Having fully read through the measurements used by Mr. Regal in The American Garment Cutter and obtained the measurements he expects us to have, we can actually start drafting the patterns he has provided for us.
The first three diagrams show how to draft a basic jacket, starting from an elementary block and then through the drafting of the actual jacket. Regal eventually takes for granted that the reader knows how to do this and later diagrams breeze through these steps quickly, often leaving out key information that was presented in these three first.
This assumes you are using a single long piece of paper. Any paper will do, plenty of costumers just grab rolls of wrapping paper right after Christmas when it goes on sale. The kind with 1″ grid on the back is great for checking your measurements. You’ll also need a square of some kind, I have a transparent cutting square I use, but a carpenter’s or drafter’s square will also work. Really anything that can guarantee you are drawing a right angle. You’ll also want a set of French curves for later.
Obviously, in the modern day, we also have a variety of drafting tools that can be used instead. These drawings were produced using Seamly2d, an open source pattern drafting program.
So let’s through, step by step, marking the points that Regal tells us to and measuring the distances he gives us. So let’s go down step-by-step through the instructions for Diagram 1, for those reading along this is page 22 of the third edition, the diagram itself appears on the next page.
Diagram 1
We’ll start with the basic block that can serve as the basis for many different garments. Of course, the book doesn’t actually just reuse this block for everything, that would be too easy, but it does introduce a basic system for drafting that will be reused consistently.
Regal provides a helpful list of sample measurements along with each diagram, so I’m going to follow along each diagram using those, and give what the distances he calculates or measures are based off these sample measurements. Naturally, he didn’t provide all these measurements with the diagram, that would also be too simple. The sleeve measure is taken from the table of proportions at the back.
| Measurement (in) | |
| Breast | 36 |
| Waist | 32 |
| Hip | 38 |
| Scye Depth | 9 |
| Waist Length | 16.5 |
| Seat Length | 22.5 |
| Full Length | 30 |
| Indent | 1.5 |
| Strap | 12 |
| Overshoulder | 17 |
| Blade | 12.5 |
| Sleeve Length | 18 |
Step 1
Measure out a straight line parallel to the long edge of your paper. We’ll want a few inches above the starting point, which is point A. For my own sanity, I’ll call this direction vertical, with the direction of the line being down.
We need to add a quarter inch to the scye depth, point B, to make space for seams. Points C and D are exactly where we measured them on the body. Full length here is a bit arbitrary, but since Mr. Regal suggests 30″ for this particular jacket and I see no reason to argue with him. Measure these distances down along the straight line you drew and mark the points.
| Figure | Measurement | |
| Scye Depth | A to B | |
| Waist Length | A to C | |
| Seat Length | C to D | 6″ |
| Full Length | A to E |
Step 2
Step two is quite simple: square out, or draw a new set of lines perpendicular to your starting line, at each of these five points starting points. From now on I’m going to call these lines horizontal, with the direction we just drew them being out.
Step 3
For step 3 we need to measure a few intermediate points.
First is point F, which is half-way between A and B, or 4-5/8″ down from A given the sample measurements above.
Then comes point G, half-way between A and F, or a quarter the distance from A and B, or 2-5/16″ down from A using Regal’s measurements.
Step 4
Step 4 we start measuring out. This means measuring along those horizontal lines we drew earlier. We’ll be locating points 2 and 22 and, yes, Regal intersperses numbers and letters seemingly at random.
Point 2 is half the indentation out from C. Using his measurements, that gives us a distance of 3/4″ from C.
Point 22 is half that distance, or one quarter the indentation, out from E. That’s 3/8″ using his measurements.
Step 5
Now draw a line from F to 2 and where it crosses the line coming out from B mark point 1.
Next draw a line from 2 to 22 and where it crosses the line coming out from D mark point 3.
Step 6
Measure out from 1 to find H, this distance is half the full breast measurement. Using his sample measurements again, that’s 18″.
Point I is out from H an additional 1-3/4″, that’s right. This time it doesn’t depend on our measurements at all, it’s the same distance no matter what.
Point J is out from I another fixed 3/4″, putting it 2-1/2″ from H. That’s 20-1/2″ from 1 using Regal’s measurements, though I doubt that’s particularly useful to know.
K is half way between 1 and H, which is 9″ from either of them using the sample measurements, and L is 3-1/2″ ahead of K.
Step 7
Square down at L to locate point Q.
Now we need to, in Regal’s words, “apply the blade measure from 1 to L.” This wording is a bit confusing, since we already found L. What he means is that we need to confirm that the distance from 1 to L is actually the blade measure, his sample measurements give this result but your real measurements might not. Adjust the position of L so that this distance is the blade measure, which might mean moving it forwards or backwards from the line that located Q.
This will be the new Point L from here on out. Point Q doesn’t move.
Now square up from the corrected location of Point L.
Step 8
Point M is located half way between 1 and L, with these measurements that’s 12.5″ from either one. N is 1-1/4″ out from N.
Square up from N, this locates point O where it intersects the line coming out from G.
Step 9
Point 4 is located half way between M and N, about 5/8″ from either by the sample measures. Regal points out that this is actually variable, point 4 can be moved as far forward as N for a very straight jacket or as far back as M for a fitted jacket.
Step 10
From 22 to 7 is the same distance as from 1 to 4. You should measure the distance to be sure, especially if you chose to adjust the position of point 4. If not, then it should be the sum of 1 to M and M to 4, for the sample measurements that’s 6-7/8″.
Now draw a line connecting 4 to 7. Again, this should be vertical if you haven’t adjusted point 4, but measure the location just to be sure.
Step 11
Regal calls the distance from N to P is 1/12 breast but we soon discover another quirk of his writing. He transitions without notice from “full breast” which is the actual circumference of the wearer’s chest to “breast” which is half that measurement without any notice. That’s 1.5″ according to the sample measurements.
Regal does this throughout the text, sometimes the word “breast” means the full chest measurement, sometimes half that amount. The same is true for waist and hip/seat elsewhere in the book. I’m going to try to be consistent in using “full” to mean full measures and otherwise assume half measure.
From P to X is 1/2″.
Step 12
From A to 8 is 6-3/8″ and from 8 to 9 is 1-1/2″. Then draw a line connecting A to 9.
Step 13
A to 10 is 1/6 of the breast, again meaning half breast or 1/12 the full breast. That’s 3″ on the diagram as given.
Now connect 10 to 11.
Draw a new point 1/4″ below Point 11 and then a line from this point to O.
Step 14
From Q to R is half the indent, or 3/4″ on the sample.
From Q to S is half the waist, but of course that means the half measure already, so it’s really a quarter of the full waist measure. That comes to 8″ on the diagram.
Now draw a line starting at Point S that is perpendicular to Line RS.
Step 15
Point T is halfway between Q and S, placing it 4″ on the diagram as given. U is halfway between I and L. It would be easiest to measure this distance, but it should be the same as half amount given by adding the distance from (H to I) plus (H to K) minus (K to L); or 3-5/8″ by the diagram.
Finally, draw a line connecting T to U and continue it up until it intersects the line coming out from A.
That feels like a lot of text and pictures to produce some lines that only kind of look like they might add up to a garment someday. As we go on, we’ll condense a lot of these steps, just as Regal does later in his text. With so much basic information, much of which he will simply assume we already know later on, it’s worth taking a little extra time now for clarity.