Pattern Making: Moulage

I'm learning the technique of moulage, or French pattern drafting, through the fashion design program at Canada College. The class is taught by Lynda Maynard, the author of De-Mystifying Fit: Using the Moulage to Adjust Commercial Patterns.

Moulage is the process of taking precise body measurements, running calculations and drafting a pattern that fits like a second skin. From there, a sloper is made, which incorporates wearing ease and any additional adjustments that are unique to each individual.

Our first class focused on learning how to take measurements properly. Taking precise measurements is not easy and requires a lot of practice! I also found that re-taking measurements on a different day and comparing them to the first set was helpful. In the second class, we drafted the back bodice. Taking our raw measurements, we ran through some standard calculations to come up with "calculated measurements", which were used to draft the pattern. It isn't very clean (a lot of mistakes that had to be erased), but I think it kind of looks like half of my back! The most interesting part was when I did a final check of the measurements, the waist to shoulder length and armscye length were short by half an inch compared to my actual measurements. I always need to do a square shoulder adjustment to commercial patterns by raising the shoulder up by about half an inch, so it was neat to see that the moulage calculations ended up accommodating that.