The Basic Conical Torso Block (Part 2)

Marking Changes

The Center Front adjustment makes an angle between the original Center Front line and the fitting line drawn in. We need to bisect that angle. First, draw a tick on the edge of the bodice at the midpoint between these two lines.

Mark the midpoint between the other ends of these front lines. (Since my ends converge, this is already done.) Connect these midpoints. This is the new Center Front line.

Mark an arch that connects the ticks marking the waistline adjustment in the back. This is the new back waistline level.

Cut along: the Center Back line, the New Center Front line, the New Back Waist Line, and the lines on the straps.

Finishing the Block

Place the poster board block on a large sheet of paper.

Trace around, being careful to mark all of the shaping lines. When you come to the strap adjustments, make a neat curve in place of the chunky angle folded in to the strap.

Connect the shaping line marks, and label the Side, Center Front, and Center Back lines. Label the block.

Viola! Cello! You’re done! As a best practice, any time you make a block (or pattern) you should label the block with what it is, who it’s for, and the date it was drafted. I’ve labelled beneath the block for readability here, but in future demos you’ll see a block labelled “Basic Conic Block, Brenda, 06/10”. The date is most important when drafting for humans, who tend to change dimension over time. (I have something around 62 patterns for the same basic ren corset for myself, for example, because of my little yo-yo diet habit.)

As you go forward, it’s always easier to re-check the fit of a block (or re-draft the block) than to make a fully boned corset and then have to alter it. Poster board is cheap, and really fast for mock-up purposes. A fully boned corset in a lovely silk-linen blend, hand-bound with silk bias, which then flat-out refused to close is expensive and really annoying to alter…..

Possible Problems

if…	try…
Your Armscye ends up above your bustline….	Recheck your Nape->Bust, Nape->Waist measurements. Make sure you’ve taken them out to the level of the bust, rather than flat across the body. If you have taken the measurements correctly, don’t worry about it. Just draw the armscye up on the side line.
When you mark your Center Front adjustment, you need to add at the waist and remove at the bust, resulting in a big ol’ X between the Center Front and Adjustment lines….	Don’t worry – this is completely normal. Mark the midpoints, top and bottom, and draw in the New Center Front line.

This list will be updated based on questions posted in the comments section….

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12 Comments

Mathilde June 26, 2010

The links to pages 2-5 seem to be broken … they all lead back to the start of page 1. (Same for the Part 1 entry).
:(

missa June 26, 2010

Hey, wow, that’s a good point – *all* of my paginated posts are broken. I’m looking into it now.

missa June 26, 2010

Aaaaalllllright, then. Fixed. That took entirely too long.
< civic geekery >
Note to the collective human knowledgebase known as the web: After upgrading to WordPress 3.0, my permalink structure (/%category%/%postname%/) with my marvelously nested category structure became too much for the wordpress/mod_rewrite engine to handle. Links within paginated posts automatically redirected to the post permalink, and all page information was stubbornly dropped from the link. On the advice of a terribly clever fellow at http://www.weberz.com/blog/2009/06/seo-experts-give-wrong-advice-wordpress-permalinks , I changed my permalink structure to /%year%/%postname%/ – still readable, faster, and most importantly, it fixes the problem.
</civic geekery>

The Basic Conical Torso Block (Part 1) | Sempstress June 29, 2010

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Mackenzie September 4, 2012

Where do you get such big poster board to do this for human-size? I got the standard size they sell for 99 cents at the pharmacy, and I’m a pretty tiny person, and I can’t do that with the center line. I’m going to be cutting two pieces and taping them together.

- missa September 12, 2012
  
  You can find larger poster board than that at most art stores – (including Hobby Lobby, Blick, Michaels, etc) and any place that caters to students (walgreens, target, kmart, walmart-even-thought-I’m-still-boycotting), and often also at JoAnn’s.
  
  Hope that helps….
  
PETA CUNNINGHAM December 4, 2017

THANK YOU so much for sharing your knowledge with us. <3

- missa December 4, 2017
  
  And thank you for reading and commenting! :)
  
KJ September 8, 2022

Hello! I have no idea if you’re still active but if you are, do you have any tips on how to turn this block into a waistcoat pattern?

- missa October 20, 2022
  
  The specifics depend a lot on the era that the waistcoat is for. In general, though, you’re going to be putting the center front, side front, and possibly side-back pieces together into one panel for the fronts. The center back (or center and side back, if side back was not added to the front panel) will become the back panel. Shaping generally moves to the center front seam, and possibly to the side-back seam.
  That’s actually a really good question. I’ll see if I can get some time to play around with this. :)
  
Merrin Holstein June 26, 2023

Thank you for such a great tutorial. I’m eager to try this out.

Elizabeth L Dasbach July 20, 2024

Just discovered and made the block and Wench bodice! It worked really well ,thank you for posting!