DIY French Curves with Armhole Template

I don't know if this will be of use to anyone but myself but I've wanted to work out away to make my own french curves (or Grade N Rule as they're referred to in my college) for a wee while now. Then I kind of just clicked and got an idea how to make one so I thought I'd share.

Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to buy my own set one day. But for now, I've been doing quite a bit of pattern cutting and I think this will make my life easier for the time being. So yeah....

Sorry about the picture quality, the light in my room is pretty bad so I edited the photos to make them a bit lighter and ended up with dodgy colours... I'll redo the tutorial if I get the time during daylight. Anyway.

You will need:

- A vest top

- A tight fitting top

- A tight fitting skirt or pair of jeans

- Pencil, paper and scissors.

Take your vest or tshirt and place the armhole at the top of your paper (maybe more to your right than I chose to do). Try to make it sit so that it is as close to its original shape as possible, no stretching or folds.

Lightly sketch around the armhole

Next take your tight fitting top, turn it inside out and try match the waist’s side seam curve to the armhole. 

For the final part of the curve take your close fitting skirt or jeans, match the curve of the side seam around the hip to your current curve, then lightly sketch around it until you reach the end of your paper

Next, draw around the curve and try to get rid of any little bumps along the way

Take a ruler and draw a straight line opposite your curved line, at the botton, square to join both lines.

Cut it out and your done.

Now all you need to do is find something to use to make your French Curves out of. You could leave it as it is but it will be quite flimsy, I think I’ll be using the card at the back of my A3 cartridge pad unless I find something better but you can use just about anything as long as its sturdy enough. Hope this is helpful to you, let me know what you think :)