More Lutterloh Patterns
I thought before I dive into Lutterloh pants making, I should try something a little simpler. Enter this dress:
It’s a basic little number with a back zipper and a couple of darts. I have a similar RTW dress so I can compare construction techniques. A better place to start for a pattern system with no instructions, I think. And a little more forgiving if the sizing is not quite right.
First off, the pattern doesn’t indicate facings for the armholes. It only really shows a little fold over area at the back neck. It is assumed that the armholes would therefore be turned under, but I thought that a facing would be easier and look better. My RTW dress has this inside:
I just cut something similar to this from the back and front pieces. Then watched about 80 YouTube videos about how to construct a dress with a facing and an invisible zipper – particularly this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1gE4XE9adU – and did the same. I didn’t have too many issues, and got to use the invisible zipper foot for my industrial machine, which was fun.
In the end I got a very wearable dress, and figured out a couple of things about how Lutterloh patterns fit and where I might need to adjust them in future.
(Focus on the foreground, not the mess.) Did I mention I have a dress form now, which will make taking photographs of clothes much easier?
But…why stop there when I’m on a Lutterloh kick? I have been back into using Seamly2D recently to make the kids some shorts from my pattern from last year, and started to wonder if I could get Lutterloh patterns to work in there instead of drafting them manually. The short answer is yes, you can! Here is a screenshot of this dress pattern as reacreated in Seamly2D:
I wanted to start with one I already made to see if it would look right. I haven’t printed it off and taped it out because I don’t need 2 copies of it, but it does look right on screen, and on the actual size PDF. Using a protractor to measure the angles, I simply place each point at distance and angle from the starting point, the same way as you would draw it on paper. You can also do this by measuring the angles in a graphics program like InkScape if you don’t have a physical protractor. I have done both ways and it works fine.
The nice thing about doing this is that once you figure out how much the little Lutterloh scale adds to each point measurement for your size, you can program that in as a custom measurement in the SeamlyMe file. So for example, I have custom measurements named @Bust_Addition and @Hip_Addition, in my measurement file, which is the amount in cm that is added to each point for my particular size. (It’s not hard to figure out the amounts if you have the little scale.) So when drawing the points, instead of just marking a point at distance and angle from the starting point, I have the distance calculated as “number + @Bust_Addition”. This means that if my size changes and I want to print out the pattern for a different bust/hip measurement, I can just input the amounts in a new measurement file and it will automatically resize the pattern for me. That is the obvious beauty of doing it in a computer file instead of on paper. The only benefit that I can see, (besides it being physically easier than flopping around on the floor!) since it takes just as long (or longer) to do it this way, and and then you still have to print and tape the pattern together afterwards.
But I am having fun, so I have now drawn several patterns out this way in Seamly2D. However, only just now I have run into an issue. I am attempting this top:
It’s a simple knitted number, which the instructions say you can hand knit but I would like to knit by machine. I planned to draw it out full-size and copy it on to the mylar for my Brother knitleader and knit it on the 940. Easy peasy, and I’d get to use my knitleader for the first time. And of course if it looks good then I’ll copy it half-scale for the Superba Forma as well.
Except, when I printed it out and matched up the side seams, they don’t match. I assumed it was a mistake of measuring the angles, so I checked and rechecked, measured and remeasured, with a protractor and in Inkscape, and even drew the whole thing out by hand as intended to see if I had done something wrong or the computer program was the problem but nope, the side seams on the back and front piece are different lengths. (And yes I’m taking the dart into consideration as the pattern front piece includes a bust dart.) I just don’t know what to do with it. I can only assume it’s intentional, but I just can’t see how joining the pieces together is going to work when one piece is longer than the other?! I suppose I can stretch the back piece a little, it’s only out by about a cm at this size, but I’m skeptical that it’s going to look right. I guess there’s only one way to find out.
In case you can’t tell, I am completely obsessed with Lutterloh pattern making at the moment. I have been enjoying my foray into these supplements, dated though they might be. I’m not sure if I’ll make more of them after the few things I’ve got in the queue or if I’ll look for some more modern ones, but I’m enjoying myself 🙂