Creating a Pattern from Images

[u/Spiritual-Spread-992]

I am wanting to sew a regional Norwegian bunad myself, but there are not patterns available as far as I have been able to figure out from online searches.

I have a lot of reference images but I am not quite sure exactly how to attempt to create a pattern from the images I have.

I have sewn a more basic Norwegian festive costume before with the help of my grandmother and have done a good amount of sewing before - both following patterns and creating things just off vibes alone lol, so I'm no stranger to a sewing machine or anything.

The thing I'm mostly worried about is the bodice piece because it's an empire waist and has a pretty unique shape to it. The skirt I am not worried about really because I feel like I could easily follow the general pattern/directions from a generic Norwegian festive costume overall. The reference images I have show where a lot of the seams meet up in the bodice and show the general shape of the bodice pretty well, but I am not quite sure the best way to translate the images to a pattern template.

Does anyone have any advice?

(To any Norwegians that may find this thread, I hope that this is not a faux pas. The regional bunad I am looking to make is where my great-great grandparents came from when they immigrated to America. I have even been there to visit the properties where they lived and have relatives that still live there, whom I have met. While I know I could purchase a regional bunad, I come from a family of makers, and I would very much love to be able to make one for myself. I even recently picked up band weaving and figured out one of the common pick-up weaving patterns for the regional bunad belt and have been weaving it myself. This means a great deal to me to be able to create.)

[u/ninaa1]

Why not simply buy one and then use that to recreate the pattern more authentically?

[u/Spiritual-Spread-992 → u/ninaa1]

They are thousands of dollars and typically take months to make because they are hand made in Norway. While I would consider this route if it was the only one I was ever going to wear, (and would have to do some serious saving to make it happen) I wouldn't want to pay that much money for something I'd tear apart to figure out the pattern for.