How to Design Your Own Dress Patterns

INTRODUCTION
1 THERE'S AN ART TO A DART/ In the beginning—/ Let’s get started—/ Why darts?/ How to shift the dart control/ From exercise to pattern/ How to divide the dart control/ S.O.S. —the “bulging block” pattern/ The more, the merrier/ Try this short cut/ Look, Ma, no darts/ Same principle—skirts and sleeves
2 THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING DART/ Hidden darts/ Curves ahead/ The versatile yoke/ . . . And skirts, too
3 SLASH, SPREAD, AND TWIRL/ When you want additional fulness— slash and spread/ Fashion in the round/ “More” may be better/ An alternate method for trucks or pleats/ Old facts—new possibilities/ Skirts get in the act
4 A BASIC PATTERN OF YOUR OWN/ What is a basic pattern?/ ------  and a yard wide!/ Who . . . me?/ Easy does it!/ Make the pattern/ Make it fit/ Change that “homemade” look to a “custom-made” look/ Suggested sequence for fitting/ Now for the test!/ The completed pattern/ A few extras/ Suggestions for use with commercial patterns
5 A FRAME FOR YOUR FACE—THE NECKLINE/ Your face is you/ High—low neckline/ Some like them low—the dropped neckline/ First aid for gapping necklines/ A one-sided affair—the asymmetric neckline/ Plain and fancy/ Some like them high—the raised neckline/ Caution—soft shoulders/ Fun to try/ Drapery softens the neckline—the cowl
6 BUTTONS, BOWS, AND POCKETS A’PLENTY/ No exit/ An “open-and-shut” case/ Enter—style/ Buttons and bows/ Pockets a’plenty
7 COLLARS TO CAPES/ For the young and the beautiful only/ For the rest of us/ A word for it/ Collars, curves, stands/ Flat collars/ Collars with a deeper roll/ Choose your collar
8 THE SET-IN SLEEVE AND ITS CUFF/ Familiar principles—new applications/ The long and short of it—sleeve slopers/ More fullness/ From caps to capes/ Novelty sleeves/ For a squared look/ Hem or facing?/ On the cuff
9 MORE ABOUT SLEEVES/ Doll clothes and definitions/ Wrinkles—old and new/ Sleeves all in one with the bodice/ Sleeves joined with part of the bodice/ Old principles—new uses
10 LET’S MAKE THE PATTERN/ E for effort/ A for art/ A pattern from a picture/ Decide the dress type/ Decide the silhouette/ Let’s go!/ Trial run/ A jigsaw puzzle/ “I made the pattern for this dress myself!”/ Appendix—"