Drafting the Forepart
Moving now onto the forepart draft, square a line down from 0. This can be anywhere to the left of the back piece depending on how much room you have on your paper – I moved it over a bit to make things a little clearer.
Square down from 0 the following points:
- 4 graduated inches from 0 for the shoulder angle and neck point.
- 7 1/2 graduated inches from 0(this should already be marked from the back and hopefully correspond) for the armscye width.
- 10 graduated inches from 0 for the bottom of the armscye and width of the chest.
These next points can be followed if you kept the 17 1/4 graduated inches for the natural waist length – if you altered that to correspond to your actual measurement skip this section and follow the next diagram. These points help form the side body.
- 18 1/2 graduated inches from 0.
- 19 3/4 graduated inches from 0 should already be marked from the back.
- 21 3/4 from 0 for the bottom of the side body.

If you did alter the waist length, simply measure out the following points from the natural waist line instead. This should help ensure all the lengths agree with each other.
- Measure up 1 1/4 graduated inches.
- Measure down 2 graduated inches.

Square out and mark the following widths:
- 10 1/4 graduated inches from 0 for the shoulder point.
- 17 1/2 graduated inches from 0 for the overall width. Square down from 17 1/2.
- 16 graduated inches from 4 for the neck point. This may be altered later to adjust the width of the lapels.
- 1 1/2 graduated inches from 7 1/2 for the side body point.
- 6 3/4 graduated inches from 7 1/2 for the width of the armscye.
- 4 3/4 graduated inches from 10 for the bottom of the armscye. Square this line all the way across.
- 5 3/4 graduated inches from 18 1/2 for the bottom of the side body seam.
- 16 1/2 graduated inches from 19 3/4 for the waist opening.
- In the opposite direction on this same line, measure 2 1/4 graduated inches from 19 3/4.

Now we’ll draw some more construction lines to aid in drawing the various curves. Draw lines from:
- 10 1/4 to 4 for the shoulder seam.
- Measure the back shoulder seam from 7 1/2 to 1/2 (along the straight construction line). Apply this exact measurement from 10 1/4 to find X.
- 16 to 10 1/4 for the neck seam.
- X to 6 3/4 to 4 3/4 to 1 1/2 for the armscye.
- 16 to 17 1/2 to 16 1/2 to the bottom corner of the draft for the front of the coat.
- 4 3/4 to 5 3/4 for the side seam. Continue the line through 5 3/4 to the waist line to aid in drawing out the curves in the next step.

Square out the following lines to find the depths of the curves:
- First find one-third of the distance from 10 1/4 towards 16. Square in 1 1/8 graduated inches.
- From the center of 10 1/4 to X, square out 5/8 of a graduated inch.
- From the center of X to 6 3/4, square in 1/2 of a graduated inch.
- From the center of 6 3/4 to 4 3/4, square in 7/8 of a graduated inch.
- From the center of 4 3/4 to 1 1/2, square in 3/4 of a graduated inch.
- On the main construction line from 0, measure 4 graduated inches below 7 1/2. Square out 3/4 of a graduated inch.
- At the bottom of the side seam from 4 3/4 to 5 3/4, where it intersects the waist line, mark 1/2 of a graduated inch on either side. You could extend this to 3/4 if you find you need a bit more room.

Now draw the following curves.
- Shoulder seam from 10 1/4 through 5/8 to X.
- Armscye from X through 6 3/4 — 4 3/4 — to 1 1/2.
- Neck seam from 10 1/4 through 1 1/8 to 16.
- Shape the front edge with a graceful curve from 16 through 17 1/2 and 16 1/2. The curve reverses direction at the waist.
- Draw the side body seam from 1 1/2 through 3/4 to 21 3/4. It’s a compound curve again and kind of reverses direction just above 18 1/2, though it’s not actually running through points 18 1/2 and 19 3/4.
- At the bottom of the side seam, an inch or so above 5 3/4, draw to curves to the points on the waist line to help spring out the waist and make room for the hips. This is a little confusing as the curve on the left is for the side body and the curve on the right is for the forepart.
- Complete the bottom of the forepart by drawing a straight line from the left point beneath 5 3/4 to 21 3/4.
- Finally, for the curved bottom edge at the center front, measure equal distances from the main intersection – I did 4 graduated inches. The draw a curve as shown. Using a plate or something round can be helpful here.

To finish off the main part of the draft, we’ll finish up the front skirt.
- Draw a line from the bottom of the side seam where it curves to the right (it’s along the waistline so it’s technically already drawn) to 2 1/4.
- Spring up the last 7/8 of the line by 3/8 graduated inches as shown to match the spring in the back waist.
- Draw a line down from 2 1/4 at a similar angle to that shown – about 30 degrees from vertical is a good starting point. Make this line the same length as the corresponding seam on the back skirt. You’ll probably get some overlap of the forepart onto the back but it’s nothing to worry about – easy to copy each piece onto a separate sheet of paper.
- If you want or need more fullness in the skirt you can raise that first skirt line up by about 1/2 graduated inch and spring out the back skirt seam even more as necessary.
- Finish up the draft by drawing a very slightly curved seam along the bottom edge of the skirt. It should be at 90 degrees to the back of the skirt and taper gracefully into the curve at the center front.
