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[sewingj]

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[b15erk]

There are several YouTube video tyres demonstrating this technique,  and I think Fran did  course.

I've  done it once but just for a t shirt and it worked very well.

If you're not confident, what about getting a pattern which is similar, and tweak it a bit.

Good luck

Jessie

[Francesca]

I attended a class on this last year. It was for knits only, but then it was also only 6 hours of teaching.

You can indeed do it. It requires quite a lot of patience and measuring but is totally possible.

The general idea is that you lay down your paper (dot and cross is useful) and identify the pieces you need to clone. You then isolate those pieces as best you can and pin along the seam line (like stitching in the ditch but with pins) for that particular piece. In order to trace off, you "peel" back the part of the garment you are not focusing on and simply try your best to put a pencil mark where you can until you have gone round the whole piece. Then when you unpin you can join the marks together to create the piece.

The secret that I hadn't thought about myself was how useful the measuring tape is. You should constantly be referring between garment and drawing with the tape measure. Did I get this correct? The shoulder width is 4" on the garment, did I get it to 4" on the shoulder? Etc etc. The tape measure is absolutely your best friend and really you should be measuring every single line you draw to check it corresponds. Check heights correspond using it, sense check that your curves will fit into other curves using it. And of course, sew a toile.

[sewingj]

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[Francesca]

What are her measurements? I've got plenty of stuff. Have you tried Lekala or Cashmerette?

[sewingj]

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[Francesca]

If she's at the top end of Cashmerette then you could always grade up the extra size. But that seems promising!

Lekala does patterns printed to your exact sizes and go up to 62" I think, but they don't really come with instructions.

Style Arc goes up to a 30. Burda Plus might be worth a look too.

[sewingj]

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[Francesca]

Yep I definitely know how that feels, it can be a tough place and the problem is if you don't get it right then you start to feel like it's your body that's wrong, not the pattern.

Cashmerette are great in my opinion because they have lots of small fitting details that are designed for larger women e.g included swayback and such. Essentially you don't need to worry about doing this adjustments yourself.

However, Lekala drafts the pattern to your size so that might be an option. You can input her specific measurements and the pattern will be drafted "for her" and then you may just have a handful of small adjustments to make.

[Jo]

I recently bought a Craftsy class on copying rtw. It's by Steffani Lincecum. I've learned a lot and have made the first pattern using her instructions (haven't sewn it up yet). She also has a book (Patternmaking for a perfect fit) describing the method she uses in the video, that you can get for 6-7 Gbp (used), if you're interested.
I've also found an article describing this method which you can read here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Duplicate-your-existing-clothes/

[sewingj]

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[Jo]

Great! I'm happy to hear that
I haven't read the whole post (as I'm a bit too lazy at the moment) but can tell you that the class I took was quite helpful, especially when it comes to the tricky parts. I think it's a good buy, if you ever find it on sale (wouldn't spend 50$ on it tho, I'm a cheapskate ).

[jen]

My experience of tracing off garments leads me to suggest finding the straight grain in each piece first and marking it with a line of pins or a strip of masking tape. Then take paper or better still mull (which is a fairly open weave cotton fabric used for drapey toiles), and mark a straight line on this. Line it up on the grain line and work out to the edge of the piece. This helps to get the darts sorted.

When you have your pattern traced off you need to true it up,  by measuring as Fran writes, and also by folding to make sure pieces are symmetrical if they're supposed to be, and by walking the pattern edges which are supposed to match.

An alternative approach if the garment is fairly classic is to find a pattern which is close, and measure it up against the pieces in the garment, pinning lines on your garment to help. For instance, doing the front of a dress pinning the CF and a line at right angles to it roughly at bust level, another at upper chest level and so on. You can check the length of these against the pattern, having equivalent lines spaced on your pattern. Then add in tissue or hack away tissue until you have a good match.