suit pattern drafting

 Well, I am still waiting for the shipment of fabric to arrive and I'll tell you, it is causing me stress!  It is also messing with my carefully laid planning ;-)
So I have started on another project or two while I wait.

Since I have just spent time making boys patterns, I was getting used to the small nature of the patterns compared to what I normally make. Then I made a shirt pattern for a friend who has a size 50 chest! It made my head spin to go from a boy's size 8 to that.
Once that was finished I started this project pictured here. It also took some adjusting to as it is almost boy's size but made for a difficult figure.

A few years ago I was asked to make a jacket for a client, which I did, and he now is asking for another jacket and trousers as well as a two piece suit. He cannot purchase anything off the rack with good fitting results. His height is 4'11" and he has had some surgeries that have resulted in a very pronounced belly.

I remeasured him and found that he was smaller all around now, so I thought it would be a good time to try a redraft.
This time I used a much more conventional approach rather than my usual draft and cut and tape style.
The draft is mainly based on my own system, but I read through the drafts in a German cutting book I have, and applied the drafting techniques there for a big bellied figure.
In the second picture you can see it cut out and laid out on the table.
Once I had it to this point, I still needed to apply the balance measurements I had taken, and I needed another inch and a half in length in the front, based on the nape to CF waist measurement I had.






I opened the front in a wedge as you can see in the bottom picture, and taped in some paper and corrected my lines.
Off I went to the local fabric store for a toile fabric, and I have sewn a mock-up and I am ready to fit it. I like the look of this pattern better than the old one, but fittings are what really reveals what works. I hope to get this fit next week sometime, before my shipment arrives.
If it arrives next week.
It better arrive next week.

More pattern drafting

Well, I haven't meant to be so uncommunicative lately, but it is summer and I am busy trying to enjoy some down time as well as get a start on the next project.
I've been making patterns and more patterns as you can see here hanging on the wall, and this morning I finished the last sleeve pattern for the boys tailcoats, and then went on to other things that have been waiting to get done.
I am still waiting for my fabrics to arrive from the US, and last week I spoke to a freight forwarder in Mississauga who will handle the customs portion of the delivery. Textile shipping is very tricky! I know this from my colleagues various experiences, and the customs broker himself said it would probably be easier to import booze and cigarettes than textiles. I'm not sure of the whys of it all and maybe I don't really want to know. I just want and need the fabric to get here, so I can make up my 4 sample outfits, dickies, waistcoats, trousers and tailcoats, and get them sent back to the US for fittings.
I have to package the toiles up and freight them back so I am betting that is a week of transit and border delays. Believe me, I don't want to be flying with unfinished toiles in my luggage.
I also don't know what the fabrics are yet, so I can't even order findings and interfacing or even thread until the fabric arrives.
I am betting the fittings won't happen until mid September now, which only leaves a month of work time to get everything finished and sent back again. My other upcoming project is huge and I was hoping to get going on it as well, so that darn fabric better get here soon.

I must be delusional in thinking this was going to be a relaxed and comfy process since we started talking in May!
Breathe.......