In his spare time, Roman Magnus shoots darts into fabric

Roman Magnus Image Credit: msdianekennedy.files.wordpress.com

I, Roman Magnus, am not limited to the masculine plane for clothing drafts. A number of female friends have given me the challenge to create clothes for them, and I have obliged them the way Paul Smith has adopted his retail lines to the fairer sex.



The task is more technical, because the topography of the female body demands a more circuitous manner of creating clothes. As it is, men are already sensitive to fittings. The female form is even more delicate. But even amateur tailors could learn from the textbooks, and even instructional blogs.

Roman Magnus Image Credit: img.ehowcdn.com

The key here is working with non-stretch fabric, which, for today’s more informal cuts, could get away with skipping modeling. I, Roman Magnus, recommend modeling for starting tailors to allow them to get creative with patterns. Modeling is molding the fabric into the actual form to generate a pattern. It’s not as simple as it looks. Representing the cuts and folds of fabric on flat paper requires precise geometry and measurements.



For feminine form-fitting dresses, curves are accommodated through “darts,” or those triangular grooves embedded in a pattern that represent the fold of the fabric. These darts are usually cut out from the bust area, or the part of the waist where the body starts to slope.

Roman Magnus Image Credit: 0.tqn.com

Darts are magically powerful because they determine the manner the fabric falls or encloses the body. A straight, A-line skirt could be transformed into a serpentine one with multiple dart insertions, and it’s a bit of a mathematical and design challenge for the tailor to figure out their angles and points of origin.  


 Roman Magnus is a tailor residing in San Francisco, California. For more updates about him, visit his Facebook page.