Do you own any basic slopers or pattern blocks? Well, if you went to fashion school, you do, and you know how incredibly useful they are. But if you didn’t- well perhaps you don’t have to go to school for this, with the resources available to the sewing community these days.
Today I’ve been researching what is out there in terms of free, download-able, basic sloper patterns for our users. Every single piece of clothing that is not draped is derived from a basic pattern block or sloper. I must stress the importance of creating your own, customized slopers. Once you have taken the time to create your basic patterns (designed off of your personal measurements or your fit model’s measurements) you can make anything. Seriously.
Ralph Pink of Fashion-Gorgeois has offered to share with us his basic sloper patterns, listed below. He also has the cutest onesie, corset & menswear patterns. His website alone is a bundle of inspiration.
Basic 1-Piece Dress Sloper. Created by the extremely talented Fashion-Gorgeois this dress pattern will tale you places you’ve never been!
BASIC SKIRT SLOPER Created again by Fashion-Gorgeois this 5-piece basic skirt pattern holds many opportunities.
Basic Bodice sizes 32-46 uploaded to BurdaStyle by our fruitful member JJ. As you can see from the finished projects, the possibilities are endless.
Basic Bodice UK size 10 by Fashion-Gorgeois. This pattern can easily be altered and the tutorial links are listed on the pattern page.
Basic Long Sleeved Top in European size 36. Created by our Serbian-based member teodora.godar, you have the chance to make yourself an important wardrobe staple.
Click here to view our Size Chart.
The Basic Sloper pictured above was created by Fashion-Gorgeois, click this link here for more information.
Feb 25, 2010, 06.28 PMby wzrdreams
Are Burdastyle sizes the European sizes? Germany doesn’t have it’s own sizes?
4 Replies
Feb 25, 2010, 07.32 PMby alisondahl
The size chart I originally posted with this article didn’t translate in the HTML properly. A UK size 10 is equivalent to a US 8 or BurdaStyle 38/40.
Feb 26, 2010, 11.06 AMby Ichigogirl
Europe is big and diverse… :-)
The UK has one system (4-6-8-10 etc), France (and Italy I think has the same) another, 34-36-38-40 etc and Scandinavia and Germany another, with the same numbers as France, but they run bigger up north (I for example wear a German/Scandinavian sz34, a French 38 – I think – and a UK sz 6. I think I’m a US sz 2 for reference). A bit confusing sometimes, teaches us the necessity in trying things on ;-).
Would be great with a worldwide, standardized sizing-system.
Feb 26, 2010, 03.51 PMby wzrdreams
Thank you Alison and Ichigogirl for the extra insight. Choosing a size to cut is my least favorite part of of sewing!
Feb 27, 2010, 08.38 PMby Mitmit
I think they are. I’m from Denmark and I normally wear a size 36-38 and everytime I’ve created something from a Burda-pattern, it fits. So yes, I think it’s standard european sizes. :-)
Feb 26, 2010, 11.12 AMby mprevitali
Italian size and France size are different…I’m sure about this because I’m italian ! France size 38 is an italian 42!
1 Reply
Feb 26, 2010, 11.40 AMby Ichigogirl
Aha… then maybe France has the same system as Germany/Scandinavia?
Feb 26, 2010, 11.40 AMby kristenmakes
Thanks for the great slopers! I’ve got mine from school, but they are rolled up and stored in my dad’s house right now, across the Atlantic! Happy to have some new ones now. Thanks!
Feb 26, 2010, 11.42 AMby Ichigogirl
Hm, I must take inspiration from this and make cardboard copies of my basic slopers! Hopefully soon…
1 Reply
Feb 26, 2010, 11.56 AMby mprevitali
Well, it maybe possible….actually a 38 burda size is an italian 42…
Feb 26, 2010, 01.36 PMby MarmotaB
Thanks to Yoshimi, who swapped the magazines with me, I’m able to make the Mrs Style Book slopers, and it’s awesome. With their help, I was able to create the perfect blouse/T-shirt pattern for my sister, who has rather an unusual figure, as it turns out… she has short torso and rather thick and short arms, so she’s always had trouble finding a RTW blouse that’d fit properly. Of course, being able to sew the perfect blouse for her and seeing her wear it all the time makes me incredibly happy. :-)
Feb 26, 2010, 03.14 PMby ncn6
I’ve noticed these slopers going up over the past few days! I’m actually getting a pants sloper custom made for me (!), and I think I’m going to try my hand at making a bodice sloper myself, probably by modifying one of the ones on here. For those of you who have made slopers in the past, have you had better luck by taking a lot of measurements and starting from there, or just making a sloper up and trying it on to see where you need modifications?
Feb 26, 2010, 04.09 PMby gedwoods
I’m not sure why my slopers weren’t mentioned in the article… in my Techniques you can find slopers for a bodice, dress, pants, and sleeve, with more coming…
3 Replies
Feb 27, 2010, 02.25 AMby alisondahl
I will definitely look at yours! It’s only that I had been conversing with Ralph of Fashion-Gorgeois and wanted to spread the word about his interesting ongoing projects and great slopers he offers.
There will definitely be more of these articles too. Thank you for sharing;)
Mar 2, 2010, 05.22 PMby monibug
Your techniques are awsome I have made the bodice using your techniques….thank you for sharing
Mar 2, 2010, 07.44 PMby rachellemarie
gedwoods—-I was just scrolling to the bottom of this to add some love for your how tos! I have made the perfect dress using your directions. Thank you so much.
alisondahl—please add gedwoods’ howtos to this article.
Feb 27, 2010, 06.15 AMby MeaghanMichal
could someone elaborate on what a sloper is some more i am a bnit interested
Feb 27, 2010, 06.39 AMby gedwoods
Here’s a formal definition from somewhere : “a Sloper refers to a Cardboard pattern for a basic style by which a manufacturer has approved the fit and appearance that will also be used to develop more intricate styles and patterns in the future” – it roughly captures the idea, even though some may disagree with various details of this expression. For our purposes, a sloper is a set of basic pattern pieces, without any embellishments, that are fitted for your body. Once you have developed a sloper for you, there are a variety of ways the sloper can be manipulated to create more elaborate patterns from the simpler one – and if you follow the “rules” for manipulation, you are nearly guaranteed that the modified garment remains a good fit for you.
Feb 28, 2010, 12.28 PMby Mitmit
I’m very interested in drawing my own slopers. Has anybody got a written guide how to do it from the beginning. My english might not be very good in writing but I read and understand perfectly ;-)
1 Reply
Feb 28, 2010, 07.37 PMby Seemane
I think there’s some information in the techniques posted by Gedwoods (as mentioned a couple of posts above).
I’m a novice to sewing – but found I these links below, via a Google search :) ….
- The Merits of a Basic Fitting Pattern (from ThreadsMagazine.com)
- How can we make new patterns from our fitted slopers? (from fabrics.net)
- How to Measure Up (from ThreadsMagazine.com – for measuring your body)
Mar 1, 2010, 05.20 PMby Wenchy
We made pattern blocks (or slopers) at colllege, I’d be happy to share them if someone told me how lol. I have them for Bodice, Sleeve, and Skirt, all Standard British size 12. I believe I also have somewhere blocks for children’s patterns age 5-6 I think…
Mar 2, 2010, 07.49 PMby rachellemarie
“Today I’ve been researching what is out there in terms of free, download-able, basic sloper patterns for our users.”
Really, I do think it’s ironic, considering Gedwoods’ bodice sloper has been on THIS site for over a year, and it is instructions for drafting a bodice block from your own measurements, where as far as I can tell most of the ones posted on this article are based on standard sizes. What good is that?
Mar 2, 2010, 10.03 PMby elainemay
Errr… not to be a killjoy, but I believe the pattern for “Basic Long Sleeve Top” (the last one listed) is actually from PatternMaker, which I would assume means it’s copyrighted and shouldn’t be distributed as a free pattern on BurdaStyle. I’ve seen several PatternMaker patterns uploaded as free patterns by members (I assume with good intentions as opposed to with intention to distribute copyrighted material knowingly) and the patterns are probably buried deep enough to fly under the radar. But now that there’s a blog post featuring one of them, it could be a problem.
Mar 3, 2010, 03.08 AMby gedwoods
I did not mean to sound critical of your article, alison. But I am pleased to see that my reminder regarding my own posts was useful to others. I have to say that my posted techniques for drafting slopers typically take about 12 hours of preparation to organize – a considerable amount of work – and I really do this to give back to the community some of what it has given to me. It was a bit disappointing to read your original post without any mention of the work, which has, as mentioned by rachellemarie, been present on the BurdaStyle site for over a year. To my knowledge, these are the only extensive instructions on drafting slopers from measurements I have seen on the web – if I had found such instructions elsewhere, I wouldn’t have felt called up to post mine here.
1 Reply
Mar 9, 2010, 05.03 AMby kaitui_kiwi
I immediately thought of your blocks and drafting instructions when I saw this posted up. I’ve downloaded everyone you posted and used them quite a bit while I learn more about drafting. I have learnt so much from your well written instructions, thanks for all your hard work and for sharing your knowledge.
Mar 3, 2010, 04.12 PMby Luzziie
thankyou very much x
Mar 3, 2010, 09.13 PMby coscina
Excellent. I will surely make use of these. Thanx!
Mar 6, 2010, 12.37 PMby estefania_spain
thank you very much¡¡ Ithink I’ll start doing something with those slopers¡¡¡
Mar 25, 2010, 01.40 PMby Heidi-
Great Post!!! More knowledge is never a bad thing
Likewise i’ve been using Gedwoods Slopers (well only the bodice one actually) as i haven’t got round the rest just yet … I’m fairly new to the whole pattern cutting side of things & have been doing an evening course at college in fashion & textiles.
Anyhow, I have to give massive kudos to gedwood… I hadn’t actually realised how easy your instructions were until i was given my ‘How to make a basic bodice block’ handout at college last week…. Hmmmm confusing didn’t even come close… so i scrapped that & used gedwood’s instead…. Same result in half the time ;-)
Have set myself a mission this month… (well maybe April now) to try & make my first pair of trousers so i’ll definately have a look at the resources you mention along with Gedwoods ‘easy to follow’ instructions.
Keep up the fantastic posts…. I love learning new things!!!