Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's design and technology lesson.

My name's Mrs. Fletcher and I am here to help you today with your learning in this lesson.

Today's lesson is called Fabric patterns and seam allowance, and it's part of the 2D shapes to 3D products: stationery storage unit.

In this lesson, you'll get to build your own pattern pieces ready to make a 3D product.

Let's have a look at what we'll be learning about today.

The outcome of today's lesson is I can plan and create fabric patterns.

So in this lesson you're going to be thinking about how you'll want your product to look, what pieces you will need to make that product, and how we can make a pattern ready to cut those pieces out of fabric.

There are some keywords and phrases that we'll need in today's lesson, so let's have a look at those together.

The first one is fabric pattern.

Can you repeat that after me? Fabric pattern.

Well done.

A fabric pattern is a paper template that shows the shapes needed to be cut from fabric.

The second one is seam.

Can you repeat that? Seam.

Well done.

And a seam is a line of stitching that joins pieces of fabric together.

And the final one is seam allowance.

Can you repeat that? Seam allowance.

Well done.

And seam allowance is extra fabric between the stitching and the edge to allow the room for sewing, a place for you to sew that line of stitching.

Okay, so in today's lesson we're going to be looking at two different parts.

We're gonna look at developing your fabric pattern and then we're going to look at adding the seam allowance at the end of the lesson.

So let's get started on developing your fabric pattern.

When designing products, the design specifications set out the requirements for the design.

This might include the size of the product.

It might include information about the shape, the colour, the materials we're going to use to make it, and any additional features that are going to be included.

Andeep's reminding us here that we need to think about the size and shape of a stationery holder for this particular project that we're looking at today.

Pencil cases come in a range of styles and designs.

Some common styles include folded designs, rectangular designs, or tube shapes, cylindrical designs.

Think about the pencil cases you might have seen in and around your house or at school, different shapes that they come in.

Some styles can hold more things than others.

We need to bear in mind the size of the product so it can work well.

So in this case, we need to think about the size of stationery products, which are the pens and pencils that will be held in a pencil case, when we're thinking about the size that we're going to make the product.

The inside of the pencil case must be big enough to fit standard stationery items. Quick check then.

Which of these pencil cases would fit this pencil in? So look at the size of the pencil, it's 180 millimetres.

Which size pencil case would it fit in? Would it be A, one that's 150 millimetres long; would it be B, one that's 190 millimetres long; or would it be C, one that's 175 millimetres long? Pause the video, have a think.

Welcome back.

What did you think? Well done if you said it was the pencil case that was 190 millimetres long.

It wouldn't fit in the pencil case that was 150 or 175 millimetres because it's bigger than that.

Fabric patterns show the shapes needed to be cut from fabric, and they're usually made from paper.

So we know that a fabric product is made from different sections of fabric.

So in order to know which pieces to fit together and what size those pieces are, we need to cut them first out of paper so we can see that they're going to work.

So here's a piece of fabric.

We've cut out a fabric pattern, so that's one piece of our fabric product that we're going to make.

And that would be cut around so we get a piece of fabric the same size and shape as that fabric pattern.

And Andeep's just telling us here that the fabric pattern is placed onto the fabric so that you can cut around it, around the outline.

Fabric patterns come in different shapes and sizes.

Once all the pieces have been cut out, they can be sewn together.

So here we have two fabric pattern pieces that have been placed on top of the fabric.

They've been cut out, so you can see there those two fabric pieces.

Then those are placed into the right place, sewn together to make a 3D product.

So those 2D fabric pieces that you've cut out are sewn together to make that 3D product.

In this case it's a pencil case.

Quick check then, what is a fabric pattern used for? Is it A, for decorating fabric; is it B, for cutting fabric into the right shape for sewing; or is it C, glueing fabric pieces together? Pause the video, have a think.

Okay, what did you think? Well done if you said it was for cutting fabric into the right shapes ready for sewing.

So you are going to be making a stationery holder, a pencil case, and there are two ready-made styles that you can choose from.

So you can make a pouch style, which is where it has a flap that's fastened with a fastener and it lifts up and the stationery products get placed inside, or we can have an envelope style, which is the long way round, still has a flap that you lift up, but your pencils are placed in the long way.

Both of these can have different types of fasteners, and you will need to think about the fastener that you will use.

So in this example, the pouch style has a button and the envelope style has a hook and loop fastener, but you might decide to choose or you may already have decided which type of fastener you would like to use on your pencil case.

You might decide to create your own style though.

If you don't want to go with the pouch or the envelope style, you could have a go at making your own style, your own pattern pieces.

And for this, you will need to create your pattern pieces from scratch.

So you'll need to know the measurements that you're going to use.

You'll have to think about which 2D shapes will be needed to build that 3D stationery holder.

For example, a triangular prism holder is made of two triangles and three rectangles.

So you can see here the triangular prism pencil case holder that's fastened with the snap button fasteners there is made from two triangles and three rectangles.

And Andeep's noticed that one of those rectangles is much taller than the others, and that's so it can provide that flap that folds over to fasten the pencil case.

In this cylindrical holder, the fabric pattern pieces needed are two circles and a rectangle.

So this has got the zip fastener, so it's a different type of fastener, but the pattern pieces that you'll need would be two circles and a rectangle.

And Andeep's reminding us to make sure that the rectangle is wide enough so that pencils can fit inside.

So you're having to think about the measurements you'll use to make that shape of pencil case.

Have a quick look at this then.

Which pencil case is this the fabric pattern for? So for which of these pencil cases, A, B, or C, would I need to cut out two triangles and three rectangles? Pause the video, have a think.

Okay, did you work it out? It was of course C.

The two triangles you can see form the side pieces of that pencil case and the three rectangles fit together to make the sides and the flap of that pencil case.

So if you wanted to make one in that shape, those are the pattern pieces you would need.

So that leads us onto the task for this first part of the lesson.

So this is where you are going to create your own pattern pieces for the style of pencil case that you want to make.

So if you wanted to go with one of the ready-made styles, that was the pouch or the envelope that we saw earlier, then first of all you will need to decide which style of stationery holder you're going to design.

Then you're going to need to cut out the paper fabric pattern and use paperclips to hold the pieces together so you can see how it all fits together.

Then you will need to fold the part where the flap will be to open and close the holder, and you can draw in the line and label it with fold.

So that means you know exactly where your pencil case is going to fold.

If you're using your own style though, you'll need to decide on which style you're going to use, which shape of pencil case you're going to make.

First of all, roughly sketch out the shape of the fabric pattern onto paper.

So like we saw with the triangular shape pencil case, you need to work out what shapes you will need to build up your 3D product.

What shape will the sides be? What shape will the main body be? What shape will the flap be, and how will it all fit together? Then you'll need to decide on the measurements for your holder.

And remember, it must fit all of your stationery products inside.

So it might be useful to place your stationery objects on top of the paper so you can work out exactly how big it will need to be.

Then you'll need to accurately draw the pieces to the correct size and label each piece so you know where it needs to go and which piece it's going to be.

You need to leave at least a 50-millimeter gap between each piece though, because you're not going to cut it out yet.

We've not quite finished.

So you need a little bit of space around each piece so you can add something on in the next part of the lesson.

So just make sure you leave that gap between each piece.

So that's your task then, decide which type of pencil case you're going to do and come back when you've finished that task.

Okay, welcome back.

How did you get on? So Andeep's going to share his work, and these are the decisions he's decided to make for his pencil case design.

So he's chosen the pouch style, so that's that pouch style there you can see on the screen.

He's cut out his paper fabric pattern.

So you can see there he's got a back piece that he needs one piece of, and he's got the front piece which is slightly smaller.

He needs one of those as well.

And then he's marked out where he needs to fold that taller piece to make the flap, and he's drawn a line so he knows where it's going to fold.

And he's written the word fold so he knows that's where it's going to fold when he cuts it out of his fabric later on.

Hopefully you've managed to cut out your pattern pieces, either from the pre-made ones or that you've worked out your own design and measured and cut out those ready to start.

And that leads us into the next part of the lesson.

So this is where we're going to add our seam allowance to those pattern pieces that you've just finished making.

So a seam is a line of stitching that joins pieces of fabric together.

So it's where you have sewn the fabric pieces together.

So here if we had two separate pieces of fabric, so these are like the ones that Andeep is cutting out for his pencil case, where they are joined together by sewing, that is what we call the seam.

So you can see those fabric pieces joined together by the seam there.

A seam allowance then is the little bit of extra room, extra fabric that we leave between the edge of the pencil case, the size, and the edge of the fabric that we are going to cut.

So it's the space that we leave for sewing.

So there's the seam, and you can see that little bit of extra fabric is on the edge there so that we're not sewing right on the edge of the fabric.

And this gives you just that little bit of extra room to sew.

So what is a seam allowance then? Is it added space to sew, is it a type of stitch, or is it a pattern piece? Pause the video and have a think.

Welcome back.

What did you think? It is of course that added space to sew.

Well done if you said that.

So adding a seam allowance to our fabric patterns that we've already made will give us some room to sew those pieces together without changing the shape or size of those fabric pieces.

So the seam allowance there you can see is how we will sew our pieces together.

It allows us to join the fabric without changing the planned size.

So we already know how big our pencil case is going to be, but we don't want to make it any smaller by sewing in that space.

The seam allowance is usually around about 15 millimetres, which is 1.

5 centimetres, around the edge of every fabric piece, that pattern piece that we're going to make.

It tells us where to sew.

So here we can see a fabric pattern for a pocket that's going to be added onto a fabric product.

So that's the original fabric pattern piece like the ones you made at the start of the lesson.

And this is a seam allowance, so it's extra space that's added onto the pattern piece.

So it makes the pattern piece bigger so that the pattern will stay the same when we actually sew it.

So there's a seam allowance all around the edge.

Now, Andeep's wondering why we didn't put a seam allowance at the very top of that pocket.

What do you think? Well, of course it's because if we added a seam allowance at the opening of a pocket, we wouldn't be able to put anything in there.

So a seam allowance is only needed where you are going to sew.

So the pencil wouldn't go in very far if we put a seam allowance and sewed across the top there, it wouldn't fit in that pocket.

So a quick check then.

How big is a typical seam allowance? Is it 15 millimetres, is it 150 millimetres, or is it 50 millimetres? Andeep's reminding you there that there are 10 millimetres in one centimetre.

So that might help you remember how big the seam allowance was.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said it was 15 millimetres.

Okay, so, if we're adding seam allowance, we need to make sure it is added on to the edge of our original pattern.

So on the fabric pattern where you have drawn on your paper, the seam allowance is usually added on and shown as a dashed line.

So we add an extra space and mark it with a dashed line.

A solid line shows where the fabric would be cut.

So where we've ruled a solid line, that's where we would cut out on our fabric pieces.

And a very thick line is used to show where the fabric would be folded.

So different types of lines can help show what to do in each part of the fabric piece, the pattern piece.

Quick check then, can you match the fabric pattern line that we've just talked about to the correct label? So which one shows a fold, which one shows a seam allowance, and which one shows the place to be cut? Pause the video, come back when you've done.

Welcome back.

What did you think? Did you manage to match those? Let's have a look at what we should have had.

So the first one, the dashed line shows the seam allowance.

The very thick line shows the fold, and the thinner solid line shows where the fabric pieces will be cut.

Well done if you matched those correctly.

Okay, time for a task now.

So this is where you're going to add the seam allowance to the pattern pieces that you made in Task A.

So the way you do this will be slightly different depending on whether you did the ready-made style pieces from the worksheet or whether you've made your own style pencil case and made your own pattern pieces.

So if you're doing the ready-made pattern pieces, you need to measure and mark out a 15-millimeter seam allowance around the inside edges of each of your shapes from Task A.

So you're coming inside the pattern piece and marking out a 15-millimeter seam allowance around each edge that's going to be sewn.

You then need to make sure that the seam allowance line is dashed and the fold line where you're going to fold your flap is a thick solid line as well.

You can then label the fastener, the type of fastener, and the placement of the fastener onto your pattern pieces as well, so you know where it's going to be attached when you make your final product.

Now, if you did your own style pattern pieces in Task A, then you need to do it slightly differently.

So you're still going to measure and mark out a 15-millimeter seam allowance, but you're going to do it on the outside of those pieces that you made in Task A, and that's because you've not yet allowed for that seam allowance on your pattern pieces, so we need to make them slightly bigger.

You're going to mark those out with a dashed line, you're going to make sure the line that you're going to cut out is solid, and that you use a thick solid line to show where your flap is going to fold.

So you've got all those different sections marked out correctly.

You can then cut out your pieces along that cut line and label which type of fastener you're going to use and where it will go so that you know where to put it when you come to put your product together.

Remember that you do not need a seam allowance at the opening of your pencil case, otherwise you won't be able to put anything inside if you sew along that line.

So make sure you look carefully about where the pencils are going to go inside your pencil case and that you're not going to sew there, so you do not need a seam allowance in that section.

Pause the video while you have a go at this task and come back when you're finished.

Okay, so hopefully you've got something that looks a little bit like this now.

So you've got your fabric pattern pieces with a solid line around the outside, a dashed line showing where your seam allowance will be, which should be 15 millimetres from the edge of your pieces, and you've marked out where your fasteners are going to go.

So here you can see there's a snap fastener.

So the two different parts of that fastener are labelled on each piece, showing where they will go.

Well done if you've managed to get that far.

You now have pattern pieces ready to make a 3D product.

We are at the end of this lesson though for today, and we've managed to make our patterns and added our seam allowance ready for us to make those 3D products.

We've learnt that fabric patterns are paper shapes that show the shapes needed to be cut from fabric.

We've also learnt that a seam is where two pieces of fabric are sewn together, and that's the join where you will do the sewing, and we've learnt that a seam allowance is some extra fabric between the stitching and the edge of the fabric, which gives us some room for sewing so we don't make the product too small by sewing on the actual size of the pattern.

Well done for getting that task done.

I hope to see you again in another lesson where we get to use these pattern pieces to make our fabric shapes ready to make a 3D product, but goodbye for now.