Patternmaking For A Perfect Fit: Using The Rub-... May 2026

She then had to add what the rub-off method doesn't naturally give you: seam allowances. Using her clear gridded ruler, she meticulously drew a parallel line 5/8 of an inch outside her traced seam lines.

Clara cleared off her large wooden dining table and gathered her tools: The target garment (her beloved denim jacket) A large cork tracing board Dozens of fine straight pins Translucent medical pattern paper A tracing wheel with a serrated edge A mechanical pencil and French curve rulers

Clara pulled her favorite, most perfectly fitting denim jacket from her closet. It was an old, beat-up piece from a thrift store that hugged her shoulders perfectly and nipped in exactly where it should. She couldn't find a pattern like it anywhere. Patternmaking for a Perfect Fit: Using the Rub-...

With her fresh paper pattern cut out, Clara was ready for the ultimate test: the muslin toile. She cut the pattern pieces out of cheap unbleached cotton and basted them together on her sewing machine.

She started by prepping the jacket. She buttoned it up and laid it completely flat. She realized her first lesson: a 3D garment does not want to lie flat on a 2D surface. To combat this, Clara stuffed a small towel into the sleeve to maintain its shape while she worked on the bodice. 📍 The Pinning and Rubbing She then had to add what the rub-off

Clara laid a large sheet of pattern paper over her corkboard, and then laid the front panel of the jacket over the paper. Smoothing the fabric carefully to ensure the grainline was perfectly straight, she began the "rubbing" process.

When Clara unpinned the jacket and lifted it away, she was greeted by a connect-the-dots version of her perfect-fitting jacket front. ✏️ Perfecting the Draft It was an old, beat-up piece from a

Once the perimeter of the front panel was pinned out, she took her tracing wheel. She firmly rolled the spiked wheel along the chalked-out seam lines. As the spikes pressed through the denim and the paper, they left a perfect, dotted trail on the paper beneath.