Skip to main content

How Fitting

Ever since I read this post by Sue over at Sew Misunderstood, I knew I absolutely had to make my own fitting pattern. This would solve all of my problems and would end my getting discouraged about how nothing ever fits my chest. It was late at night so I hurriedly ordered the pattern on Amazon and anxiously awaited it's arrival. And then it sat in my pattern collection, untouched because I still felt that I was missing some key information that would make the fitting process go smoothly.



I should admit that at the time I bought the Butterick pattern B5628, I already owned at least 3 different books on fitting. Each time I purchased one of these books, I would devour the book. I read each one multiple times and then I would attempt to make a pattern. Let's just say that they did not go over too well. Then I would get discouraged and feel like I needed to avoid sewing until I could figure out what I was doing wrong.

Then I found two Craftsy classes that gave me hope again. The first one was Plus Size Pattern Fitting & Design by Barbara Deckert who is the author of Sewing For Plus Sizes. I love her class and I learned a lot about how to fit plus sizes and why patterns don't typically fit plus sizes. I even picked up her book from the library and read it to learn more. The second class is by Joi Mahon titled Fast Track Fitting. I just watched her entire class this evening. I learned tons of new things about how to fit sleeves, which I have been struggling with for quite awhile.

I had my husband help me remeasure myself using both Barbara Deckert's class materials as well as Joi Mahon's. I'm going to try Joi's method and see if I can get myself a pattern that fits. I hope to get something to try on before I have to go back to school on Tuesday. I really want to be able to make some new clothes for myself in the style that I want to wear.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Starting At The Beginning

A wise person once said that in order to tell a story, you start at the beginning, keep going until you get to the end, and then you stop. Pretty good piece of advice to keep in mind as I start my first blog post. When I was young, I learned to sew by watching my mother and my grandmother. For many years I only used those skills to replace missing buttons or fix torn seams. Then I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and was taken to my first Renaissance Faire as part of a guild. I had such a great time that I knew I had to make my own historic costume. I ended up making something new almost every faire for the past 2 or 3 years now. I have become a costume addict! I love making costumes, planning new costumes, and the hunt for that absolutely perfect fabric. It is true that whoever dies with the biggest fabric stash wins. Several friends convinced me to write a blog about my costuming experience and I finally took the plunge. I look forward to sharing my experience with costume of ...
1 comment
Read more

Ottoman Empire Gomlek

I recently started joining the local Society for Creative Anarchism (SCA) group to meet up with like-minded individuals interested in historic costumes and research. There is an upcoming event with a middle eastern theme and I have nothing to wear! So of course that meant frantic research into what middle eastern costume I wanted to make, draft the patterns and begin work. I finally settled on Ottoman Empire (Turkish) costume consisting of shalwar, gomlek, entari and caftan. I did quick and dirty research and The documentation that I found the most helpful are the following: https://serenesabiha.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/aripattern.pdf http://baronyofatenveldt.org/uploads/library/Ottoman%20Coat%20Handout%202011.pdf http://www.katjaorlova.com/FemaleTurkishGarb.pdf Linen gomlek before the added neckline facing. The first link has a great measurement chart that is helpful for keeping documentation of your measurements. I used the gomlek (or women's shirt) pattern and fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Elizabethan High Necked Smock Test Samples

I am starting a new smock to wear as the undergarments for a new Elizabethan outfit. I started with the Tudor Tailor 's pattern for the smock. I read through the directions and realized that I was going to need to make a muslin of the smock so that I could make sure it would fit. The Tudor Tailor pattern is drawn for a size 12-14. Here is a quick sketch of what I ended up doing. A mockup is needed for this garment if you are not really close to the measurements of TT. Here is a list of steps that I took to get a pretty awesome fitting garment. Measure your chest, waist, hips, the largest part of your bicep while you are flexing, the length of your arm from shoulder point to your wrist, neck, wrist, and the distance between your shoulders. Write all of these measurements down. I always say I'm going to do this... and I don't always. It's a good habit, I should do it more. Get a cheap fabric like cotton muslin, some rulers, some washable markers, and scissor...
Post a Comment
Read more