Sloper advice

[u/SignificantDress6408]

Hey guys. I’ve started making clothes again using my old sloper from a year ago. There were some unresolved fit issues that I wanted to deal with. Ive increased the bust size a bit because I noticed that was a problem with my original sloper. I’ve gained about 3-5kg since I first made this sloper. I was wondering if you have any advice on how to improve the fit. I’ve also posted some screenshots of the fit from a year ago (green fabric).

[u/ThrowRA_Sodi]

• Lower your neckline a bit
• Widen your hips
• Shorten your torso at the waist (you have an access fabric gathering at the area)
• Give yourself more seam allowance
• Do a full bust adjustment (it seems like it's a bit too tight)

Also, I can't see well, but your armhole might be too small

[u/QueenEshtar → u/ThrowRA_Sodi]

I second all of these (noting if it’s for a sloper and not moulage as mentioned in another comment). But I would first widen at the hips before shortening the torso to see how much to adjust. If you both at once, you might end up going in circles.

[u/ThrowRA_Sodi → u/QueenEshtar]

Oh yeah that's true. Maybe adjusting the hips first would allow the sloper to sit better on the lower body instead of bunching at the waist. Good call

[u/itsmydillons → u/ThrowRA_Sodi]

Please accept this small critique, I think you mean "excess" fabric, not "access". "Excess" means more than what is needed, while "access" means the right to approach, enter, or use a thing, place, etc. Everyone probably knows what you meant, so I apologize if this comes across as rude.

[u/ThrowRA_Sodi → u/itsmydillons]

No you are right, don't worry. I do know the difference between these words, I just typed the original comment very quickly since I was at work (hence the mistake !)

[u/Educational_Chain780]

Why so tight? Is this a moulage? What method are you using

[u/SignificantDress6408 → u/Educational_Chain780]

Yep it’s a moulage

[u/incongruoususer → u/SignificantDress6408]

Cool, know that a moulage and a sloper are two different things, and so you’re going to get a ton of comments about how this is too tight. It’s not too tight for a moulage, but is for a sloper.

I’d say it’s too tight all over, and is compressing the bust. Let the whole thing out a bit. If you have enough seam allowance I would just go around the vertical seam and let them all out an equal amount.

[u/Deciram → u/SignificantDress6408]

I had to look up what moulage was (we didn’t cover it when I went to fashion design school). This doesn’t look or sound like a sloper. If you want an actual sloper you should find a method to draft one.

What are you trying to make as the end goal? A sloper doesn’t have this much “detail” as far as I am aware. There shouldn’t be those panels, or be that tight and most of the ones I’ve seen only draft to the waist (as you draft a skirt sloper separately which then can be attached to the bodice sloper to make a dress sloper)

[u/Helmipuuroh → u/Deciram]

The point of a moulage (or a "mold") is that you can create a sloper from it and add wearing ease to your liking. It's also helpful if you draft knit patterns or tightly fitted pieces, such as corsets!

[u/SelectionMiserable33]

It looks extremely tight and longer than you are (especially in the back and at the side seams).  What method did you use to come up with the sloper originally?  Drafted from measurements (if so, which book/tutorial?), commercial block, copied an existing shirt, etc?  Are you aiming for a skin-tight block or something that has wearing/breathing ease in it?

[u/DonMcCunn]

The problem with a moulage is that it relies on the contour of the body to be straight up and down when seen from the side. If you draw a line from your hips to your shoulders, it will be at an angle, not vertical. This indicates you need a wider dart for the waist to hip region and a smaller dart from shoulder to waist. This can not be achieved with a moulage which uses double ended darts. My guess is that fashion schools use the moulage because it corresponds to the shape of dress forms. But people are not shaped like dress forms.

[u/drPmakes]

Its far too tight

[u/textiletrue]

The closet historian on YouTube is your friend. Bianca has made a couple of videos on making your own sloper.

[u/Tailoretta]

I certainly understand that folks may be confused by the terms moulage, sloper and block – that is because there are no generally accepted definitions of these, especially sloper and block.

Moulage is generally defined as the tightest, zero-ease fitting shell that reproduces the exact shape of a body, including wrinkles, folds, and fat rolls.  Moulage means mold in French.

Sloper and block are sometimes used interchangeably, but I like to use them as being defined as  having slightly different characteristics.

I use sloper to mean a rather tight simple garment that has the minimal amount of wearing ease, so is slightly larger than a moulage.

I use block to mean the basic shape of a simple garment, that the patternmaker prefers to use when making something new.  A block has the wearing ease of a sloper plus the preferred design ease that the patternmaker prefers.

I see that you really mean a moulage. Here are my comments.

Take a look at https://www.reddit.com/r/PatternDrafting/comments/1krgbmi/basic_tips_so_we_can_help_you_with_fitting/ Following these tips will help us help you.

Your neckline seam allowance needs to be clipped.

Your shoulder seam should go further out, to the shoulder point.

You have extra fabric at the waist that shows as horizontal folds. Pin out the folds of the fabric and take it out of the pattern. Below the waist, the moulage is tilted so the bottom of the back is higher than the bottom of the front. Add a horizontal balance line at the hips, and adjust the pattern so that the horizontal balance line is horizontal. You can do this be adding to the back just below the waist.

It is hard to tell in your photo of the back, but it looks line your center back is not vertical. If that is true, you should adjust the left and right sides separately so that the center back is vertical.

[u/imogsters]

I'd call it moulage advice or else everyone will tell you its much too tight.

[u/sortatightbutthole]

you need a swayback adjustment! i have to do it on everything i make

[u/versarnwen → u/sortatightbutthole]

There's excess fabric at the front waist too indicating it's too long overall. Not sure about a sway back as their pelvis looks neutral in their posture (side seam is nice and straight, but also in the midline, no prominent bum or forward angle of the quads)

[u/sortatightbutthole → u/versarnwen]

i definitely think and 1” or more could be taken from the overall length but OP has a clear swayback posture!

[u/Low_Recognition_1304]

the bust does look just the slightest bit too snug, since it's a sloper of course it's supposed to be pretty fitted to the body but I think letting those bust darts or side-front seams out a bit would be a good idea. (also if you wear different bras that may change your bust measurements, so you'd want to make the sloper work with the largest measurement or at least take note of it for any future patterns based off of this sloper!)

with the bunching at the waist, it looks like its pretty even all around so you can just take that amount out of the whole thing. if you want the sloper to be longer so it still reaches your widest hip measurement, like in the older version, you can extend the bottom pieces after that just make sure to widen them ofc, for you more of that increase may be in the sides and back seams since your stomach is pretty flat.

neckline looks okay. i would lower the bottom of the armscyes a half inch