Hello Reza and team and forum members :) ,

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read my questions — and more importantly, thank you, Reza and team for the incredible work you do! I watch every video and truly appreciate the depth of your explanations. You’ve helped me move beyond simply copying old pattern drafts — now I understand why certain things are done, which makes it possible to make purposeful adjustments instead of relying on trial and error.

My main concern is the placement of the back seam, particularly in relation to how different drafting systems approach it.

I've noticed two distinct methods in historical drafting manuals:

1.     Back seam is perpendicular to the chest line; Suppression begins below the chest line

That makes perfect sense to me: it maintains the clean perpendicular line across the upper back and places the shaping where it's needed: below the chestline. (I also understand that the center back seam should generally remain as straight as possible, since excessive roundness can create a bump. After all, the back is mostly a flat surface, only appearing concave from the side view — unlike, say, a camel’s back. Of course, in a three-seam back, we can’t rely on a ‘patrol back’ to do the shaping, so we have to work with what we have)

2.     Suppression starts with an angled back seam right from the chest level down, which weirdly results in more aesthetically pleasing shapes, at least to my eye — especially those reminiscent of Edwardian silhouettes. However, I struggle to understand the mechanics here.

Wouldn’t sewing that just result in a tilted chest line? Fabric doesn’t automatically "know" where we "constructed" the chest line, right?

So wouldn’t this method:

·       Lower the actual chest line,

·       Increase the upper back balance,

·       Steepen the waist angle,

·       Potentially create a “duck bum”,

·       And make the shoulder line appear more sloped?

As demonstrated in the illustration below?

So my questions are:

1. Why constructing the back seam at an angle in the first place?

2. And if we want to have a more fitted back in the waist with this method, do we just make the back seam more angled while maintaining it straight or do we just have to take in something from below the chest line and create some roundness?

Thank you again for everything you share. I’m learning so much thanks to your work!

Warm regards,

Luciano