Drafting The Male Sloper

Thanks to a kind group of friends who all chipped in together to buy it for me as a birthday present, I have a new little half sized mannequin buddy all the way from the U.S..

Isn't he a little beaut? Beautifully made and compared to my little 1/3rd female mannequin he looks positively gigantic. Well not quite, but definitely a bit larger scale than I have been working in.

Click to enlarge.

As I described in the Initial Steps post way back when, the first step in drafting these patterns is to create a basic sloper. The aim is to have a set of close fitting flat reference patterns that can be used to help draft the finished patterns. Once you have a basic sloper drafted you have a starting point to then make changes such as moving the location and direction of seam lines to change the design.

One of the benefits of drafting a male sloper is that the male form has considerably fewer lumps and bumps than a female form. It's therefore easier to draft the flat pattern shapes required, and no troublesome bust darts to try and remove. As with the female sloper, I did this by draping straight onto the form.

When I was first learning to drape on the stand (whether full-sized, half sized or one third sized) I found a lot of value in the youtube tutorials by tailor Sten Martin Jonsson. I'd suggest these videos as a good starting point if you are interested in learning the basic techniques.

I started by tearing a piece of muslin a bit taller than the neck to waist measurement, and a bit wider than the measurement around the mannequin from centre front to centre back. Once you fold under a neat straight edge at each end, and pin these to align at the centre front and centre back, then it's fairly easy to establish the side seams by smoothing and pinning the fabric in place. The key is to smooth fabric to eliminate wrinkles, while trying to keep the grainlines of the fabric running vertically and horizontally.

I then trimmed the excess away from the side, and clipped into the fabric around the neckline so that I could lay the back as smoothly over the shoulder as possible. After I'd marked the shoulder seam on this, I smoothed the front over the shoulder and trimmed and folded under the excess until I could line it up with the shoulder seam. During this process of establishing the shoulder seam it's important to keep smoothing and adjusting the fabric over the shoulder so that not too much excess ends up in the armhole or the neckline, so that neither gapes.

All I had to do then was mark around the armhole and the neckline and the main work was essentially done.

Establishing the shoulder seam and armhole. Click to enlarge.

Once all the seamlines are marked, including the folded edges of the centre front and back, it's an easy matter to unpin the pieces and lay them flat. I then use a straight edge or curved ruler to smooth out any wonky lines and the finished sloper pattern is complete.

A sloper doesn't have any ease, so it's important to get all the seam placements and sizing right. Once I had cut the pieces with seam allowance I sewed them together and made some minor tweaks to the armhole shape.

I still might tweak the armhole a little further because I think it's a little too round and the front of the armhole probably needs to be cut away a bit towards the bottom. However, the armholes in the patterns are a little different from a modern armhole in shape so it may not matter that much at this stage.

 

I also deliberately cut the sloper with a slightly raised waist more in line with the shape of the final doublet patterns. It's a fairly easy matter to drop or raise the waist line slightly as the pattern calls for it. I probably also need to make some arms for this guy so he can hill out his doublets properly...

Now that I have the sloper drafted, the next pattern I'll be tackling is the first men's pattern (and also the first of all the patterns in the book) which is f.13/f.13a, a man's doublet. It bears many similarities with the woman's doublet f.14/f.14a from Project #2, but has a curving padded 'peascod' belly.

Progress Review - Women's Patterns

I'm moving on to the men's patterns now so I thought it would be useful to do another progress review of the women's garments I have constructed so far, and how they sit in terms of the large amount of patterns in the book. The patterns I've constructed are highlighted in red and I've tried to give a quick precis of how each of the other patterns relate to those.

As I've mentioned previously Alcega gives a number of variations of almost all of the patterns in the books, laid out for different fabric widths and sometimes in alternate sizes. Generally they are grouped together, but sometimes the book jumps forwards and backwards. It's a little confusing but hopefully the notes will give some idea of the relationships involved. (Also, the translations of the titles of the patterns are sometimes a bit misleading, just to make things easier for us all.)

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~ f.13-f13a are the first patterns in the book and are for a man's doublet ~

f.14 - "Silk doublet for a woman" 
A close fitting doublet with a high collar and low pointed front, see Project #2

f.14a - "Silk doublet for a woman, from open silk"
(Repeat of f.14, same size pattern and fabric but with an alternate layout.)

~ f.15-f54a - Men's and various specialty use garment patterns ~

f.55 - "Skirt of cloth for a woman"
An underskirt of cloth, see Project #3

f.55a - "Skirt for a woman"
(Repeat of f.55 but with a slightly longer length and the same width of fabric but a mention of nap of the fabric.)

f.56 - "A narrow skirt of cloth"
(Repeat of f.55 with a smaller waist size, using the same width of fabric but a slightly longer piece, and less piecing.)

f.56a - "Skirt of silk for a woman"
(Repeat of f.55 using a longer and very narrow piece of silk fabric with many piecings.)

f.57 - "Skirt of silk for a woman" (Repeat of f.55a using longer and very narrow piece of silk fabric many piecings, and the same length of skirt as f.55a.)

f.57a - "Child's kirtle of silk"
(A child's sized version of f.58)

f.58 - "Kirtle of silk for a woman"
An overskirt of silk, see Project #4

f.58a - "Silk kirtle for a fat woman"
(Repeat of f.58 with larger waist size using a longer piece of silk, and an alternate layout.)

f.59 - "Kirtle and low cut bodice of silk"
(An alternate layout of f.59a, using slightly less fabric and with godet B made from 2 pieces.)

f.59a - "Kirtle and low cut bodice of silk" 
A skirt and low cut bodice with shoulder straps, see Project #5

f.60 - "Kirtle and low cut bodice of cloth rash for a woman"
(Repeat of f.59a with slightly different sizing, using a very wide fabric and alternate layout.)

f.60a - "Kirtle of cloth for a fat woman"
(Repeat of 58a with larger waist sizing, using a very wide fabric and a complicated set of piecings to make up the godets.)

f.61 - "Kirtle and low cut bodice of cloth for a woman"
(Repeat of f.59a with slightly different sizing, using a very wide fabric.)

f.61a - "Kirtle of cloth rash"
(Repeat of f.58 with an alternate layout for a very wide fabric.)

f.62 - "Kirtle of cloth rash for a fat woman"
(Repeat of f.58 with a larger waist size and an alternate layout for a very wide fabric.)

f.62a - "Two kirtles of cloth rash cut together"
(An unusual repeat of f.58, using a long piece of fairly wide fabric to cut 2 slightly shorter overskirts at once.)

f.63 - "Skirt and bodice of cloth with puffed sleeves"
An over gown comprised of a long trained skirt and doublet style bodice, with large decorative hanging sleeves that have a curved back, see Project #6

f.63a - "Skirt [with bodice] of cloth for a woman"
(Repeat of f.63 with a shorter train on the skirt, cut from a shorter length of fabric.)

f.64 - "Skirt [with bodice] of cloth for a woman"
(Repeat of f.63 and f.63a but with an even shorter train on the skirt, cut from a shorter length of fabric.)

f.64a - "Laced mourning coat of cloth for a woman"
An over gown comprised of a skirt and doublet style front but with a dramatic 'sack back' style back and large decorative hanging sleeves that have a curved back, see Project #7

f.65 - "laced mourning coat of silk for a woman"
(Repeat of f.64a with an alternate layout for narrow silk fabric.)

f.65a - "Skirt and little jerkin of silk for a woman"
(Repeat of f.63 using the same train length as f.64, but with an alternate layout for narrow silk fabric.)

f.66 - "Skirt and little jerkin of silk"
(Repeat of f.63 using the same train length as f.63a, but with an alternate layout for narrow silk fabric.)

f.66a - "Skirt and little jerkin of silk"
(Repeat of f.63 with a train length that is almost as long as f.63, but with an alternate layout for narrow silk fabric.)

f.67 - "Silk farthingale for a woman"
A hooped underskirt, see Project #1

f.67a - "A gown of baize for a girl"
(Repeat of f.69a sized for a young woman.)

f.68 - "Gown of cloth for a woman"
(Repeat of f.69a except with a shorter length, and a shorter sleeve length, which would seem to indicate it was designed for a shorter woman. This is the smallest of the adult versions.)

f.68a - "Gown of cloth for a woman"
(Repeat of f.69a except with a shorter length, and a shorter sleeve length. This is the second to smallest of the adult versions.)

f.69 - "Gown of cloth for a woman"
(Repeat of f.69a except with a shorter length, and a shorter sleeve length. This is the second to largest of the adult versions.)

f.69a - "Gown of cloth for a woman"
A loose robe or over garment, with large decorative hanging sleeves that have a curved back. This is the largest of the adult versions, and consistent with the sizing of the other garments I've reconstructed. See Project #8

f.70 - "Silk gown for a woman"
(Repeat of the same style robe as in f.69a but using the sizing of f.68 and laid out for narrow silk fabric with different piecings. Unlike the cloth versions both components of the collar are clearly shown.)

f.70a - "Silk gown for a woman"
(Repeat of the same style robe as in f.69a but using the sizing of f.69 but laid out for narrow silk fabric with different piecings. Unlike the cloth versions both components of the collar are clearly shown.)

f.71 - "Silk gown for a woman"  
(Repeat of f.69a but with a narrower hem and laid out for narrow silk fabric with different piecings. Unlike the cloth versions both components of the collar are clearly shown.)

f.71a - "Silk gown for a woman"
(Repeat of f.69a laid out for narrow silk fabric with different piecings. Unlike the cloth versions both components of the collar are clearly shown. There is also mention of the nap of the fabric in the layout of the godets.)

f.72 - "Gown of damask for a woman" 
(Repeat of f.69a but with a wider hem and laid out for narrow silk fabric, with different piecings. As the fabric has a directional damask pattern, the robe front and back are laid out in the same direction and mention is made of pattern matching. Unlike the cloth versions both components of the collar are clearly shown.)

f.72a - "Mantle of serge"
(Repeat of f.73 with a slightly different sizing and therefore shorter piece of fabric.)

f.73 - "Mantle of serge"
A roughly semi-circular wrap style overgarment worn outdoors and for travelling, cut from a medium width fabric. See Project #9

f.73a - "Mantle of kersey for a woman"
(Repeat of f.72a laid out for a slightly narrower fabric.)

f.74 - "Mantle of silk for a woman"
(Repeat of the same type of garment as f.73 but laid out for narrow silk fabric and assembled from 4 parallel strips.)

f.74a - "Mantle of silk for a woman"
(Repeat of the same type of garment as f.73 but laid out for narrow silk fabric and assembled from 4 parallel strips similarly to f.74, but in a smaller size.)

f.75 - "Mantle of silk for a woman"
(Repeat of the same type of garment as f.73 but laid out for narrow silk fabric and assembled from 4 parallel strips similarly to f.74, but in the smallest size of the adult versions.)

f.75a - "Mantle of silk for a girl"

(Repeat of the same type of garment as f.73 but in a child's sizing and assembled from 3 parallel strips of narrow silk fabric.)

F.1.1 - f.1.6 are located at the back of the book on a double width fold out page and are the last patterns in the book. They are drawn at a smaller scale and use the full width of the double sized page in order to lay out the pattern, due to the very long lengths of fabric required.

~ f1.1-f.1.4 special use men's patterns ~

f.1.5 - "Woman's skirt and bodice of silk with puffed sleeves"

(Repeat of f.63 but laid out for a very long piece of narrow silk fabric.)

f.1.6 - "Woman's silk skirt and bodice with full-length pointed sleeves"

An over gown comprised of a long trained skirt and doublet style bodice, with large decorative hanging sleeves that angle down to a point. It's very similar to the garment in f.63 but with a different sleeve, and laid out for a very long piece of narrow silk fabric. See Project #10.