Pattern making - how can I figure out the grain lines?

Question

I have been sewing for several years, so I understand the importance of grain lines. I enjoy designing my own patterns, but have run into the problem of making dresses, etc. that simply don't hang right - because my homemade patterns don't have those handy arrows that I can line up with the selvedge! Are there any tips for how various pattern pieces should be aligned? My current project is a paneled sheath dress, and the fabric I'm using is relatively expensive so I'd rather not depend on trial-and-error to figure it out. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Are you learning by trial and error? Or are you using a well-written book on pattern making? Trial and error might seem bold and experimental and fun -until you start wasting fabric making silly mistakes you wouldn't make if you had read even the first chapter of any pattern making book. Usually books will tell you where the straight grain line goes as part of drafting. There's nothing intuitive about grain-lines -you need a teacher to tell you where these go and why they go where they go. The physical structure of the weave of your fabric is exploited when pattern cutting. The two grain-lines straight or warp and cross or weft give support and structure to all garments. When the grains are shifted to a 45 degree angle this is called bias grain and the properties of the fabric change dramatically. It becomes stretchy and fluid. In classic pattern-making the straight grain line is often the initial guideline that all other lines are drafted along. For dresses it's the center back and center front. From this line cross lines are used for bust, waist and hip. While the waist can be off grain -especially in skirts and pants but the bust and hip is always on the weft of the fabric



Experiment 1: Take a piece of plain muslin and pin it to the dress form with the selvedge on the center back with the grain running perpendicular to the floor and the bust-line running parallel to the floor. Repeat wit the center front. When the fabric drapes you will see it hangs quite nicely from the shoulders and the position of the darts under the shoulder blade and under the bust point are quite clear. pin in the darts and you can see a basic dress shape forming. smooth the fabric to the side and pin a side seam under the arms. you are close to having a basic dress bodice pattern. This basic exercise shows the properties of straight grain cutting and how the grainlines add structure and shape. .



Experiment 2: Now turn the fabric 45 degrees so the grains are at a 45degree angle to the floor. You'll notice the fabric is suddenly more fluid looking and it looks softer with more drape. Tug across the bust-line, you'll notice the fabric has become stretchy. Try to pin a side seam -it's sort of wiggly and wonky. This exercise shows the basic properties of bias cutting. You can easily see why dresses with bias grain lines in odd places won't hang correctly.



Why the floor? Because this is where gravity takes your fabric -ground level. Using the warp and weft grains and making them square will align them perpendicular and parallel to the floor. This counteracts gravity -the same way an architects will make building square and parallel to ground level and walls plumb to gravity and perpendicular the ground level.



So you need to make your clothes so center back and front are on grain. The bustline should be on grain -in fact the weave should form a perfect plus sign on the bust point. the hip line should be parallel to the floor. Measure in from the hip to the center front and drop a line down from the waistline/side seam intersection -where that line meets the hip the fabric weave should form a perfect plus sign. Draw these lines all the way across the basic pattern and be sure that all your pieces have the hip line and bust line parallel to the floor.. Draw a perpendicular line from this guideline. That's your straight grain line.



Make your first shift dress from pattern maker's muslin. This is a coarse unbleached cotton that's dirt cheap. cut the pattern and then make a test shell from the muslin. try the muslin on and adjust the fit. Be sure that the center back, front, hip and bust are on the correct grain lines. When you have adjusted the muslin so it fits the way you want you can either make a pattern from the muslin or use the muslin as the pattern.



A good pattern making book will teach this and I highly recommend you experiment with a good book at your side, It will answer questions along the way. Pattern-making is a college level course for a reason -nothing about it is E-Z or simple or intuitive.

Answer 2

There are a few important places that need to be on grain for the proper fit. First is usually center front and center back. When these are on grain everything else falls into place. These two are where beginners should start when plotting out their first garments. These place the grain in line on a few strategic body points where the grain is essential. These are sometimes called "balance points" where the fabric must be on grain for proper fit. Some high-end Vogue patterns used to mark these points with a + plus sign and a finished garment measurement.



Point one is at the apex of the bust, the grain line needs to be parallel and perpendicular to the floor and right on the fullest part of the bust. The skirt point is over a few inches from the side seam on the high hip line. square a line down from the high hip line about three inches from the side seam. This is the grain line and this point on the line will be your grain point where the grain is parallel and perpendicular to the floor. Mark this point on the front of the skirt. For the back grain point match the high hip at the side seam. The hip line must be straight across on the same plane both front and back. Square line down from back high hip line anywhere on the high hipline. On the back of blouses, dresses, jackets and coats there a a couple grain line checkpoints that are not the center back because the center back is often a curved seam for better fit. The peak of the shoulder blade bone needs to be on grain with the weave forming a + plus sign. The back just above the waist dart needs to be on grain. the fabric where the bust line extends across the back needs to be on grain.



One exception: Bias cut garments. In these instances the weave of the fabric on these points must be a X with the grain-line on a 45 degree angle from parallel and perpendicular.



Your question leads me to the conclusion that your pattern making skills are self taught. Your grain line gaps are one of those things that a self learner will waste a lot of time and fabric on trying to noodle out the puzzle. It would be a good idea to get a couple pattern drafting books as these will specify where grain lines are based on the standard guide lines that are drawn out before details are added. These also guide you to where the grain-line goes.



These pattern-making guide lines are always based on body measurements plus fitting ease. Common guidelines are the bust line, waist line, high hip line and low hip line. Two hip lines are essential for a good fit. Length lines that are important are center front neck bases to waist, center back nape to waist, shoulder blade depth, bust point depth, side seam from underarm to waist. Additionally there's the arm crease width, measured on the front from where your arm is joined to the torso across the body and the back width measured across where the arms joins the torso to the The bust, high hip, across the back and across the front are often used as the lines where you square down from to make a grain line.



A book I highly recommend is How to Make Sewing Patterns by Don McCunn. It's a hybrid method that uses drafting and a bit of draping to make a basic block pattern than the home sewing-person can make their own patterns for a variety of clothes. It's aimed at both ordinary people who want to make their own unique clothes an custom dressmakers. Back when I took dressmaking in college this was the book we used.



Pattern making books from fashion schools for those going into the industry are very expensive and way too complex if all you want is cute clothes. These are university level texts that require you to have a professor and grad student tutor to get get the most from the books. The Only college level book that is relevant to a hobby sewer is Metric Pattern Cutting by Winifred Aldrich which is clear, concise and has a large variety of blocks and instructions for turning blocks into garment patterns.



There are more check through amazon.com or go to your local library, they have many of these books so you can read few without spending the ridiculous amount of money some of these books cost.



Grain line placement is a very complex subject and this is barely an overview. I didn't get into the theory of gravitational pull on the warp and weft threads! You will need to do some research on this and it will require some experimentation. Get yourself some cheap pattern maker's muslin: -this is not like muslin bed sheets, pattern maker's muslin is cheap, coarse, unbleached, and not suitable for anything other than experimenting with fit. Next get a scale model dress form -about one quarter or one fifth works. Try draping different grain-lines on the form to see what happens.



I hope this isn't too confusing.There are limits to how much I can put in a yahoo answer so this is barely a start.

Answer 3

Also these links for how to find grain lines in fabric and to tell straight grain from crosswise grain, if you ever need to do that for best draping/etc:

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+know+tell+grain+lines+in+fabric

Answer 4

This information may help you:



http://thecuttingclass.com/post/3233126291/grainlines