Here is a dress that one of my coworkers bought and loved it so much that she wanted another on in another fabric.
I started out by borrowing the dress she bought. I traced it onto dotted pattern paper meaning I trace around the actual dress and where the seams met. I took down key measurements for example, how long each section was like the bust line and waistline and seams, stretched and relaxed. I recorded all the design lines, trims and notions used and where they are located. In this case there were 3 rows of elastic.
Then I went on to working perfecting the patterns using the appropriate rulers and the measurements I recorded earlier to create straight lines. The patterns take about a full day or two to complete and mark.
Once the pattern is done then you cut it out in the fabric you like. A little note, knit fabrics are much harder to cut and sew than woven. I usually sandwich knit fabric between 2 sheets of paper so the fabric doesn't move when cutting.
After the cutting is done then I have to go on to the sewing. This garment had a lot of 3 seams of shirring (gathering) and elastic.
First I had to put two shirring stitches to get as even as a gathering as I could.
Then I sewed the seams together and put elastic using my interlock machine.
This is the end result.
Let me know what you think.