I find it's very easy when adjusting the amounts of ease in a pattern , whether using the fit tool or just increasing/decreasing ease amounts, to be misled by the fact that although certain amounts change this is not always reflected on the pattern.

For example I can decrease the waist measurement on a princess line blouse and although the numbers change, the fit doesn't, the pattern reamains the same. Now, I understand the reasons for this so I'm not asking that this be changed.

What I am asking though, is if it's possible when making fit changes that the areas that will not be changed in the pattern, even though we may change the amounts, be in a diferent colour from those that we can change and will affect the garmnet?

This would help those of us to see much more clearly what the result of our change is going to be.

Just a suggestion Bob.

Best wishes, Teresa

quote:

I find it's very easy when adjusting the amounts of ease in a pattern , whether using the fit tool or just increasing/decreasing ease amounts, to be misled by the fact that although certain amounts change this is not always reflected on the pattern.

For example I can decrease the waist measurement on a princess line blouse and although the numbers change, the fit doesn't, the pattern reamains the same. Now, I understand the reasons for this so I'm not asking that this be changed.

What I am asking though, is if it's possible when making fit changes that the areas that will not be changed in the pattern, even though we may change the amounts, be in a diferent colour from those that we can change and will affect the garmnet?

This would help those of us to see much more clearly what the result of our change is going to be.

Just a suggestion Bob.

And, a very fine suggestion it is. I agree completely. However, the program cannot always predict how a pattern will draft and there are elements that I rather arbitrarily refer to as "consequential ease" that are hard to measure. The measurements and ease amounts that you request are targets that the draft attempts to hit. In many cases, it can hit them precisely. In other cases, other drafting rules come into play and over-ride the target.

Here are some examples:

1. Hitting every measurement precisely will make every garment skin tight. This is an acceptable look in a gym, but is not the preferred look at work.

2. Many fabrics look and hang better when they can drape properly. Draping requires that there be a hang line from one body extension to the next, rather than close fitting in between. To get proper drape, the perfect draft to every measurement is softened. Corners are rounded. Sharp bends are extended.

3. Waist darts that are short and wide produce puckers and bubbles in the fabric when sewn. For that reason, the maximum width of waist darts is limited. If your waist measurement is such that it should produce a wider dart than this limit, you will not get it.

In these cases and others like it, the pattern draft follows additional rules that smooth the lines, avoids puckers, reduces fashion disasters, and otherwise goes against the ease request that you have made. But, at the time you make that request, in the Fit Tool dialog, those adjustments cannot be anticipated. They occur as the pattern is drafted. The results are as you see them on the screen. Turn on the reference lines. Any time the distance from the end of a line to the side seam does not match the width of any waist darts at that point, then you are seeing consequential ease. It is not hard to see. It is very, very hard to eliminate, predict, or automatically measure.