Pattern Making

25 Aug

Posted at 06:07h in Fitting Patterns, Pattern Fitting Tutorials, Sewing, Sewing Pattern Alterations by
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So often the greatest disappointments I hear about making your own clothes are about commercial sewing patterns not fitting how the maker imagined.  What's not always clear is the complexity of size charts and the idea that all garments and sewing patterns use the same sizing system.  Not so unfortunately.  My own approach is to always ignore the sizing system offered on the back of sewing patterns (size 14 or S M L) and to focus solely on body measurements and desired garment measurements and how the sewing pattern compares.  What follows is a description of the first steps, I use personally and teach to my students, to make sure they have the closest sewing pattern size before cutting a fitting toile.
 

18 Aug

Posted at 05:51h in Pattern Making, Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzle Sewing Patterns, Sewing Pattern Alterations, Sewing patterns, Stretch Patterns by
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It's not unusual to get comments about the Jersey Twist Top that some think that the neckline is a little low for their personal modesty.  And I totally get that.  I'm not one to show too much decolletage and often lift the neckline of many of my patterns.  So if you've purchased my sewing pattern for the Jersey Twist you might be interested in the following post and the pattern making instructions to change your own sewing pattern.

10 Aug

Posted at 13:28h in Pattern Puzzles, Womens Knit Block by
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It's taken me far more time than is reasonable to get my act together and make some pattern making videos.  Over the coming weeks I'll be releasing one video each week on my Youtube channel that shows the development of a few of my pattern puzzle designs into final patterns.  Be warned they're not the greatest quality videos but I'm hoping they're good enough to show the process for all you budding pattern makers out there.

03 Nov

Posted at 10:00h in Pattern Fitting Tutorials, Sewing Pattern Alterations by
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Imagine joining me in one of my many pattern making workshops and enjoying the new techniques and skills that'll up your creative game.  My Sewing and Learning Packages include a sewing pattern or block and a related set of detailed tutorials that are the very resources I use in my pattern making workshops.  So something a little different: The Sleeveless Shift Dress - A Dress with a Lesson.

07 Sep

Posted at 10:00h in Off-the-Rails Sewing Patterns, Pattern Making Instructions, Sewing, Sewing Pattern Alterations, Sewing patterns by
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I'd love to share with you one of my favourite versions of the Corporate Shirt Pattern.  Using a sweet oriental print on patchwork (heirloom) fabric I decided I'd like to try a summer short sleeve shirt.  To begin I decided to use only the collar stand and not the collar fall so you end up with Nehru look for your shirt.

14 Feb

Posted at 06:00h in Off-the-Rails Sewing Patterns, Stretch Patterns, Womens Knit Block by
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It all began when I came across this fabulous Dior Dress from 2012, and decided it was the perfect idea for a classic dress design.  Imagine a stretch bodice, that fits easily and is very comfortable to wear.  Then add a very special skirt, using signature fabric.  The simplicity of the idea was just so attractive to me.  And simplicity is something I really admire in both the design and construction of fashion clothing.  And now that classic simplicity is available to you with my new sewing pattern:  The Dior Dress, available in 6 sizes, including detailed cutting and sewing instructions.

26 Oct

Posted at 12:53h in Garment Construction, Pattern Puzzles by
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We've all seen this particular style over the past few years on the catwalk and in the shops.  But unlike many fashion trends I think this one will be good for quite a while.  It's so flattering with the distracting diagonal drape across the tummy and hip area.
I've featured this particular pattern making move twice on this blog:  Twist and Turnback Top 2013,the Twist Jumper 2013 & Turnback Thinking 2014.  I've also made a number of samples in the past few years, testing different materials and design details.  I'm going to share those samples here and let you know which of the features and fabrics work the best for this design.

12 Oct

Posted at 16:19h in Fitting Patterns, Grading Patterns, Pattern Fitting Tutorials by
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Although it may appear complicated, grading sewing patterns is based on a few simple rules with definite numbers added to very specific parts of the pattern for each size up and down the size chart.  These rules are used in repeat for all garments within a category (mens, women's or children).  The image below is of a black fitted dress block graded from Size 8 to Size 10 by cutting through the crucial grade points and adding the extra required to go up one size in the pattern.  The white lines are these crucial grade points where the extra is added.  It is the example I use in my pattern making classes to assist in the understanding of where patterns grow between sizes.

28 Sep

Posted at 15:39h in Pattern Puzzle Sewing Patterns, Pattern Puzzles, Sewing patterns, Stretch Patterns, Womens Knit Block by
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This is where it all started...  The Off-the-shoulder Twist Top from so many years ago.  This design was originally inspired by one of the dutch designers in a mens silk knit tee.  It has graduated from a mens tee to an off-the-shoulder model to finally a boat neck tee style.  It's this final version that I'm now preparing as an online PDF sewing pattern to add to the website.  Make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter so you're the first to hear about the pattern release.  You'll find the sign in box in the footer of my web pages.
The sewing pattern has been released:  Body Twist Tee PDF Sewing Pattern
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