Miniature Pattern Pieces

I love the dropped waist of the strapless gown, but really love those sleeves, so I combined the two bodices and kept the full skirt from the strapless design.

But first I had to figure out what to do with a  pattern piece that measures approximately one inch!

These things are seriously tiny.  But it certainly is refreshing to only have one or two pages to print out!

I usually trace bond paper patterns directly onto muslin.  But I was unsure how this whole system was going to work for me, so I hedged my bets, and used some leftover easel paper.

The straight lines were easy, but a couple of the curves (those sleeves, for instance!) were challenging to figure out - I wish there were a few more points of reference in those areas.

That being said, these mini pattern pieces from Éclair-Coupe Paris are genius.  Why have I not tried this system before?!  I cannot speak to the accuracy of each and every size ruler, but just about everything matched up for me.

I reinforced the pivot points with some tape, which worked great.

The next step was lengthening the torso of each bodice piece.  Might as well get those standard adjustments out of the way!

Since these patterns do not include seam allowances, I decided to go for it and try out Susan Khalje’s couture method and thread traced the stitching lines, leaving lots of excess seam allowances to play with.

The next step was to combine the two bodices from the two separate designs.

After matching the waistline of both, I traced off and marked the differences.  The darts matched up very well, which was a good sign!

The massive skirt pieces posed a different challenge.  Those tiny little pattern pieces ended up creating a full skirt that ends about knee length.  Extending straight lines is not a problem, but they do not include the pleats.  That is fine, except the only image I have to work with is a stylized drawing, so I am not very clear on that part of the process!

Now to put it all together and see what happens!