Characteristics of women's basic bodice pattern formation in relation to the anthropometric references

Purpose The purpose of study is to investigate effectiveness of pattern technique in relation to the use of anthropometric references for drafting women's basic bodice patterns by assessing characteristics of pattern formation, quantification of wearing ease on the transverse plan and actual ease distribution on body forms. Design/methodology/approach Three pattern drafting techniques were analyzed, which have different frequency of using direct body measurements for pattern formulation. Ease quantification and wearing ease distribution were evaluated on the two different body forms: a young female body and a heavy woman body. Women's basic bodice patterns were drafted with YUKA CAD and virtually draped on the two body forms with CLO 3D. Rapidform was used to evaluate garment appearance. Areal ease and its distribution were assessed. A deviation map was used for wrinkle analysis. Findings Compared to the pattern formation derived from few anthropometric references, patterns using sufficient anthropometric references provided overall better fit for the different body forms. Ease distribution without considering body arcs was found to be a cause of garment fit problems. Patterns with little or no ease caused transverse fine wrinkles and skewed side seams. Pattern techniques those used linear equations caused problems on the bust because the formulation could not reflect bust protrusions in relation to the body torso shape differences. Originality/value This study revealed characteristics of pattern formulae and linear equations in relation to anthropometric references and body shapes. The findings may be effective in developing algorithm of the customized pattern formation in the industry.