Start by drafting a basic dress with darts with 8 to 10cm wearing ease at bust and waist, a bit less at hips.
You can learn our method for drafting perfectly made to measure basic blocks and for fitting them in our basic blocks course/module 1.

Then on both front and back:

• raise 1,5 to 2,5cm from shoulder point, then redraw shoulder line
• lengthen shoulder line by 6 to 9cm past new shoulder point
• starting at right angle from shoulder line, draw the new armhole as a straight line ending in side seam 10 to 14cm above waist
• mark a notch on side seam 5 to 8cm above waist for the bottom tier
• adjust length to mid calf and flare skirt by 5 to 10cm at sides, blending to zero at hips.

On front, draw the deep V neckline from high shoulder point to center front – in the imageit is 5 to 7cm above waist, but you can make it at any measurement.

Cut through waistline to separate bodice and skirt.

On front bodice draw the tier lines:

• bottom line (blue), starts from back side seam and ends perpendicular in center back
• on front, blue line starts at side seam and raises ending at neckline (or in center front) 2 to 3cm below bust level
• top line (red one) is perpendicular to center back 12 to 15cm above blue line
• then top line on front starts at matching distance from high shoulder point and continues up to shoulder dart – we’ll lengthen the line past the dart after manipulating it.

Trace a copy of front and back bodice as they are to get the patterns for inner layer – this will make your finish much better as all gathers and seam lines will be concealed in between the two layers of fabric.