting. You can’t combine both patterns because the measurements and the way to do it are not the same.

Here below I leave you more patterns of skirts and tops to combine with each other and create more dresses.