Body Measurement and Pattern Making
This domain tests landmark identification, correct measuring technique, ease, dart intake and how a draft becomes a cutting pattern. Number-based items on ease and dart distribution are common.
Landmarks and measuring
- Nape (7th cervical vertebra), shoulder point, bust point, natural waist (tie a tape at the narrowest point), fullest hip, knee, ankle.
- Bust measured at the fullest point with the tape level at the back; hip measured 18–20 cm below the waist; shoulder width across the back from shoulder point to shoulder point.
- Back length nape to waist; front length shoulder over the bust to waist; kameez length nape to the required point; sleeve length shoulder point to wrist with the elbow bent.
- Also record armhole round, neck round and inseam.
Ease and drafting
- Ease at bust: close fit 4–6 cm, semi-fit 8–10 cm, loose 12 cm and above; waist ease 2–4 cm.
- Draft at 1:4 scale to learn the block, at 1:1 for the real pattern.
- Seam allowance is added after drafting: 1 cm at side seams and armhole, 2.5–4 cm at hems.
Worked example
Body bust 88 cm, close-fitting kameez, ease 6 cm, so the block is drafted at 94 cm. Front bodice width at underarm = 94 ÷ 4 = 23.5 cm. Waist 72 + 4 ease = 76 cm, half-block 38 cm; bust half-block is 47 cm, so 9 cm must be suppressed: 3 cm at the side seam, 3 cm in the front dart, 3 cm in the back dart.
Traps
- Measuring over thick clothing or a padded blouse.
- A tape that slants at the bust or hip, adding centimetres silently.
- Adding ease twice, once in the measurement and again in the draft.
- Forgetting that a cut-on-fold edge needs no seam allowance.