Making a dress



This tutorial was done using psp9 and assumes you have a good working knowledge of psp.
We will be using Vectors and pixels to make this dress and you will need to have done my bear tutorial for the bear we’ll be dressing.
If you haven’t done the bear tut yet, click here to make it.
Remember to save often as I may forget to keep reminding you.

To cut down on download time, I'm going to try and combine some of my screen shots especially ones were we're just adding nodes.
Hopefully you won't need them if I give you the coordinates.

Open up a transparent canvass, 300x300. Flood fill the background layer white. This will make it easier to see what we’re doing.
Be sure your ruler and grid is turned on. Have your grid set in units of 1 pixel.
Zoom in at 800%.
Add a layer and name this bear.
If you tubed your bear, select your Picture Tube tool and open your bear.
Place your bear about the center of the canvass. I have the top, center line of my bear’s head at 150x98.

Pick a color for the outline of your bear’s dress. I’m using #d08f8d but you can use what ever color you like.
Set your foreground color to this color and your background color or fill to null.
I like to be able to see my bear when I’m making his or her clothes.

Select your preset shapes tool and from the shapes list, pick rectangle with these settings.
Create as vector. Anti-alias not checked. Line width 1.
We will be using these same settings through out the tutorial.
Starting at 129x131, draw a rectangle down to 171x186.
See below

Click on your pen tool and go to edit mode.

We need to add a few nodes but before we go any further, I want you to realize that shaping the dress is a lot of trial an error.
I am going to try and explain each step I took to get my finished dress. I may tell you to move a node to one position, and then go back to that same node and move it again. And I may not be able to tell you every move I make since I too need to play around with my nodes to get the shape I want. You really need to play around until you get a shape you like. Explaining this is rather difficult, at least for me but I’m going to give it a try.

With that being said, let’s start along the top of your rectangle and add a node at 150x131. (Place your cursor at 150x131, click Ctrl, release your mouse and you will have added a node.)
Add two more nodes along the top at 139x131 and 161x131.
And one on each side at 129x148 and 171x148.

Click on your top center node and drag it straight down about 4 pixels to 150x135.
Click on the next node to the left and drag it in a straight line to the right about 5 pixels to 144x131.
Do the same thing on the opposite side of your center node only drag it 5 pixels to the left to about 156x131.
Click on your top left node and drag it about 11 pixels to the right to 140x131.
Do the same thing with the top right node only drag it to the left about 11 pixels to 160x131.
See below

Click your added right side node and pull it to the left to about 164x151.
Right click it and change the node type to curve after.
Click your added left node and pull this to the right to about 136x151.
Right click it and change the node to curve before.


Click on the handle on your right curve after node and pull it to the right about 2 pixels.
If I hover over my arrow, I’m at 168x160.
Click on the handle on your left curve before node and pull it to the left about 2 pixels.
If I hover over my arrow, I’m at 132x160.

From these two nodes up is suppose to be the arm pit area but as you can see, it’s not shaped correctly so we’ll have to move things around a little.
Grab the node along the left side of your dress and pull it up and in to about 140x145.
Do the same thing with the node along the right side but pull this to about 160x145.


Click on your top left node and make this curve before. Drag the handle to the right about 4 pixels. If I hover over my arrow, I’m at 144x135.
Click the same node and bring it up one pixel to 140x130.
Click on you top right node and make this curve after. Drag this handle to the left about 4 pixels. If I hover over my arrow, I’m at 156x135.
Click that same node and pull it up one pixel to 160x130.
See below

We need to pull our dress out on either side so it covers our bear’s body so grab the handle on your right node and pull it to the right about 3 pixels.
If I hover over my arrow, I’m at 167x154.
Grab the handle on the left side node and pull this to the left about 3 pixels.
If I hover over my handle, I’m at 133x154.

Now we’re starting to get some shape to our dress but we need make the bottom look wavy.
To do this, we need to add 5 nodes along the bottom line.
I added mine at 136x186, 143x186, 150x186, 157x186, and 164x186.
See below

Click your first added node on the left side and change the node type to curve before.
Moving towards the right, click your next node and make it curve after.
Click the next node change it to curve before.
Next node curve after.
And the last node, curve before.
We need to move every other node up a couple pixels so starting from the right, move your first added node up about 2 pixels to 136x184, the third added node up to 150x184, and the fourth added node up to 164x184.

We’re still going to fiddle with this dress but you may want to change your vector name to dress and save what we have so far as a dress.
If you end up with a shape you like better, you can always replace it with your new shape. Just say yes when you’re asked if you want to over write the existing dress shape.

I want to make my bottom outside corners a little rounded looking so click the bottom right node and change it to curve before.
Grab the handle and pull it to the right a little and down a little.
If I hover over my handle I’m at 178x177.
Click the node and bring it up a pixel to 171x185.
Click your bottom left node and change it to curve after.
Pull it to the left and down a little.
If I hover over my handle, I’m at 125x177.
Click the node and bring it up a pixel to 129x185


If you like this dress better, you can replace it with your previous saved shape or save it as a second dress shape.
Once you save your shape, you can always edit your nodes to get a different look.
Speaking of getting a different look, if you like, you can play with the nodes on the bottom of the dress to get a different look. Move them up, stretch them out. What ever you think looks good.
And there’s always the undo feature if you don’t like what you’ve done.

I’m still not happy with the bottom of my dress so I’m going to make a few more adjustments.
Click the bottom left node and pull it to the left 4 pixels and up 2 pixels.
Your node should be at 125x183.
Click your bottom right node and pull it to the right 4 pixels and up 2 pixels.
It should be at 175x183.


I’ve done some more editing but it’s too hard to explain each step I’ve taken to get the bottom of my dress to look something like this.

I did change some of my curve before nodes to curve after and curve after to curve before. You just have to kind of play around with the nodes until you get a shape you’re happy with.
I still may make some adjustments when I fine tune it with pixels.

Before we go onto our sleeves, we need to make one more adjustment to the top of the dress. I should have mentioned this earlier but forgot. Click your top center node and make it symmetric.
We’re going to be giving our dress a collar so the neck line isn’t that important, but you may want to stretch it out if you decide to pass on the collar.

Alrighty then, let’s move onto the sleeves. You have saved what we’ve done so far, right?




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