Questions How much negative ease is required for a dress with fabrics having different stretch factors?

[Sova]

Hi All,

I am in the process of creating a knit dress out of merino wool with a horizontal stretch factor of about 80%. I am thinking of lining the dress with a silk charmeuse, which has a horizontal stretch factor of around 40.5%. My primary question is, what amount of negative ease should I add to the pattern, if any? Based off the stretch factors, I assume that the wool by itself would require a small amount of negative ease to prevent sagging/over stretching, while the silk itself would do without any ease. I am struggling on how I can accommodate for both fabrics to achieve a form fitted knit dress that contours the body, without being too tight or sagging/over stretching. Then, my ultimate goal is to grade the pattern from a small to a medium and so my secondary question is, which stretch factor percentage should I use to obtain the conversion factor? 80 or 40.5?

If I were to guess the answer to both my questions, the wool would only be allowed to stretch to that of the silk lining. And so I would not use any ease in the pattern and I would grade using the stretch factor 40.5.

I will greatly appreciate help with either of my two questions. Thank you so much for your time in advanced!

 

[KoMoK]

Hi All,

I am in the process of creating a knit dress out of merino wool with a horizontal stretch factor of about 80%. I am thinking of lining the dress with a silk charmeuse, which has a horizontal stretch factor of around 40.5%. My primary question is, what amount of negative ease should I add to the pattern, if any? Based off the stretch factors, I assume that the wool by itself would require a small amount of negative ease to prevent sagging/over stretching, while the silk itself would do without any ease. I am struggling on how I can accommodate for both fabrics to achieve a form fitted knit dress that contours the body, without being too tight or sagging/over stretching. Then, my ultimate goal is to grade the pattern from a small to a medium and so my secondary question is, which stretch factor percentage should I use to obtain the conversion factor? 80 or 40.5?

If I were to guess the answer to both my questions, the wool would only be allowed to stretch to that of the silk lining. And so I would not use any ease in the pattern and I would grade using the stretch factor 40.5.

I will greatly appreciate help with either of my two questions. Thank you so much for your time in advanced!

Great questions! Considering the stretch factors of both fabrics, it's a good idea to add a small amount of negative ease to the pattern to prevent sagging/over stretching of the wool. Adding negative ease will help to ensure that the dress remains form-fitting without being too tight or overly stretched out. However, it's important to not overdo the negative ease, as this can cause discomfort when wearing the garment.

As for your second question, I would recommend using the stretch factor of the wool (80%) when grading the pattern from a small to medium. This is because you want to ensure that the larger size still retains the same amount of stretch as the smaller size, and since the wool has a higher stretch factor, using this factor will help achieve this.

Overall, I would suggest adding a small amount of negative ease to the pattern and using the stretch factor of the wool when grading the pattern. This should help achieve the form-fitted look you're going for while ensuring the dress remains comfortable and retains its shape. Good luck with your project!