Half Toiles - Gathering

In my Support Module class the other week we created half toiles experimenting with closing darts, gathering and shortening/lengthening panels. I started off with half a column dress block with darts placed on the breast. By closing the darts I created a A-line dress which flared at the hem. I then split the block into three pieces, a breast panel, middle panel and a hem panel which I added half the original width onto to create a larger piece to gather.

After stitching, pressing and over locking, this was the final outcome;

 
Here is a close up of the gathered panel. By using the straight stitch sewing machine with a wide stitch (Stitch 5) I stitched along the top of the panel with threads either side long enough to pull. By pulling one of the threads it slowly gathers sections of the fabric, after pulling and evening the sections you sew onto the other panel as normal.

Using the same original straight column dress block I created another pattern with the dart placed on the shoulder instead. By using the same closing technique in the past pattern I created another A-line dress block.

I added an extra 2cm onto the seams of either sides of the dart creating two slightly more flared panels. I split the side panel into two pieces, a breast piece and gathered piece. Like the previous toile I then added half of the width from the bottom panel to its side in order to create the gathered look, this time on the side.

This is the outcome of the second half toile;




I really enjoyed this lesson as it allowed myself to experiment with new techniques within the pattern construction side.