Benefits of XML Profiles

XML Profiles are ideal for the professional dressmaker as well as for the amateur dressmaker who is not yet confident taking personal body measurements and wants to choose from a standard size range.

KosherPatterns.com now offers the following expanded size ranges for women and girls.

Womens Sizes 6-18

We have included a variance of height from petite, average-height to tall as well as XS through 3XL.

Womens Sizes 20-30

We have included average-height and tall women with sizes 20-30.

Young Womens Sizes 6-16

This size range is for younger slender women, available in numbered ranges 6-16 and lettered ranges XS-XL.

Girls Sizes 3-14

This size range is for children.

Reference these articles on how to use XML Profiles.

How to Load an XML Profile

How to edit an XML Profile

The post New XML Profile Sizing Charts for My Sloper appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

In a typical form for a Blouse or Dress, you may see the following ease entries, valid for My Sloper Version 1.7 and under.

Blouse Ease

There are six ease entries: Chest/Bust Ease, Waist Ease, Hip Ease, Bicep Ease, Armscye Depth Ease and Shoulder Ease.  Here is an example of a bodice and sleeve slopers without ease.

No-ease Sloper

When ease is added to each of the above six ease entries, the bodice and sleeve slopers with ease may look like in the following diagram.

Slopers with Ease

By default, My Sloper comes with preset ease values that are meant for a Sample Profile.  When you enter in your own profile data, you will need to adjust various ease values to fit you.

Shoulder Ease

The Shoulder Ease extends the shoulder line forward.  Most of the time it is not necessary to add shoulder ease unless you want to design a loose fitting shirt with an overhang shoulder.

Armscye Depth Ease

The Armscye Depth Ease lowers the bottom armscye line to allow movement of the arms.  A default 2.5-cm ease is usually sufficient for a blouse or dress.

Chest/Bust Ease

The Chest/Bust Ease widens the garment for comfort and modesty.  It has a minimum preset that cannot be changed to ensure that the garment is modest.  The default 10-cm ease is usually sufficient but can be increased to your preference.

Hip Ease

The Hip Ease widens the garment at the hip line for comfort and modesty.  The default Hip ease of 7.5-cm is usually sufficient but can be increased to your preference.

Bicep Ease

The Bicep Ease widens the sleeve at the bicep line for comfort and modesty.  The Bicep Ease minimum of 8-cm is usually sufficient but can be increased to your preference.  Remember to tweak your Sleeve cap when the Bicep Ease is changed.

Waist Ease

For Version 1.7-

The default Waist Ease value is based on the Sample Profile provided in My  Sloper.  Most likely, the Waist Ease will have to be increased based on your chest/bust girth measurement.

If you want to create a straight side seam from the chest line to the waist line, the formula to use is this:
 Waist Ease = Chest Girth + Chest Ease – Waist Girth 

For Version 1.8+

Waist Intake instead of Waist Ease

The Waist Ease is no longer valid in Version 1.8+ and is replaced by the Waist Intake.  The Waist Intake, as the name suggests, lets you to tell My Sloper how much to take in from the chest girth.  If you want a straight side seam, you would take in 0.

Straight Side Seam

 Version 1.7-

If you want a slanted side seam between the chest and waist lines, you will want to reduce the above waist ease further.
 New Waist Ease = Waist Ease – some number 

Version 1.8+

If you want a more shapely side seam, you would provide a positive Waist Intake.  Don’t worry, we have provided a default of 8-cm intake which works most of the time.

Slanted Side Seam

Contact us if you would like assistance in creating a sloper with a good fit.

The post Understanding Clothing Ease in My Sloper appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

There is really no special magic formula for estimating yardage for your sewing pattern. It depends on many factors — grain line of pattern, number of pattern pieces, width of fabric, size of pattern, etc. What you need is know how to efficiently lay out your pattern blocks, also called lay planning.

Skirt Pattern

Take for example a very easy skirt pattern that only requires 2 cuttings on the fold.

Blouse Pattern

The above layout is for a 45-in fabric width and folded, parallel to the lengthwise grain line. There is more than one way to lay out your patterns, and you can try out different plans. For the above plan, because the front bodice, front facing and two sleeve patterns need to be on the fold, it’s ideal to place them where they are. Notice the amount of waste in the empty space of the plan, not occupied by the patterns. Choosing this layout yields 2.5 yards of fabric, which may be costly.

Maybe you want to look at a wider fabric, for example, a 55-in fabric. Here is a new lay plan.

Here, the patterns are more compactly arranged, and the patterns that require 2 cuttings or to be placed on the fold were duplicated. Now this layout only requires 1.5 yards and looks more efficient.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s better to learn how to lay your pattern pieces on your own, whether or not your sewing pattern manufacturer provides yardage samples. In addition, if you make patterns for yourself, this is a good skill to acquire.

Note:

The post How to Estimate Yardage for Your Sewing Pattern appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

At KosherPatterns.com, we work hard to design solutions for hair coverings and clothing that meet high Jewish modesty standards called Tzniut (s). Married Jewish women are obligated to cover their hair. There are many hair coverings to choose from and one of the most popular ones today is known as the “Pretied Bandana.”

Problem

The Pretied Bandana is also notorius for not adequately covering all the hair, thus revealing the front, sides or lower head hair.

Solution

We believe that the wearer has to be well-educated in the commandment of Tznius in order to understand that a married Jewish woman’s hair has to be entirely covered. This requirement comes from Das Moshe (minimal requirements of modesty incumbent upon Jewish men and women) and is codified in the Jewish body of laws called Halacha.

Our solution is to educate Jewish women wearers of the Pretied Bandana to take accurate measurements of their personal head sizes and find a hair covering solution, such as our Pretied Head Scarf sewing pattern and make a custom fit covering that is kosher.

Two types of measurements are critical:

1. scarf width taken from ear to ear crossing the forehead, and
2. scarf length taken from forehead to back base of head

As depicted in the picture, women with different hair fullness will have varying head lengths for the scarf. It is important to measure from the forehead because the scarf needs to extend below the head line in order to hide the frontal hair lines. Likewise, ear-to-ear measurements spanning the forehead ensures that hair from above the ear are also hidden. Enough ease has to be added to the back of the head to hide the hairs protruding from that area as well.

Sewing Patterns

We have especially designed two styles of Pretied Head Scarves for the home sewer. Our pretied scarves offer a single tail or two side tails. They come graded for sizes XS through XL, based on average sizing suitable for children and women. Available as instant downloadable PDF files in both Letter- and A4-size printing on your home printer, these digital patterns are easy to follow and make in 7 steps.

An alternative is our new product, My Sloper Headwear, which is a very easy-to-use forms driven Web browser driven powerful software that generates sewing patterns automatically right from your browser.

Ready-Made Pretied Scarves

If you would like to try out a ready-made Pre-tied Scarf, you can order them here at ModestAnytime.com.  You can also order a custom-made size there with a choice of 24 cotton fabrics and 10 trims.

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The post How to Accurately Measure for Pre-tied Head Scarves appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

With My Sloper, grading a pattern is so simple. You don’t have to learn complex mathematics to grade your pattern. Since My Sloper draws a pattern based on the measurements you put in its form, grading a pattern is now a breeze.

If you have the measurements for various sizes, let’s say, from XS to 3XL, you simply enter them in an XML Profile, a text-editable file which contains subject measurement data.

Load the XML Profile into My Sloper and you will instantaneously have each profile corresponding to each graded size loaded into My Sloper. Then, simply choose a profile, select a Pattern, style it and click Draw to render the pattern. Click Print to print the pattern into a PDF file.

Learn more about XML profiles and how to set them up. My Sloper is designed by a dressmaker who has previously used complex commercial pattern making software to design and grade patterns, and has found a better and easier way to produce gradable and customizable patterns in a fraction of time.

Test-drive My Sloper today. Download a DEMO copy.

The post How do I Grade My Patterns? appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

Drafting an accurate shoulder slope on your pattern is one of the most important things to do, in order to avoid fitting issues later on. However, measuring the shoulder slope may not be easy for the measurement taker because conventional methods may introduce errors. Here is a method that is sound, fun and easy to perform.

But first, let’s introduce some fitting issues related to improperly measured shoulder slope or slant, thanks to Threads Magazine.

Tips to Remember:

• Children’s shoulder slopes change quite often in their growing years. If you are going to make patterns for children, measure their shoulder slopes before you draft the pattern.
• Front and back shoulder slopes may vary, so take both sets.
• Some people have uneven shoulders, so take the left and right shoulder slopes.
• Some people have curved necks, so try to find the point where the neck meets the shoulder to start drawing the lines.

Download

You can download this PDF tutorial along with protractor templates that you can use in your image drawing software to find an accurate shoulder slope for your pattern drafting needs.

You may also try shopping for a digital protractor or goniometer here.

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The post How to Measure Shoulder Slant (Slope) appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

Knowing how to take an accurate neckline measurement for a made-to-measure garment is critical to ensure a good fit and how the garment will hang on the wearer. In this tutorial, you will learn yet another technique that is more explainatory and what we call more “natural”. In addition, for our observant Jewish readers, this technique satisfies the modest requirements for a kosher neckline.

When you purchase a commercial pattern or ready-to-wear garment for women, you will probably notice that the pattern or garment is based on the bust-waist-hips measurement. But for a men’s garment or pattern, you will most likely notice the neck measurement, in order to determine the collar size. Why is that? Most likely, the neck size for a woman’s pattern is a derived value from the bust measurement and graded based on standard proportions of the female body. Many pattern drafting techniques also employ unique formulae to compute the neck size or derive it from other measurements of the body. Nevertheless, there are just as many made-to-measure drafting techniques that require taking accurate neck line measurements. How they take this measurement differ from technique to technique.

Here is our technique for measuring a natural neckline that makes sense.

Download

Download this free tutorial to measure natural neckline.

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The post How to Measure Natural Neckline appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

How to take measurements for My Sloper is rather easy. Learn how to do it here.

Download this tutorial in PDF format for free.

The post How to Measure for My Sloper appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

What’s an XML profile? An XML profile is the set of body measurement data stored in the indusry standard XML format. It enables the enduser, a dressmaker, to save a subject’s data in a simple-to-understand and simple-to-edit format. For a busy dressmaker, this tool is an essential time-saver.

My Sloper can load a valid XML file in the .xml extension and stores profile data for later selection. An XML file can be edited using Microsoft Notepad or any text editor and saved in the .xml extension.

When you have a valid XML file for My Sloper, you can load it into the software. Watch how easy it is to load an XML profile in this video tutorial.

Download

Test-drive My Sloper today. Download a DEMO copy.

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The post How to Load an XML Profile appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.

What’s an XML profile? An XML profile is the set of body measurement data stored in the indusry standard XML format. It enables the enduser, a dressmaker, to save a subject’s data in a simple-to-understand and simple-to-edit format. My Sloper can load a valid XML file in the .xml extension and stores profile data for later selection. An XML file can be edited using Microsoft Notepad or any text editor and saved in the .xml extension.

The post How to edit an XML Profile appeared first on KosherPatterns ®.