Thank you for sharing this, will try this, but also plan on making a body form.

Have you posted / updated this post? I am considering trying out this method to get an idea of how big my 2D/flat-self really is so that I can make my own clothes. I understand up to the “cutting it only so far as to render it flat” part but where should I be cutting and how far… or is this one of those go with the gut type things? I’m kind of just being to get into the entire world of “make your own clothing” (I’m overweight & commercial patterns are NEVER a quick and simple thing for me… I got Don McCunn’s Pattern drafting book “How To Make Sewing Patterns” it’s a vrery good book. Once I figured out what to do and how to do it I was fine- I just keep forgeting to add seams and hems! But it doesn’t cover some things like grading, and I feel like some things were explained/partially explained but I just didn’t get it!?)

I was going to take a closer look at the books you recommended in the 1st part of this post and save up money for them – If I had the $$MONEY$$ I’d definitely donate to this site… you seem to me like one of those folks who knows their business (forward, backward, sideways and up-side-down). You explain yourself/methods/how-to so well that while I do re-read it to myself to get the basics of telling me figured out right in my head, you keep it simple and to the point, it’s easy to understand. (I’m finding it to be a very rare thing to find on the internet!)

So anyway i was just wondering if you had already posted an addition to this post (I have not been able to find it yet?!) or even if you had. I understand that you do have a life outside of this site and you probably get all kinds of requests for more tutorials, but was there anyway you would be able to “clairify” the where to cut and how far dilemma I’m having?

Again, (completely understandable) if you don’t have the time, then you don’t have it!

Thank you for ‘public’ access to what I am able to view and post comments to. You really do have a spectacular site here,
Thank you for your time,
Kristal

The idea of wrapping the body in something to make a model of it has been around for a while. Duct Tape Doubles are the current thing, whereas before it was Brown Paper Office Tape Dummies. Perhaps more closely related to the Saran Wrap exercise is draping — sewing muslin to a form or person and then cutting it apart to make a pattern from it. Substitute Saran Wrap for muslin and voila.

Kathleen, I have no idea whether you or Connie came up with the idea first or who published it first. If an idea is a good one, it seems to me that smart people might hit upon it independently. While Connie may certainly have taken her inspiration from you — you’re a *very* smart person — that’s between you and Connie. I don’t think you have to worry about the rest of us imagining you to be intellectually dishonest. Because we know you aren’t.

Secondly, as I say over and over and over and over and over and over (and over and over); this *isn’t* a pattern making method per se. It’s a way for people to see the shapes of their bodies. Besides, you don’t have to pull it on with tension, but pat it on (you know, balling up the saran wrap rather than heating it). Lastly I say repeatedly to grade it up a size or two. I’m guessing you didn’t read entry #1 although I also mention it in this entry.

Btw, the “Robbie” mentioned in this article is Robbie Fanning, I wrote a version of this article for her newsletter (the Creative Machine) back in the mid 90’s, well before Connie was writing pattern making books.

1. This method appears in Connie-Crawford’s Patternmaking made easy

2. Cling film stretches unreliably over the body and you end up with a smaller replica. It also means you can’t generate an algorithm to relate stretch to actual measurements.

Think heating food in the microwave covered with cling film . When removed from the oven it shrinks far smaller than its original size. The replica I made turned out to be smaller. For the same reason as #2 you can’t extrapolate measurements.