Start by drafting your basic dress with darts and 4 to 8cm wearing ease at bust, 2 to 4cm ease at waist and hips.*

Then on back and front:

• draw a line 3 to 4cm above waist and parallel to it as starting line of the waistband/yoke
• pick a point on side seam 16 to 20cm below this line
• flare skirt by 10cm on sides, blending to zero at waist
• widen neckline by 6 to 8cm
• take in shoulder points by 1 to 1,5cm and redraw armholes upper part

Then on back only:

• redraw neckline dropping 3 to 5cm in center back from nape point
• draw the bottom line of yoke squaring from side seam to center back

And on front only:

• mirror skirt from the waistband upper line to hemline
• along waistband upper line, measure 9 to 10cm and connect this point to opposite shoulder line (where you widened neckline) to have the new neckline

*You can learn our method for drafting perfectly made to measure basic blocks (contoured ones, and the ones with wearing ease) and for fitting them in our basic blocks course/module 1. You will learn in depth also how to manipulate darts, add volumes and a lot of pattern transformations that will take your pattern making skills to a higher level.

Focus on back.

Cut through yoke upper and lower lines to separate:

• bodice, cut through new neckline and armhole
• yoke/waistband, to be manipulated in next step
• skirt, flare from center back as done on side seam.

Now trace a copy of back yoke. We need 2 patterns for it because all yokes will have 2 layers:

• inner layer (called lining) is going to have darts closed and will support the shape of outer layer
• outer layer will be manipulated adding volume to be gathered (we’ll call it fabric).

So, on your original yoke cut through the dart line and tape it closed. On the copy of your yoke, highlight waistline and draw a parallel 4cm below it, then cut through the lines.

On skirt, divide hipline by 4 to draw 3 evenly spaced vertical slash line to add volume. Cut through the lines.