It’s probably no surprise that I have been feeling some ambivalence about my sewing so far in 2013. A couple of projects I haven’t been totally impressed with due to my own lack of skills has had me, at times, wonder if my successful makes last year were just an amazing streak of beginner’s luck.
I’ve been slowly slowly working on my fit “issues” with Lynda Maynard’s craftsy course, and it has been a beast, but also extremely helpful. I’d much rather work on wearable things, but at the same time I’ve been too gun-shy about fabric ruining, I’ve had a hard time getting excited about planning future projects.
But I feel like I’m making good progress with fit. I really have learned a lot- not only about fit, but the whole muslin/test garment practice, and I feel a lot more confident about trying things out in muslin and then altering the pattern to reflect the changes.
I recently finished my 3rd bodice muslin with the pattern altered to incorporate changes from the previous muslin. The results weren’t really what I expected or hoped for, and I’ve spent some time trying to figure out different solutions. Lynda has also been great about giving feedback on photos I’ve posted.
Slash & Spread on the left, Lynda Maynard method on the right
While I wait for the next round of Lynda’s suggestions, I decided to try my hand at your standard slash and spread FBA to see how that alteration measures up to what I’ve done in the craftsy class. I’ve looked at tutorials, and have several books that go over different FBA methods, but this is the first time I’ve really tried it. I think I just needed to build up my confidence in making pattern adjustments, and the craftsy class provided just enough hand holding to get me started.
For my slash & spread FBA, I folded the original pattern piece to the petite line, which I didn’t do with the Lynda Maynard method, but I quickly determined that since I’m fitting myself, it’s a whole lot easier to add length than to tuck it up and take it away.
I also noticed, when flipping through the fitting books, that I might benefit from a square shoulder adjustment. The key indicator of that is gaping at the upper back, so I am trying that out on the S&S pattern as well- I slid the outer edge of the shoulder up about 3/8″. I couldn’t find clear direction on how much to move it, but I figured that would give me an idea as to how the adjustment plays out in fabric, and I can tweak it later if it looks like the right thing to do.
I’m a little surprised by how similar the patterns turned out- especially since the S&S alteration started with a petite shortened pattern. The largest difference is the length of the center front fold edge- the S&S is about 2″ shorter. The side seam edge is about 1″ longer on the S&S pattern, but the side dart is about 1/2″ to 1″ wider. The lower edge of the S&S pattern is about 1/” to 1″ wider, but the front dart is about 1″ narrower. The front dart is also about 1″ closer to the center front fold in the S&S pattern. I intentionally made the front dart point about 1″ shorter because I read somewhere the fuller your bust, the farther the dart points should be from the apex, and the original pattern and Lynda Maynard adjusted pattern seemed a little too close. The side dart lengths from tip to edge are about the same.
I’m going to sew up a muslin of the S&S adjusted pattern tonight. I’m pretty excited to see how that fit compares to the Lynda Maynard adjusted pattern.
So I’m definitely seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and know I’m getting closer to wearable. I even woke up at 4am the other day because my brain had to let me know RIGHTTHISMINUTE that I need to use my pink toile from New Orleans for a Colette Crepe dress (non-sweetheart version). And later that same day, it suddenly became obvious that my Enterprise fabric needs to be an A-line, non-sweetheart, Sewaholic Cambie, and I’m thinking over a couple of ideas for that. It’s definitely nice to start having ideas and getting excited about sewing projects again.
I’ve been browsing furniture online for a while. There seems to be an abundance of ugly, expensive, and/or not optimal pieces out there, but since I had to go to Ikea anyway for 12 
I was deeply saddened to learn of the fire earlier this month in 
Lesson 1: Make a plan. Begin with the end in mind.
Once she had an idea for the design, I set her up at the table with her doll, and a piece of tissue paper. I had her draw out the different elements of the outfit to make sure it would fit the doll once it was done. At first, she didn’t draw the borders along the arms and shoulders- just a line for where the sleeve would end and a curve for the neckline. I explained she would be cutting out the tissue paper as a template for cutting the fabric and poster board, and she needed a line on the paper for every line she was going to cut out of fabric. I always think it’s interesting when I give instructions that I think are pretty obvious (“Draw your outfit on the tissue paper”), and later realize I left out pretty critical information (“Include the outlines. The tissue is a template. It isn’t staying on the doll”). But she got it done, and cut out each piece of tissue paper separately, so she’d be ready for
For the nesting dolls and fairy tale fabric, I had her play around with different arrangements of the pattern piece so she could get the elements of the print she wanted on the different pieces. I helped her pin it in place (and by helped, I of course mean I did all the pinning while she watched), and then gave her a lesson in cutting.
Cutting fabric is a little different from cutting for your typical 2nd grade art project. I explained that for an accurate cut, she should keep the fabric and the bottom blade of the shears on the table, and slide along while cutting with the top blade. I also taught her the very important tip of cutting with the tips of the scissors and not sticking them farther into the fabric than you want to cut. She almost learned that one the hard way.
She used her tissue paper pattern pieces to cut pieces out of poster board, glued the fabric to the poster board, and finally glued the outfit to her paper doll. She said her teacher really liked it, and (somewhat abashedly) the other kids “acted like it was special.”
