Alexander McQueen, SS06, Paris.
One of Alexander McQueen’s more subdued collections Spring-Summer 2006 provides a garment that is a good case study for precise pattern cutting. The relatively understated piece that blends a tailored jacket into a tailored pair of shorts, uses a carefully measured dart to flow the pinstripes continuously through the front of the jacket.
A waist dart is used to create shaping in the front of the jacket without disturbing the line of the stripes and allows the eye to follow the pinstripes down over the welt pocket and through the waistband of the shorts.
The images below show how the pinstripe lines travel through the length of the body, and show you the location of the waist dart. Note that the middle line from the first image (marked in pink) actually disappears into the waist dart.
If you want to give yourself a pattern making challenge, try to blend a tailored jacket into a proper tailored fly front as this process can be much harder than it looks in this garment.
Alexander McQueen image via Salo&Séverine»
