A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting - Skirt Block

1. A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting
Skirt Block

2. Skirt Block

3. Waistline
around
‘belly button’
Hipline
20cm under
waistline
Length
Waistline
To
Knee line
Measurements
Required
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

4. EASE
Ease of movement
When creating patterns you need
to add EASE into actual body
measurements so you can move
in the garment
BUST LINE = 4cm
(BREATHING)
WAIST LINE = 2cm
(EATING)
HIP LINE = 4cm
(SITTING)
** Hip Line can be less (2cm) for
fitted skirts
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

5. Equipment
Pattern paper, ruler with a straight and curved edge
Pencil, (rubber)
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

6. Draw a rectangle
LENGTH = waistline to
knee line
WIDTH =
HIP plus EASE
Divided by 2
** Blocks are always
made as HALF of the
body front and back
EXAMPLE – Waistline to Knee line = 50cm LENGTH
Hipline = 90cm + 4cm ease /2 = 47cm WIDTH
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

7. Draw the Hipline
20cm down from
the TOP line
which is the
waist line
Draw the side seam
A line in the middle
Top Line is Waistline
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

8. PANEL LINE POSITION
The panel line runs down
the centre of your body
and is where shaping
(darts) will be placed to
reduce the width at the
waistline.
Panel position is 1/10th of
your Hip measurement
EXAMPLE
90cm Hip = 9cm panel
position, marked back
from the outside edges.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

9. ABBREVIATIONS
CB = left side line.
Centre Back
CF = right side line.
Centre Front
HL = Hip line
KL = Knee line
BACK FRONT
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

10. C
B
C
F
HL HL
KL KL
WIDTH is your HIPLINE
We now need to reduce
the WAISTLINE (Top
Line) To fit your body.
We do this by adding
DARTS into the Panel
Lines and shaping at
the side seam.
Waist Line
Panel Lines
Side Seam
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

11. Calculating the DART Width
Hipline to Waistline Difference
• Hipline MINUS Waistline
• HALVE the measurement as your block is half the back and half
the front
• Divide by 4 to reduce waistline evenly around the body. (Front
and back darts, front and back side seam)
• EXAMPLE 90cm Hipline. 67cm Waistline
• 90 – 67 = 23cm.
• HALF = 11.5cm
• Divided by 4 = 2.87cm
• THIS is the width of your darts at the waistline
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

12. Body Shapes
Straight Body (thicker waistline)
You can just have back darts and
no front dart.
Small Waist/ Larger bottom
You can have two back darts to
account for a more curved
bottom.
Place these slightly to the left
and right of the original panel
line position.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

13. BACK – 14cm FRONT - 10cm
DART LENGTH
Darts are placed on the top line, the waistline to reduce the waist
measurement.
Measure DOWN the PANEL LINE and mark a point for the dart length
Back darts are longer to reach the top of the curve of your bottom
Front darts reach your stomach.
Back Panel Line
Front Panel Line
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

14. C
B
Dart
length
14cm
Dart width
2.87cm
HALF EACH
SIDE
of Panel line
= 1.43cm
DRAW a straight
Line to connect points

15. FRONT DART
Length = 10cm
WIDTH = 2.87cm
HALF EACH SIDE of panel line = 1.43cm
BACK dart
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

16. RAISE side seam line by 2cm UP from waistline –
This creates shaping at the side
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

17. Connect side seam point with INSIDE dart line
STRAIGHT line
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

18. Waist Measurement
1. Waist PLUS ease DIVIDED by 4
2. ADD dart width measurement.
3. EXAMPLE – Waist 67cm PLUS 2cm ease = 69cm
4. Divided by 4 = 17.25cm
5. Add dart width = 17.25cm + 2.87cm = 20.12cm
6. Measure along the waistline, straight from CB and CF and UP the new line
to side seam. Mark a point at the waist measurement (20.12cm)
Back and Front waistline
** The ‘space’ to the side seam should be similar to the dart width
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

19. Use the curve of a ruler to join the side seam line.
Join
Side seam
to waist point
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

20. Create a SMOOTH line which flows into the Hipline
It does not have to reach the hipline itself
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

21. Create a small curved line, from the dart to the side seam line
CURVE inwards 2mm
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

22. FINISHED!
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

23. FINISHED BLOCK
Showing waist shaping
lines.
DARTS and SIDE
SEAMS are ¼ each of
the waist to hip
difference
This gives even
distribution of the
difference around your
waistline.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

24. FITTING SAMPLE PATTERN - CUT OUT the back and front skirt block
GRAIN LINES -
Are the direction you cut the
fabric and are placed on all
blocks, plans and patterns.
They are parallel to the CB
and CF
INFORMATION is written
down the grain line showing
what the block is.
BACK
SKIRT BLOCK YOUR NAME/SIZE INFO/DATE
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

25. Fitting Sample
Take a new piece of paper
and trace around your
block.
Its good to use a ruler to
create a GRID to start
before tracing. This is the
CB line, straight line for
waistline, hipline and knee
line.
Then place the block
against these lines and
finish the side and
waistline.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

26. ADD 1cm down the side seam. This is the seam allowance to make a fitting
sample. There is NO NEED to add seam on the waistline or hem for a fitting
sample as you want to see how the block sits in the correct position on your
body.
Trace side and waistline of block
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

27. Trace the front block,
keeping the hipline in the
same position across the
page. Adding 1cm seam
onto the side seam.
THREE DOTS = these
mean cut on Fold
GRAIN LINE Information
BACK FITTING SAMPLE CUT 1 ON FOLD
SKIRT BLOCK
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

28. Cut out the pattern
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

29. NOTCHERS
Pattern notches help you
sew.
Mark hipline, dart positions
and the opening (zipper)
with notches.
ZIPPER NOTCH is ALWAYS 2cm above Hip Line to be able to fit the skirt
over your hip and bottom
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

30. Lay fabric flat on a table. Align to the table edge to keep the grain line
straight.
As your skirt fitting sample is CUT ON FOLD, fold fabric as below, creating
two folded edges and the SELVEDGE in the middle. The selvedge is the
natural edge.
SELVEDGE
CUT EDGE from shop
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

31. Place pattern pieces
AGAINST FOLDED
EDGES.
Weigh down with pattern
weights (or any heavy
enough object to hold in
place)
NO NEED FOR PINS. If
your not sure of your
cutting skills use chalk or
pencil to draw around the
pattern pieces.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

32. Cut out pattern pieces.
CUT INTO NOTCH – 3mm MAXIMUM. These will help you sew.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

33. MARK the bottom of the dart points on the fabric. PENCIL or Chalk is
good. If you are new to sewing draw the dart line to follow when you sew.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

34. Fitting Sample Sewing
Fold fabric together down the
dart length, creating a long
triangle.
Sew down the length of the dart,
finishing at the end point.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

35. Sew all 4 darts, two front and
two back.
These are bringing in the
waistline
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

36. Sew the LEFT SIDE SEAM from under the zipper notch down to the
hemline. ZIPS ALWAYS sit on the LEFT side of the body.
For left handed people, a right side seam zip would be better 
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

37. Sew the right side seam
from waistline down to
hemline.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

38. Fitting sample is now
ready to be tried on.
Darts are sewn.
Left seam is sewn from
under the zipper notch.
Right side seam is sewn
from waistline down to
hemline.
Fitting sample should sit
at your waistline and hit
your knee line.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

39. Front darts should sit smooth
around your stomach
Back darts should reach the
top of your bottom
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

40. Pin side seam opening together
1cm seam allowance.
If skirt is too big reduce down
the side seam.
If skirt is too small add onto the
side seam.
If darts are not sitting smooth
reduce the width and add onto
the side seam.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

41. Once size is confirmed trace
pattern of block onto card for
repeated use.
A Technical Foundation - Women's Wear Pattern Cutting: Skirt Block

42. A Technical Foundation, Women’s Wear Pattern Cutting
· ISBN-10: 1849634718
· ISBN-13: 978-1849634717
Concept to Creation; The Design Process
· ISBN-10: 1849635730
· ISBN-13: 978-1849635738
A Technical Foundation - Menswear Pattern Cutting
· ISBN-10: 1784551236
· ISBN-13: 978-1784551230