Chapt 16 - Ease In Clothing
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There are two kinds of ease that are used in the manufacture of patterns:

  1.  Wearing Ease 
  2. Design Ease. 

All garments must contain WEARING EASE to allow for movement and livability. The wearing ease can not be used instead of making alterations to the pattern. Patterns have this wearing ease included in them. Patterns marked for knit or stretchable fabrics only have little or no wearing ease, since the movement of the body is allowed for in the fabric itself.

WOMEN

bullet Bodices have 1 1/2" - 2" wearing ease at the bust
bullet Dresses have 3/4" - 1" wearing ease at the waistline
bullet Skirts and pants have 1/2" - 3/4" ease at the waistline
bullet All garments have 2" - 2 3/4" wearing ease at the hips

MEN

bullet Fitted shirts have 1 1/2" - 2 1/2" wearing ease through the chest
bullet Classic or standard shirts can have up to 3" wearing ease through chest
bullet Pants have 3/4" - 1" wearing ease at the waistline
bullet Pant have 1 1/2" - 2" wearing ease through the seat.
bullet Pants have a minimum of 1"wearing ease through the thigh

DESIGN EASE is added fullness beyond wearing ease incorporated into a pattern to create a specific silhouette. These variations are almost limitless, but basically all garments can be divided into one the following categories:

bullet Fitted garments touch the body without constraint. In this case only wearing ease may be present. In some cases the wearing ease may even be reduced to allow for proper fit.
bullet Semi-fitted garments incorporate design ease with wearing ease. These garments skim the contours of the body.
bullet Slightly-fitted garments have considerable design ease added to the pattern. These garments just follow the body shape.
bullet Loosely-fitted garments have a great deal of design ease added to the pattern. These garments often hang away from the body.

 

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