We recently received an email from Minna, asking us some important questions about her recently purchased made-to-measure basic torso block. We felt it was a fantastic question and something that we could help with.

Question:

Hi,
I recently created and downloaded a thigh-length base torso from your wonderful service – but something seems to be not right with the piece.

When I move/close the chest dart the bust line is broken and not straight. Plus the waistline and hem are not 90° to CF or CB

I have attached an image of the pattern as it is + with the chest dart moved.

Am I missing something here?
Minna

Answer:

Broken bust line:
Not to worry this is also correct. You are closing the dart using the dart point and not the bust point. Try the dart rotation once more, but this time use the bust point. This is a small dot located after the bust dart. Take a look at our video tutorial. This will show you how to correctly manipulate the dart. If you follow this technique then the bust line will match perfectly.

Waistline:
Please don’t worry, this is perfectly correct. We have bust expansion formulas built into our blocks to accommodate for a large range of unique sizes/ measurements. We use the “Front SNP to waist” and the “Back SNP to waist” measurements (among others) to determine the size of the bust. If the Back SNP to waist measurement is smaller than the front then the waistline will be higher at the back than the front. This is what you are seeing on your block. Your SNP to waist is larger on the front than the back, therefore, the slightly diagonal waist line. This feature creates an accurately fitting block and prevents a sway back issue, that can be found on most standardised blocks which use an equal Front SNP to waist and back SNP to waist measurement.

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