Self-draft

22 Jan

Posted at 13:35h in Fashion Design, Fashion Industry, Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft by
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While I wait for the local pleating house to finish their summer vacation, I'm moving onto the second phase of the Permanent Pleating Series - Garment Pleating.  In this series, I'll be discussing whole garment pleating as originally inspired by the work of Issey Miyake (Pleats Please).

19 Jan

Posted at 13:43h in Garment Construction, Pattern Making Instructions, Self-draft by
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This is the third post in the Permanent Pleating series where we're looking at the pre-pleating preparation for a Sunray Circle Skirt and Mushroom Pleated rectangle.  Our first post covered the introduction to the series - Prep for Permanent Pleating 101.  And the second post has all the pattern making information for both skirts; Patterns for Pleating Project 101.

09 Jan

Posted at 13:59h in Fashion Design, Fashion Industry, Self-draft by
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I've always had a fascination for what can be achieved with a little heat and some petro-chemical fibres.  Permanent (heat-set) Pleating is the use of heat on polyester/nylon fabrics to set a pleat that will survive the rigours of wash and wear without the need of re-pressing.
'Pleats are categorized as pressed, that is, ironed or otherwise heat-set into a sharp crease, or unpressed, falling in soft rounded folds.'  wikipedia

11 Aug

Posted at 14:56h in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft by
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Welcome all to this somewhat delayed blog post.  I am gradually catching up and would like to thank you for your patience.  The idea with this puzzle was to test one of those apparently simple pattern shapes you so often find on the net.  Every now and then we all come across stuff on the internet that suggests the simplest cuts will make the most flattering garments.  Who can say until you have actually made the thing up.  :)  This pattern is based on multiple squares in a variety of sizes with a little adjustment on the stand.

16 Feb

Posted at 16:20h in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft, Vintage Patterns by
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Gil Brandao's patterns have a seductive quality in their simplicity and clarity.  Often with pattern making instructions, simplicity is no more than an absence of information that can be finally very frustrating.  Not so for Gil.  His diagrams have all the required information.  So much so that my inability to read Portuguese does not present a problem.

09 Feb

Posted at 16:29h in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft, Sewing patterns by
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The simplest of shapes have a tendency to be the most difficult to solve in the pattern puzzle.  When there are no recognisable pattern parts (armholes, necklines, etc.), a huge amount of creativity is needed to make sense of the pattern shape.  Each week our fans excel in their ability to work their way through the information, ask the best questions and eventually win the day.  :)   They are the best!  If you don't fancy making your own pattern this design is now available as a PDF sewing pattern to download and sew for your self at home.  Click through to see my very first PDF patterns online!

02 Feb

Posted at 16:43h in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft by
1 Like
At last the detail for the Saturday #PatternPuzzle is here!  My apologies for the delay to our usual posting but I had a little trouble with my graphics.  It was a wonderful round of creative answers and clever solutions that finally solved this puzzle.  Our Handkerchief Fold Dress is so named because it struck me that the construction of this dress is much like a handkerchief with the corners folded into the centre.

12 Jan

Posted at 17:16h in Pattern Making, Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft, Vintage Patterns by
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I finally had a chance to use some of the wonderful work in the Gil Brandao book.  In particular, this pattern hooked me from the beginning as it doesn't seem to make any sense.  To start with, the thing that looks like a dart is really an armhole?  And that thing that looks like a sleeve is in fact, a waist tie. As you can imagine I was looking forward to an interesting fitting.

10 Nov

Posted at 10:17h in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft, Vintage Patterns by
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It's a mean thing to present the fans with a rectangle as a #PatternPuzzle and expect them to describe the garment.  In my defence, I did include a couple of very small notches as a clue.  In the end, Mioara was able to produce an almost exact image of the idea in knit fabric. I think we may have been reading the same pattern making books.  :) I found this image on Pinterest, but have had no luck finding the original source material.  If anyone knows the origin of this piece I would love to be able to include the correct information here.
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