Hi all,

(I hope) I am ready to try making a bodice sloper, using the instructions from the closet historian However, the patterns she recommends are pretty much unavailable, only a couple of small sizes, for which i would have to pay an enormous amount of shipping costs, as i live in Europe.

Do you have or use a modern pattern that would be really suitable as a bodice sloper? I would be looking for something like size 14-20

She also has a video on how to make something from scratch, but she advices against it and i’m not yet a very experienced sewer, so i trust her judgement.

As an aside, am i paranoid in thinking these companies retracted these shell patterns, because they don’t want to risk loosing their audience?

  • @[email protected]English
    1•6 months ago

    You can very much make your own sloper from scratch, it might be a bit more difficult but if you don’t have any other options do for it !
    I found this ressource, which is very complete but also on the more complicated side:
    https://dresspatternmaking.com/

    • @PapancaOPEnglish
      1•6 months ago

      That is so funny; i literally found this website and channel yesterday and i am studying how to make it from scratch! Basically, i am looking at several resources, just to get an idea of how it all works and comes together.

      Would you - any of you - happen to know what fabric weight would be best for a toile/mockup sloper?

      I know muslin is recommended, but i see several fabric weights. I’m guessing preferably on the ‘flimsy’ side?

      Thank you for the encouragement!

      Edit because i meant sloper, not a toile

      • @[email protected]English
        1•6 months ago

        I currently make mock ups with a quilting cotton, but I have used curtain in the past. though I am absolutely not an example for anyone.
        I wanted to look at the closet historian mock up fabric and found the exact moment she says “this muslin is a medium weight. It’s almost on the heavier side it feels like a quilting cotton almost […] feel free to use a quilting cotton for mock ups” It’s at the end of the dart video, when she models the asymetrical gathered top.

        • @PapancaOPEnglish
          2•6 months ago

          Oh, thank you! Very helpful and i feel like this expands my options a lot! Particularly because i am in Europe and the naming of certain fabrics does not always match what is mentioned in other parts of the world. For instance muslin to us is an absorbent fabric with squares on it, which we used for cloth diapers, but in videos i see a very different type of fabric, almost like a lightweight canvas or something. I remember that dart video, i watched it quite a long time ago, but it was so useful to see how she manipulated a piece of paper to show the effect of darts. Back then, i was a complete novice and had no idea what darts were and what they were meant to do