Bodice Block, Leena's Patternmaker

Overview
In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to create a bodice sloper. While learning patternmaking and Valentina, I was pointed in the direction of Leena’s Patternmaker. I found the instructions very compatible with Valentina, especially for the noobie who is learning patternmaking and looking for a place to start.

Let's get started
So, first things first, I suggest you head over to http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_bodice.html and print the instructions so that you can follow and perhaps make some personal notes as we go.

Measurements
I am going to create a measurements file in Tape in an individual size 32 according to the measurements on the printout. I open Tape, select ‘New”, ‘Individual’ and ‘centimeters’.

Then I add the ‘Known’ and ‘Custom’ measurements:

As you can see, I’ve tried to use Known measurements as much as possible. If you do this, don’t forget to write the reference name on your measurement sheet so that you can access it while making your sloper. It’s very easy to get confused and then your pattern turns out all wrong and you get discouraged. Another way would be to create all as Custom measurements and then you can name them exactly as they are named in the document you are working off. I have saved my measurements file as ‘Leenas Size 32.vit’ in a special folder called Leenas so that the measurement file and the pattern file are both in the same folder – especially for this tutorial.
 * G04 – Bust_circ – 76cm
 * Q02 - Dart_width_Bust – 4.5cm
 * L20 – Armskye_Length – 20.4cm (I am using the length in place of the height)
 * @FrontShoulderHeight – 4.6cm (I’m not too sure about this measurement, so I added it as a custom)
 * @BackShoulderHeight – 2.35cm (Also added as a custom)
 * B02 – Width_Bust - (bust_circ+8)/2 (here I made a formula as per the instructions)
 * I08 – Across_Back - (33+1.6)/2 (also a formula)
 * G07 – Waist_Circ – 58cm
 * B03 – Width_Waist - (waist_circ+6)/2
 * G42 - hip_with_abdomen_arc_f - (82.5/2)+4
 * G09 - hip_circ - 82.5
 * B04 - width_hip - (hip_circ+4)/2
 * L21 - armscye_width - ((bust_circ+8)/8)-1.5
 * G12 - bust_arc_f - (bust_circ+8)/5
 * G02 - neck_circ - 35.5cm
 * I14 - neck_width - (neck_circ/5)-1
 * @Neck_Depth - (neck_circ/5)+0.5
 * @Neck_Length_Back - (neck_circ/5)-0.5

Formulas
Now we are ready to open Valentina and start our pattern. I have named this pattern piece as ‘Bodice’ because I intend adding a sleeve and skirt to it later. How you want to do it is up to you but for the sake of the tutorial, perhaps it would be best to do the same.



Valentina uses an A as point reference while Leena’s only uses numeric so the first thing we need to do, is to change the “A” to ‘A1”. This will at least keep the numbering constant.

Then the next thing to do is to add the measurements file to the pattern and to save the file to give it a name. As you can see, the name of the file with the name of the measurement file are shown in the top left hand corner of Valentina’s screen. Now for the fun part…  We need to draw a frame like the picture in the instructions… But, as you can see, my line is going upwards instead to downwards, it’s at 90° so I need to add 180° to turn it around to 270°. By clicking the arrow pointing left, I get 180° in the centre box and if I click ‘Apply’, I can see that my line is now going in the correct direction. I pick up the ‘Point at Distance along Line’ Tool, click on A2 and then A3, enter the formula for back length. Here you can see what my lines look like: We now have the basic framework that will form the pattern and we’re going to add some detail:
 * 1-2 = Bust_circ divided by 2 (notice that I forgot to add the ease before dividing by 2 - I went back later and edited the formula to be '(Bust_circ+8)/2') – Looking at the image, I see that 1 is to the right & 2 is to the left. I use the ‘Point at Distance and Angle’ tool to create the first line and enter the formula 'bust_circ/2' and the angle of 180°.
 * 2-3 = armscye height – this line goes downwards from 2 at an angle of 270°. So… using the ‘Point along Perpendicular’ tool, remembering that my measurement for Armscye Height is now Armscye Length, I add the formula:
 * 2-4 = back length. I didn’t add that measurement earlier, so I’m adding is now as a custom measurement: @Back_Length = 38.8. I haven’t closed Tape yet, so I switch to Tape and add it, save the changes in Tape, go back to Valentina where I immediately get a message to sync the measurements and, since I’d like to use the measurement, I click on ‘Yes”. If you have closed Tape, you may reopen it by going to the Measurements menu option and clicking on Edit Current. Tape will open with the current measurements file already loaded.
 * 4-5 = abdomen height. Again the ‘Point at Distance along Line’ tool, click on A2 and then A4, enter the formula 'CurrentLength+@AbdomenHeight’. This is another measurement not in Tape, so I quickly add it: @ AbdomenHeight = 9cm.
 * 4-6 = hip height. I need to add another measurement - @HipHeight = 19cm.
 * 1-7 = back width divided by 2. Again, the ‘Point at Distance along Line’ tool, click on A1 and then A2, enter the formula ‘across_back_b/2’.
 * 7-8 = Armscye width. Again, the ‘Point at Distance along Line’ tool, click on A7 and then A2, enter the formula ‘armscye_width’.
 * Mark points from 9 to 18.
 * 8 – 9 = using the tool ‘Point from X and Y of 2 Other Points’, click on A8 and then on A3. This will place point A9.
 * 7 – 10 = using the tool ‘Point from X and Y of 2 Other Points’, click on A7 and then on A3. This will place point A10.
 * 11 = using the tool ‘Midpoint between 2 points’, click on A9 and then A10. This will place A11 in the middle between these 2 points.
 * 1 – 12 = using the tool ‘Point from X and Y of 2 Other Points’, click on A1 and then on A3. This will place point A12.
 * Repeat using the ‘Point from X and Y of 2 Other Points’ tool to create the points from A13 to A18.
 * 4-19 = bust span divided by 2. Using the ‘Point at Distance along Line’ tool, click on A4 and then A19 and enter the formula ‘bust_arc_f/2’.
 * 19-20 = waist length minus bust height. Using the ‘Point at Distance and Angle’ tool, draw a line going upwards at a 90° angle with the following formula: @WaistLength-@BustHeight.

I had to add the following 2 custom measurements to Tape: First we need to draw an arc that is bust height – back neck. To do this, we go to the Arc toolbox and select Arc. The formula we enter is ‘@BustHeight-@Neck_Length_Back’. I’ve made the angles 70° to 110° which gives a nice long curve like in the tutorial. I used the ‘Point Intersect Arc and Axis’ tool to create point A22. Pick up the tool, click on the arc and then on A21. Adjust the line as close as possible and hit enter. You can manually change the angle as I have below: Use the ‘Line Between Points’ tool to create a line between A22 and A20. You may see the 2 tools I used to achieve this in the images above. Draft vertical line from 27 upwards 2.5cm. Move point A1 0.5cm upwards. Draft back neck arc 1-28. I needed to add another Known measurement: As you can see, I used the ‘Point at Intersection of Arc and Line’ to create this point. I first selected A25 as line start and A26 as line end, then A28 as the axis point, entered the formula and clicked on ‘OK’. I then drew in the line from A28 to A29 using the ‘Line between Points’ tool. As you can see, my pattern is progressing very nicely: To make my life a little easier, I select the formula and copy it, then I just paste it into the other fields. Another way would be to create a variable but they may be covered in later tutorials. Using the ‘Point at Distance along Line’ tool, select the points mentioned and paste the formula into the field. As you can see, I try to use formulas where ever possible because this will make resizing more accurate when I load a different size file.
 * 2-21 = neck width. Using the ‘Point at Distance along Line’ tool, click on A2 and then A8 and enter the formula ‘neck_width’.
 * Draft vertical lines upwards from points 2 and 21. Trace point 22 on line from point 21; 20-22 = bust height minus back neck length.
 * 8-23 = front shoulder height; draft horizontal line from point 23 to the right; mark point 24 on the line.
 * 7-25 = back shoulder height; draft horizontal line from point to the left; mark point 26 on the line.
 * 1-27 = neck width;
 * 28-29 = shoulder length + 2cm (point 29 must be on line 25 – 26).
 * Draft horizontal line from point 22 to the left, get point 22a:
 * 22a – 22b = neck depth. Draw in front neck curve.
 * 28-30 = 7cm
 * 30-31 = 3cm
 * Measure 4cm from point 28 on line 28-29 and move upwards 0.6cm to get point 32
 * Measure 2cm from point 32 on line 28-29 and move upwards 0.6cm to get point 33
 * Draft and arc with radius of bust height minus neck length, centre point 20. (We already did this previously and made it nice and long.)
 * Draft and arc with radius of bust dart, centre point 22.
 * Mark point 34 at the intersection of these arcs.
 * 34-35 = shoulder length (point 35 must be on line 23-24)
 * Draft vertical line downwards from 31 to get points 36 and 37.
 * 37-38 = 5cm
 * Mark point 39
 * Mark point 39a. 39a – 39b = 2cm
 * Measure distance 4 – 13. Subtract waist circumference divided by 2 from the distance. Divide result by 6 = ‘a’
 * 39-40 = ‘a’
 * 39-41 = ‘a’
 * 16-42 = ‘a’
 * 16-43 = ‘a’
 * 19-44 = ‘a’
 * 19-45 = ‘a’
 * Draw vertical line from point 19 downwards to get points 46 and 47
 * 47-48 = 5cm
 * Measure distance 6-15. Subtract from hip circumference divided by 2. Divide the result by 2 = ‘b’
 * 18-49 = ‘b’
 * 18-50 = ‘b’
 * 9-51 = ¼ distance 8-9
 * 10-52 = ½ distance 7-10
 * At some point, we need to draw in the curves at the armhole. Here is how I did mine:

I went back and edited the formula for the point A2 because it had been bothering me the whole time. Everything else has ease worked in, but the first instruction line didn't include any ease, so I added 5cm ease, which pulled my pattern to be more inline with the diagrams in the printed sheet. My armholes fitted much better and are more to the centre of the block. The formula for A2 is now: bust_circ/2+5 This is what my pattern looks like now: Creating a pattern piece using the ‘Seam Allowance’ tool under Detail Valentina works in a clockwise direction when creating details, so I’ve reversed the order above. My neck curve is also going the wrong direction, so I held down the shift key before clicking on the curve. To do this, we use the ‘Piece Path’ tool. I haven’t named my pieces yet, so I’m guessing that the back is the last detail created: Now you may go into the details and name them, label them, create seam allowances, etc. etc. prior to printing the pattern. These are the 3 parts of my pattern that I’ve created. I’m going to leave mine as they are for now as I intend to do the sleeve before I do any serious layouts and I’ll include a bit of a tutorial on the seam allowances later when we get to that part.
 * Draft Center Front piece – 22b–3-4-5-6-46-48-45-20-22
 * Draft Front Side piece – 34-20-44-48-46-49-17-43-11-51-35
 * Draft Back piece 1-28-32-31-33-29-52-11-42-17-50-36-15-14-13-12
 * Draft back waist dart 39b-41-38-40

Tools you have used in this exercise:
 * Tape
 * Create Individual measurement file
 * Add Known
 * Add Custom
 * Save Individual measurements file
 * Open from Valentina
 * Valentina
 * Create New Pattern using Individual measurements file
 * Drawing Tools
 * Point at Distance and Angle
 * Point along Perpendicular
 * Point from X and Y of 2 Other Points
 * Midpoint between 2 points
 * Point at Distance along Line
 * Point at Intersection of Arc and Line
 * Line Tools
 * Line Between Points
 * Curve Tools
 * Simple Curve
 * Curved Path
 * Arc Tools
 * Arc
 * Point Intersect Arc and Axis
 * Point of Intersection of Arcs

Details

 * Detail Tools
 * Seam Allowance Tool
 * Holding Shift to reverse the direction when selecting a curve
 * Piece Path Tool
 * Sync measurements after editing in Tape
 * Basic use of formulas
 * Copy and paste formulas