The Costume Maven

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 a...

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...