The Carolyn Rose School of Sewing
Pattern Drafting - Bodice Masterclass for a perfect fit
Pattern Drafting - Bodice Masterclass for a perfect fit
Skill Level: Intermediate
1 Day
10am - 5pm
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Course Length: 6 hours (plus lunch break)/1 day
Friday 1st August 10am -5pm
£150 - Materials included - Calico and Pattern paper
Learning to make your own patterns is the ideal next step for those with some experience of dressmaking to up-skill and unleash your creativity.
On this one-day masterclass, you will learn how to amend a standard bodice block to fit your own personal measurements and create a perfectly fitting bodice block. We will cover the magical art of dart manipulation to move suppression around the bodice and create any design you can imagine!
This course is taught by profession pattern cutter, Sarah Laws. Sarah has over 20 years experience working in the fashion industry and designing and grading patterns for indie brands including her own pattern brand My Handmade Wardrobe Patterns.
This course is not suitable for complete beginners. You should have had some experience of using a sewing machine and preferably have completed a 'Beginners Dressmaking' course or similar.
What will I learn?
· How to accurately measure yourself and fill in a handy body measurements chart
· How to use your measurements to adapt a standard block and create your own bespoke pattern making template including doing Small/Full Bust Adjustments as appropriate
· Tracing off the block and adding seam allowances and key information to start creating your own patterns
· Quick toiling techniques
· How to use and manipulate a flat 2D pattern block to create a 3D design with suppression
· Practical hands-on learning of pattern cutting theory using mini blocks
· How to move suppression (darts, gathers, pleats etc) around the bodice
· Fitting the bodice to your body – how to note fitting comments and spot and eliminate excess volume or tightness and drag lines
· Leave with a fitted bodice toile and a paper template to use to start creating your own designs
Fabric Recommendation
Fabric Recommendation
You do not need to bring any fabric as you will only be making a toile in this class.
What Does This Skill Level Mean?
What Does This Skill Level Mean?
This page is to help give you a precise and accurate description of what we mean by each of our skill levels for our courses so you can best gauge whether a course is right for you!
If you are still unsure after reading this page, feel free to email us or come and have a chat in store and we can help you further.
Beginner
You are a beginner if you are completely new to the skill at hand or haven't practiced the skill in a long time, such as having used a sewing machine at school but having left school over 20 years ago.
Not all our courses marked beginner are suitable for complete beginners to sewing, such as our beginners to dressmaking or our beginners to overlocking classes. If you are looking to start from the very beginning in your sewing journey, we always recommend you start with Beginners to Sewing and progress from there. Even if you feel you know some of the basic skills taught in Beginners to Sewing, we recommend you do the full course as this will give you complete, up-to-date, and fresh experience with the basics and make progressing more comfortable!
Improver
You are an improver if you have some recent experience with learning the basics but haven't had much chance to explore beyond. Our improvers classes will usually teach you a new skill not covered in our beginners courses, for example our Improvers to Overlocking class would presume you know how to operate an overlocker comfortably and teach you how to make a lettuce hem!
If you feel relatively comfortable with the basics and want to learn more, these are the courses for you. These courses are also great for confident sewists to learn skills with professional supervision to make sure you're making the most of them! Come, ask questions, learn, and leave with a wider range of sewing techniques.
Intermediate
You are an intermediate learner if you feel very confident with the basics and have some extra skills under your belt already. Our most common intermediate classes are our classes that explore pattern drafting or manipulation. This requires you to have confidence and experience with dressmaking patterns so you have the best chance of understanding how the manipulations work, and what shapes usually occur.
The intermediate classes will teach you the foundations of more advanced sewing knowledge such as larger scale projects, tailoring, pattern alteration, and advanced machine techniques.
Advanced
You are an advanced learner if you feel confident with intermediate techniques. These classes are made for those who have vast experience but would like an extra pair of eyes or a bit of moral support for quality and exploring new projects. It can also be useful for those who maybe just haven't explored the specific technique yet, for example - you have made tailored trousers but haven't tried making jeans yet.
What Do I Bring?
What Do I Bring?
A Sewing Essentials Kit (either your own or one of ours)
A fitted top - this makes it easier to measure you
If you wish to purchase a sewing essentials kit, these are available in-store and online.
In our workshop we use Janome 5060QDC Computerised Machines. Sadly, we are unable to facilitate students bringing in their own machines.
Booking Terms and Conditions
Booking Terms and Conditions
When booking please provide your email address if you have one. We promise we won't spam you with advertisements or sign you up to anything you don't want, it's just so we can easily send you all the information you will need before commencing your course.
Missing a Session on a 6 week Beginners to Sewing and/or Dressmaking
course
When booking onto any of our 6-week courses, you are agreeing to attend on the same day and time each week. If you are unable to attend any of the scheduled dates you will lose that session. However, if you would like to make up that session, you can book on to a Time to Sew session for a concessionary fee of £23!
Cancellation by you of a Workshop
We require a minimum of 7 working days if you wish to cancel your place on a workshop and an administration fee will apply, to allow us time to offer you an alternative session. Please note – Less than 7 days’ notice we will unfortunately not be able to offer you an alternative and you will forfeit your payment.
Cancellation of a Time to Sew booking
If you wish to cancel your booking for a Time to Sew, you must give at least 24 hours notice. If you do not, you will not be eligible for a refund or rescheduling. If the 24 hour minimum period is met and you attempt to reschedule on more than one occasion, you will incur an admin fee of £20. If you fail to attend your second rebooking, you will not be eligible for a refund or rescheduling.
These rules are in place as our Time to Sew sessions can get busy and if you book, cancel, and we don't have time to let people know theres a space, other customers will be kept waiting unnecessarily - like a GP appointment.
Cancellations by Us
If a cancellation is unavoidable, we will offer an alternative session to suit you or offer a full refund for that individual session or workshop. We will give a minimum of 7 days notice before the cancellation of a set date workshop or course. We are not responsible for any loss from travel or accommodation expenses so we recommend buying insurance when you book.
Payment
All our classes can be purchased; online, over the phone or you can come into the shop and pay. We ask for full payment up front. We will give a minimum of 7 days notice of a cancellation. Please be aware we will not be responsible for any loss in travel or accommodation costs, we recommend you add insurance to any hotel or travel bookings.
Health & Safety
We guide you on how to safely use the equipment at the school, but please be aware that you do so entirely at your own risk. Due to the nature of the equipment you will be using there will be lots of close work. If you normally require glasses for this type of work, please bring them with you.
Accessibility
Please be aware that our workshop is in the basement and is only accessible via stairs. There is a bathroom and drink facilities on the basement level. We are happy to help carry any bags and aid you however we can to get up and down the stairs.
DBS
All of our tutors who work with children have up to date DBS checks.
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Tutor: Sarah
Sarah Laws is one of our lovely external teachers who teaches the pattern cutting and alteration workshops. She designs MHW patterns and works in her studio in The Makers Yard in Leicester. She trained in fashion design at Westminster university before working in the fashion design industry for 7 years. To find out more about Sarah and our other tutors, check out our Meet the Team page.
Need some Sewing Essentials?
Purchase our tailor-made Sewing Essentials Kits Here!
Unfortunately the shipping of scissors or blades is prohibited so if you would like your kit to include scissors, please choose Click and Collect.