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July 8, 2022
One of the fun ways to vary your core pattern is to incorporate a detail, part or section of another pattern into your core pattern. Your core pattern has all the style, size, shape and flattering look in the "body" of the pattern. But there are an infinite number of variations you can do on the core which will contain all that valuable information of style, size, shape and flattering look.
One of those ways is to incorporate something from another pattern that you liked into your current core pattern can make a variation that can become as beloved as your basic core pattern.
And here's the thing, it's not only not impossible to do, but it's really pretty dang easy. There are some rules to this and they aren't hard if you stop to think about them.
Here are some quick guidelines:
- You have to look at a pattern from a "side to side" and "up and down." This is what will help you place the pattern correctly and then orient one pattern to another.
- You have to know the "matching points" that will help you line up one pattern to another.
- You can only copy one part to another part if they are both woven. And if they are stretch they have to be patterns for the right stretch percentage. Usually in most commercial patterns there are three stretch percentages a.) stable, b.) moderate or jersey and c.) activewear.
- It's really important that you are using a size that is at least the same if not one off. So that means if you have an 8 and you want to move a detail to a 10 pattern, that's about as far as you can go without running into some size-pattern grading.
- Be prepared to do at least a tissue fit, and if the variation contains too much of the garment, a muslin to ensure that you are not losing that valuable info from your core and that your new part is working.
So here are some quick suggestions on parts to think about copying from old patterns or other patterns:
- Collar
- Collar band
- Sleeves
- Necklines
- Neckline treatments (turtlenecks, cowl necks, mock turtlenecks, Mandarin or Nehru bands)
- Shawl collars (yep, this is so much fun to do)
- Waterfall fronts
- Asymmetrical closures
- Changing raglan to set-in or vice versa
You can change any other part of a garment that doesn't change the body so much that you lose all the valuable information you have in the body. That doesn't mean that the body of the garment can't be in several pieces, but it means that the body shape is preserved in those pieces in the garment.
  
All three of these are the same core pattern. The far left is straight with crew neck collar and not much else - it's the orange color that I wanted in this top. The middle is a closure variation, double breasted and with a shawl collar that was more scrunchy than a true laid back shawl collar. And the far right is different pieces or blocks and all are traced off of the core pattern
piece. So they all three are the same line, shape and have all the style and fashion of my core pattern, but are totally different looks.
Zoom With Claire for July 2022
For this month's Zoom with Claire I thought it would be fun to see how to transfer a section from one pattern to another, so thought I would put raglan sleeves onto my core, set-in sleeve pattern. This month's Zoom will be on July 20th at 4pm (CDT). Same as before, reply to this email, with Zoom Link in the title, if you would like to attend, and I'll send you the Zoom link. If you feel you can't
or simply want to know how to make a raglan sleeve onto a set-in garment, LMK and you'll get a copy of the video after it's over.
And as always I love hearing what you're up to, so if you have something you want to show and tell, bring it along, as well as if you have a quandary or problem that you would like to share. My bet is that your problem is probably something someone else has had many times before.
This is a beginning guide on what to do with your core pattern after you have fitted and worked on it.
All the work that you have done in your core pattern contains all the information to make a garment that you will totally love. This means you really don't have to buy another pattern for making skirts, pants or leggings. Variations on your core pattern makes it possible for you to have the styles you see in a photo or on Pinterest without having to look for the pattern that looks like it might work. You can now simply trace it onto your core pattern and
you're done.
This resource also contains some other important resources at huge discount because they are so important to this creative process of varying your core pattern. It also contains some downloads that aren't available in the Resource Library at all, but are vital toward making good design.
In this world of crazy, illogical fashion, we sewists are having to turn into designers. That sounds really hard and foreboding, but it's not. Unlike designers, we simply haven't had all the experience they have, most of that experience they got when they went to design school. More than anything I wanted to make this process encouraging, empowering and enlightening without having to worry about whether or not you could vary your core pattern.
You can! It isn't that hard. It is knowing some guidelines and charging out into the unknown. That's what we sewists do and we do it very well most of the time.
This is the beginning of the series into variations on core patterns. I wanted to start with something basic, so that you wouldn't feel so intimidated. It takes a while to write these up, cause I'm an idea factory, and coordinating and organizing these ideas can be monumental with the sewing muse yacking in my ear 24/7.
The resource is available now at a discount so that you can enjoy it before spring starts in full force. Right now, I'm thinking happy, colorful and pretty. Those are all fresh looks for future clothes. When things seem upside down, it's great to have something to make us happy and often bright, springtime and summertime fabrics are just as much as drab, dark and somber fabrics. I'm ready to be beautiful, comfortable and look flattering in my clothes and
I'm dying to share that with you.
Skirts, Core Pattern Variations, Part 1 (but there's more than skirts in here)
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