Making the Case for a Dress Form

I am not automatically a proponent for sewing gadgets. First, it has to prove its usefulness to me. Gadgets and tools cannot take the place of technique - like a good screw driver, it can make the job easier, but will never replace the need for practice and knowledge. The more expensive the tool, the more need for establishing its worthiness to my life and budget.

In making the case for a dress form, the best ones will cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, and the personal dress forms are a whole lot of trouble to make, so it's a decision that can't be made lightly.

I've draped a new design idea. Looks great!

First ask yourself, what will I use it for? Why do I want it? I use my dress form now in ways that I never needed before college. I use it to test a new design idea. Like at the fabric store, I drape my mannequin with a quick drape to see how the fabric and style idea will go together.

I had to drape the sash on this design I call Espire.

I use my mannequin during the pattern making stage to check things like the flare of the skirt, the gathering of a drape, or the depth of a neckline.

While I sew the new style together, I keep the garment and cut pieces pinned to the mannequin so that it's ever present in my mind and in my view. It's the designer "instinct" that can flag my conscience if something isn't working as expected. In this way I have a another chance to nix or improve a bad idea during this stage of the development.

If the style demands it, I need to use a mannequin to drape the pattern for part or portions of a new design style, as in the hip drape on this red dress I call Espire.

I consider a mannequin invaluable. I own two: one is a Styrofoam in size 6, and the other is my base size 10 in paper maché from dress rite. I use them both equally. But for all the things I do use them for, what you might notice is that I don't use a mannequin for fit. Why not? Because a dress form represents the body of everyone, yet no one. To check fit, I use a real person, a fit model. I talk about that in one of my earlier posts. To use a mannequin for fit, it would have to be a near perfect representation a real body, and even if it did match the measurements and body type I needed, it would still have limitations.

Many manufacturers have tried to produce mannequins that dress makers can use to help with fit. Probably one of the most common is the dial form. You are able to adjust the sides, bust, and back as necessary using the dials. I've never tried to use one of these, but it looks like guess work, and seems like it would be hard to duplicate bodies with a rounded shoulders, large abdomen, or a swayed back.

Another type of adjustable form is like the small Styrofoam form I have. It came with pads and a cover to keep the pads in place. No matter how I tried, I could not pad the form to match a real body, or lengthen the back waist enough. The shoulders are incredibly wide too. No chance of making those smaller.

Using paper tape

For Do-It-Yourselfers, it's popular these days to make a copy of your body by wrapping yourself very carefully in paper mailing tape or duct tape. The idea is that you wear a long t-shirt, knit dress, or garbage bag and have a buddy tape you up with a few layers from neck to hip. There are numerous posts from people who have tried this, so getting the directions isn't a problem using google. What is a problem is that the end result isn't very accurate, it's unpinnable, and they actually add inches to your figure that aren't there! I have tried both of these methods and was not very satisfied with either.

A more accurate method for do-it-yourselfers is to wrap yourself in a plaster cast (like a medical cast for a broken arm) and then fill the cured form with spray foam. Remove the cast, and voila! You have an actual body duplicate that will take a pin and can be marked with waist and seamlines. There are instructions on the internet from a company that sells kits and will do this for you if you want. Check out My Twin Dressform if you are interested. (NOTE: Even though I make this method sound really easy- it's not. Plaster hardens very fast, requires special cutting tools to remove, and can be dangerous to children who might want to play in it. When so encased in plaster, fainting is a real possibility. Please, do not take lightly using this method for making a dress form!)

Saving the best method for last, a very safe, and very accurate method to get yourself a body double is to sew yourself a princess seam moulage or french lining which is a fitted sloper or master pattern with no ease. Pad any suitable mannequin (smaller than your actual measurements) that you may have to fit the moulage. This method requires no long calculations, only a helper. I'm going to do this with my fit model next week, and will leave you with photos and instructions hereafter. Stay tuned!

These posts are now published.Click below to read Copy your Figure:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Pick Your Pattern Giveaway

Happy New Year to everyone!
Counting the years is our way of marking time, and reviewing our progress. The door to 2011 is now open and it is my hope that the year will bring good things for all of us!

Over the last several months I've been tweaking my website in big and small ways. I gave the shop page a new format, making it easier to add and see all the patterns. I also gave each pattern it's own page. I got the pages loaded late last night (my new years celebration), and in my haste, I haven't checked all the links yet, so let me know if you see something amiss.

**Pattern Giveaway**

Here is what you really came here for: My new years pattern giveaway. This year you can win any pattern of your choice.

First, go to my newly styled shop page:

http://www.sewchicpatterns.com/shop.html

and decide which pattern you'd most like to try. Write a message to me from the contact us page:

http://www.sewchicpatterns.com/contact.html

and tell me which pattern you've decided on. If I get at least 40 entries, I'll choose two winners (1 winner for every 20 people theoretically) which will increase your chances of winning, so tell your sewing friends about this giveaway! On the contact page is a radio button asking if you'd like to join the mailing list. This is NOT required to win a pattern. However, only one entry per person. If you entry twice, one will be deleted! Also, your entry will be voided if your contact information is invalid or incorrect. The contest deadline is Jan 8th. I'll notify winners Jan 10, and post names on FaceBook. Thank you, and good luck!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

UPDATE:
Congratulations to the giveaway winners: Eileen Mitchell: Myrtlewood, Christina Burke: Pendleton, Mandie Murk: Southern Belle, and Cindy Hansen, Cloche hat. Jennifer Kubenka and Molly Holleran both won the Fantasia pattern. Thank you everyone for your participation. I look forward to doing this again this time next year!

Best Learn to Sew Videos

It's fall again, and it's back to teaching. This term it's two sections of "Fashion Sewing for Beginners" which focuses on learning the basic techniques used in fashion sewing. It's a 3 hour class, lasting 9 weeks, so you know it's not a class for those without determination, and preparing for class is a huge task. Every class I share a demonstration of several techniques and then everyone spends some time at the sewing machine practicing. I ask students to keep these practice samples in a notebook so they have an example ready and handy.

For me, of course, creating these samples again and again every year has produced quite a large pile of samples! I feel wasteful, just throwing them away, but I can't show "how to" by showing a finished sample. Thankfully, Threads magazine has created a list of videos showing "how to" do these very same samples! Their series is called "Teach Yourself to Sew." I've seen many of them, and find them to be excellent. If you are just learning to sew, or are teaching someone to sew, I highly recommend them. They are clear, concise, easy to see, and to the point.
Click the link below to watch this first video on choosing equipment, or scroll down the hyper linked page to choose a different video to watch:
Teach Yourself to Sew: Equipment 101 - Threads

Thank you Threads! You make my job so much easier!

Everything old is new again!

Hello my name is Karmen and I am working with Laura this summer as her intern. She has asked me to update her blog with a subject that interests me. So here goes, oh and this is my first blog that I have ever done, so I would love feedback and comments!

One thing I love about fashion is it is always changing, there are always fresh ideas and concepts that designers the world over use as inspiration for whatever project or line they are working on. I also strongly feel that there is no entirely new concept in fashion, but the concepts are already there to be used and interpreted in new ways. This especially true for "retro"/vintage styled garments, the inspiration is from the 1940's-'50's. What's interesting to me is that many top designers who put out "new" lines every year also are seeming to have this viewpoint and many designers are taking their inspiration from decades past.

This year I fell in love with two very different collections each taking a bold and sometimes obvious look at history and translating their inspiration into gorgeous collections for the Fall 2010 runway. The late Lee Alexander McQueen's last bow to fashion was his fall 2010 ready-to-wear collection. It was so sumptuous and luxurious there is no doubt that his inspiration was equally luxurious and beautiful. While Louis Vuitton’s retro inspired Fall 2010 Ready to Wear collection, under the direction of Marc Jacobs, was on the other end of fashion. It was wearable, elegant and yet still with had the luxurious feel that he is known for. The reason I am highlighting these two collections in this post is because I want to show how history and fashion directly correlate, and how fashion though ever changing, always draws from what has already been seen at some point in history.

Lous Vuitton's collection:
What immediately drew my eye was the full skirts and the slim corseted waists, in other words the silhouette. I also wanted to show you examples of how the garments in this collection so closely resemble those worn in decades past. The full circle skirts and tiny waists with an emphasis on the bust is very 1950’s.


The grey suit outfit is reminiscent of the late 1940’s with the details of the high gathered shoulders and the dropped waist of the jacket.








The next three examples are a few of the dresses the Marc Jacobs (the head designer/creative director for Louis Vuitton) that also were heavily influenced by the 1950's, as you can see from the examples of the 1950's patterns shown.
















Alexander McQueen:
This collection has inspiration drawn from art from the 17th century, the cartridge pleats from the 1700's fashions as well as art that was printed directly onto his fabrics. This collection is a great way to show how so many themes can go into one collection (or even into one garment).




























The gold feathered hat is reminiscent of the roman military helmets, while the cartridge pleats are often seen in 17th century paintings, the painting of the Annunciation by Botticelli has a similar opening on the cape that was used in the long red dress done by McQueen. Another strong element is the Byzantine embroidery (shown above on the cuffs) that was used in many of his garments this season.

This post is only touching on a few elements and examples in which different era's in history are used to influence fashion. There are many more examples out there to find and if anyone is interested I encourage you to keep on the lookout for these references in fashion, whether it is in your own wardrobe, or in the garments you sew yourself or see on the runway.

Internet Archive- A treasure trove of information

My senior year of college I went on a college study tour to New York City. My professor had "connections" with the currator at the Museum of Natural History and had promised that she could arrange for me to see a less common gown designed by Madeleine Vionnet that was housed there. I had been studying Vionnets techniques, and had tried to copy the drape of this dress using photographs, and was anxious to see how close I had come to the real thing. Allas, my professor forgot about her promise, and my hopes did not materialize. It was unfair, it seemed, that the archives and great works of this world had been shut away from the eyes of the common man. Only the well connected or those with money had hopes of reaching history.

Though perhaps it's not as rare as a Vionnet design, how much would you pay to get your hands on a book about sewing called "The New Dressmaker" published in 1921 by Butterick? Though I wouldn't pay collectors prices, personally, I LOVE it when I can get my hands on one of these gems. Although fashion and patternmaking has taken many a long turn, the art of sewing hasn't changed much through the years. It's worth a look, just for the prose and writting style, if for nothing else.

Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive set out to establish an internet library available to everyone- not just researchers and people with museum connections- of historical collections that exist in digital format. Their moto is "universal access to all knowledge." They have millions of books, movies, and audio free to download. Thank you, Internet Archive. Not even a libary card is required. Take a look:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=dressmaking%20sewing

Estimating Fabric

Years ago I read a bumper sticker reading "She who dies with the most fabric wins." My husband has long since stopped complaining, as it does him no good. I must have enough fabric now to open my own retail store, but still, it's not enough. The personality of the fabric reaches out to me and I see a clear picture in my minds eye of the perfect style. The fabric "speaks" to me, telling me what it longs to be... and I tell myself that it's my duty to make it come to pass.

I don't know about you, but I assume that estimating yardage is a regular event for those of us addicted to fabric. I found this chart made available by an online fabric shop, which I'm sure is very helpful to many folks, but myself, I found it a little overwhelming.

http://www.denverfabrics.com/pages/sewinginfo/dfsewinghints/sewing-fabric-yardage.htm

Personally, I think in simple terms, such as the area the fabric needs to cover, rather than in terms of standard or average yardage. In most cases, for a slim style, the fabric will be wide enough to accommodate one side of the body, so measuring for the desired length for all sides is really all that is required. It might also be helpful to remember that the grain of the fabric usually goes down our center front and back, thus the reason for measuring in "lengths" = whatever your term of measurement is.

Example: Let's say we want to make a fitted dress that has a pencil skirt, short sleeves and contrast collar. We want the skirt length to be 30", our backwaist is 16.5, and the sleeves will be about 10". We'll also want to add in a few extra inches to each of these numbers to give ourselves room for hems and some style and layout flexibility.
1. First add the body length measurements twice (for front and back) .
32"+20"=52"x 2 = 104"
2. Now we'll add in one length for sleeves.
104" + 12" = 116"
3. Now divide by 36" (number of inches in a yard).
116"/36" = 3.22 yards
I would round that up to 3.5 yards. Always round up.

Now we have to think of the contrast collar. Is it wide, like a sailor collar? Measure the length it will cover from front to back: how far down will it come in the front? How long will it hang down the back? Will 1/2 yard be enough? Maybe 3/4? You get the idea.

When it comes to full skirts, think in terms of doubling or tripling the length for each side, but just for the skirt section. Will two lengths per side be full enough? For a 45" wide fabric, the skirt with double lengths would be up to 150"- 160" in circumference.

There now! If you have not yet become a fabric collector in the race against time, you now have the most important knowledge necessary to become one. Because as they say, "she who dies with the most fabric wins!"

The anatomy of a waistline

With the internet, who needs an encyclopedia anymore? I'm always looking for information on the internet. We have a whole world of people sharing with each other, so some of it has to be good, but some estimations put less than half as solid and true. I once tried to find a video tutorial on how to accurately measure yourself for a pattern. One video suggested I should choose a waistline location where ever I thought best. Hummmm...Really? I guess I didn't need a video after all!

Webster defines a waist as: "the typically narrowed part of the body between the thorax and hip." Okay, so it's typically narrowed, but not always, so that's what throws everyone off (that and low rise jeans!). The real answer is in the last part of the description. Your waist is actually an anatomical place we can point to! I ask my students to feel for that place between the hip bone (pelvic girdle) and the rib cage. This is the place where your body can bend because it's not encased in bone. Your body is unique to you, so that space can be rather long, especially if you are tall, and other times it's extremely narrow. If you still have trouble finding it, feel along the bottom rib to your side where the bone and rib come the closest. It is at this defined point, all the way around and parallel to the ground that is your waistline!