How To Make Sewing Patterns

This edition (the first was published in 1973) continues McCunn's thorough, comprehensive approach with some updates, including an extensive series of photographs of a model taking her own measurements (an elemental step toward creating custom-fitted garments) and incorporation of the quarter-scale "mini-me" approach to practicing and prototyping new designs. The target audience is amateur sewists interested in using advanced fitting skills to draft their own patterns, and McCunn starts from the beginning, describing in detail how to measure the body to create a sloper—an individually customized master pattern from which a variety of garments can be designed. Most garment sewists are familiar with the process of taking body measurements, but McCunn takes the process further, listing 42 different measurements that should be taken to develop slopers for bodices, sleeves, skirts, and pants. The second half of the book focuses on ways to alter the completed sloper to design well-fitted custom garments for men and women. McCunn also provides information about working in quarter-scale, including directions for constructing a customized quarter-scale dress form.