Week 4: Making Pattern Changes for Style

Now that your pattern is perfectly fitted to your figure,  you've got a pattern template for anything your imagination can come up with. As long as you don't mess with the FITTING elements of the pattern and final measurements, you can play all day long and skip the trial and error with fit. The trial and error with design is another matter! For this first round, step cautiously while playing around with things like sleeve length, adding seams and neckline shapes, but do play, because this is the fun part!

I've created three videos to step you through the basics:
Bodice Front:



Bodice Back:




Sleeves:



Enjoy! 

WEEK 3: Alternative Method to Move Darts or Shorten Bodice

For this sew along, I am working with a small group of folks on a special group page I've set up for this purpose. Each are at a different level of skill, but each have committed to doing the assigned homework for the maximum educational experience. It's easy to sit back and let me do all the work, so I'm grateful to have such a committed group!

While I work with them on their individual projects in the group to get them caught up, I thought I would share with you my fit experience as I worked through the 10 steps from the last post.

There are TWO main things that will ensure an easy start on the road to fit:

• Choose the right size for each area of your body. 
• Sew an accurate seam allowance. Do a test with your sewing machine guide and then measure.   

I asked my larger sewing group what size I should make for my padded out dress form. The answers I got surprised me. What size do you say?  (see my size chart here)

I need to do a post on this subject, but that will have to wait until another day...

 Here is my dress form from the side (left). My pattern FBA adjustments have been completed, and I wanted to show you the pattern pieces and how they mimic the shape of the dress form. If the figure had more below the bust tummy fat, I could straighten that princess line (as represented by the pink line).

What I discovered from the tissue fit step (step 10 on last weeks post)
http://sewchicpatterns.blogspot.com/2017/06/week-2-getting-right-start-with-fitting.html 
  is that my dress form has a very high bust and I need to shorten my bodice above the bust. This is a VERY unusual adjustment and can cause some trouble for the princess seam. To avoid more pattern troubles, I'm going to use  this  alternative sliding method to shorten my bodice without causing more trouble with the princess line. It comes in handy to accurately move or shift darts and design details that are in cumbersome areas.

1. Square off the armhole area, marking below and again amount to shorten below the armscye. Mine will be shortened 1". Line should be parallel to the grain. 

2. Cut into pattern and fold, matching previously marked lines. Secure with tape or pins as desired.

Your pattern should look like the photo above once taped.

  2. True seam and cut lines. I'm going to take out some of that under bust curve to keep the bodice from becoming to busty.

  3. Walk seam lines to find a similar shorten location on Bodice Front. Mark.

Ready to fold and match lines

4. Match lines and secure with tape. True the seam and cut lines.

5. Re-test your pattern work by pinning bodice to do a second tissue fit.

Looks much better now!

Wedding Gown Redesign

I spent the day doing some minor redesigning of this dress for a bride getting married next week.

She wanted some sleeves added for modesty, a rip repaired in the back, and a bow added to the back. The problem with adding to a wedding gown is always the fabric. Matching the fabric and color is almost impossible. This bride is on a seriously small budget, so in my closet I had an old wedding gown from the '80's I was happy to cut into. This isn't a  tutorial, but I'll show you what I did.

This alteration took 4 panels of the dress. I kept the shape just as it came off the dress. The top part of the panel will become the "loops" and the bottom half will become the tie ends. I cut and sewed four triangular tops together with heavy interfacing and the bottom of two panels are sewn right sides together up the side. The bottom, which was the original hem, will remain open.

 Using my strapless sleeve pattern, I made sleeves. I always leave long ends about 2" longer than I think I need. I sew a basting stitch according the markings I did at the fitting and match this basting line to the top of the dress where I'll be sewing.

Here is what it looks like all pinned in place. I will sew the sleeves to the bodice by machine under the trim. No one will see it!

For some dumb reason, I couldn't get these to load right side up, but I gathered up all the ends for the bow parts and laid the "loops" on top of each other and baste all four layers together. I did the same with the ends. Then I laid all eight layers on top of each other.

I tacked them at the ends. It was thick, just like I wanted it to be. I made an interfaced band about 1" wide to go around the bow and cover up the raw edges and hand stitched on the wrong side.

Then I had to repair this tear, also by hand. There was no way to make this repair invisible, so part of the purpose of the bow was to make it less noticable.

I added the bow, hand stitching in place on the left side and snaps for the right. I think it turned out alright. What do you think?

Hatmakers school: How to resize a hat pattern

Sew Chic Pattern #101 Cloche Hat

I love hats. One day I hope to get into this craft a little bit deeper, but for now, I must be satisfied with my one cloche hat pattern, developed as the third in my learn to sew teaching pattern series. Why a hat? Because no fitting is involved. Well, no fitting if you are an average 21" head, that is. So when one size does not fit all, the question is how to alter a hat pattern to fit?

When it comes to hat fit, a little bit of ease is okay, giving your head some room to breathe, but no more than 1/2" or the fit will be sloppy. Also keep in mind that the fabric you use- thin vs thick- will make a difference in the overall fit too.

For this hat, altering at the center back seam, adding or subtracting from the circumference at the bottom and tapering to nothing at the top works great. Make sure you split the difference (need to add 1" becomes 1/2" increase) and add to both ends of a cut one pattern. The brim and lining must also be altered to match. The brim is shown, but the lining pattern would be altered in the same way. Do not change the crown lining piece.

Use this same method for any hat that is shaped like a bowl. Because this hat ends at the top of the head, we don't want to alter there, only at the bottom of the cap where the circumference affects the fit. If you were working with a different hat style, say a pill box type, this alteration method would not be the best choice.

If the person you are fitting has an overall larger or smaller head, a quicker way to alter the pattern to fit is with a photocopier. This is technically against copyright law, but you have permission (with my hat pattern) to do this as long as it's for personal use only. Divide your pattern up into smaller than paper size chunks, adding cross marks at what will be your page intersections to help you match it up and tape it back together correctly. Be sure to label each section too.

 Enlarging by 2% will provide a 23" circumference, and enlarging 5% will give you 23 1/2" and increase the overall span (over the head from ear to ear) by 1/2". A reduction by the same percentage will produce similar smaller results.

Happy Hat Making!

Pattern Alterations after Fitting a Muslin

To test the fit of a pattern, sometimes it's wise to make a "muslin" or a sample of your pattern in inexpensive fabric. Cotton muslin is the least expensive of all fabrics, thus the name given to a garment made just for fitting. First make sure the pattern size you picked is right for your measurements. If not, check out my Pattern Resizing Tutorials, Part 1: Small to Large or Part 2: Large to Small. If you make a muslin to make sure your garment fits perfectly, you must also be able to transfer your fitting changes from fabric back to the paper. Here's how to do this, step by step:

1. After your fittings are complete, mark ALL seams, both changed and unchanged. I find that a fine tip permanent marker does a great job because one line down the seam marks both sides for me.

2. Remove all the stitches, darts, seams, everything.

3. Press all pieces flat.

 

4. Assuming that your pattern is  made of transparent paper, lay the paper pattern over the fabric piece. Match up the fabric seam lines that have not changed with your paper pattern seam lines.

5. Here you can see the changes more clearly. The blue mark is the changes on the fabric while the pencil mark is the pattern original. If you are ever left wondering whether to make a change to the paper pattern, remember that the fabric marking always takes priority over the paper marking because the fabric has been tried and proven to fit.

 6. Now I need to mark the change with a colored pencil. This helps me to remember where I changed the pattern from the original. I can also keep the original mark to refer back to it if needed.

 Here is the change shown clearly.

 7. For seams, I must also correct and create a new cutting line. I blend my new line into the old line. You may also need to "true" corrected line. In other words, make sure that your new lines are smooth and straight (or nicely curved), and blended into your original line. I can also put slash marks through the original line to remind me that I don't want to use it. It's an extra assurance.

 That's it. Now your pattern is ready to use again!