Garment Construction

30 May

Posted at 14:07h in Garment Construction, Off-the-Rails Sewing Patterns, Sewing, Sewing patterns by
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The Pencil Skirt Sewing Pattern is an absolute classic for your wardrobe.  The complete sewing pattern has a full lining pattern included in the download.  However when you first receive the pattern it is my recommendation that your first make is an unlined version so you have an opportunity to test the fit and make of this new pattern.  For an unlined skirt, I would recommend a medium weight woven fabric and have made myself several version using both quality cotton prints from heirloom cotton patchwork fabrics and stunning African print cotton.  These skirts make the most ideal summer skirts.

28 Apr

Posted at 14:17h in Garment Construction, Pattern Puzzle Sewing Patterns, Sewing patterns, Stretch Patterns by
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The beauty of this stretch, ponti skirt is the simplicity of its make.  The Drape Tube Skirt pattern has only two pieces: one main pattern piece for the front and back skirt, and one for the narrow waistband.  And for the sewing, there are the drape tucks, two seams, a waistband and a hem to worry about.  Be sure to clearly mark the width of the drape tucks and be aware they need to be sewn about 2.5cm (1") into the skirt to make sure they behave well when you wear your skirt.

19 Aug

Posted at 12:12h in Garment Construction, Pattern Puzzle Sewing Patterns, Sewing patterns, Stretch Patterns, Vintage Patterns by
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Now that this pattern has been released on the website, it's time to put up some sewing instructions.  The details below are abbreviated instructions.  With the purchase of the PDF sewing pattern you'll receive fully detailed sewing instructions in a separate PDF.
At first the pattern shape appears weird and unusual, as it did for me when I first found this little beauty at the US patent office.  When cutting your own Patent Blouse, please make sure you use two-way stretch knit for the best results (four-way stretch knit in the US).

26 Feb

Posted at 15:04h in Garment Construction, Pattern Puzzle Sewing Patterns, Pattern Puzzles, Stretch Patterns by
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I simply can't believe that I've never shared my sample makes for this amazing top. I suppose I was so busy turning it into a workshop that missed the obvious.  So you may remember the original post from January 2015 - Pattern Insights - Jersey Twist Patterns.  I used my Women's Knit Block to demonstrate the simplest way to achieve jersey twist patterns.  The same method makes both single and double twist patterns.  This is not the only method for making jersey twist patterns and you'll find other examples on my 'well-suited' blog.

18 Sep

Posted at 15:08h in Garment Construction, Off-the-Rails Sewing Patterns, Sewing patterns by
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At last some sewing patterns are making it onto the website!  The first in the 'Off-The-Rails' series is the Drape Gather Skirt.  This is a design from many years ago that has been a favourite in my wardrobe ever since.  It's also the first skirt my students cut in my Drape Skirt Patterns workshop.  It has a straight grain centre front panel with a joined side front and back skirt panel that's cut on the bias.  Included in the back seam is a fishtail flare and an invisible zip.  The wait finish is a strap waistband and included in the zip opening is a zip guard for a quality skirt.

11 Sep

Posted at 15:50h in Garment Construction, Off-the-Rails Sewing Patterns, Sewing patterns by
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I've put together some diagrams for cutting out the Drape Gather Skirt sewing pattern.  I've considered fabric widths of 110cm, 130cm and 150cm for the shell of the skirt, across all the sizes 6-22.  I'll deal with the cutting of the lining for this skirt in a separate post.  I suggest that your first sample is an unlined skirt so you have the opportunity of finessing the fit before making a fully lined version.  One constant feature of cutting these drape patterns is there is always what I would consider a lot of waste fabric.  I tend to keep the larger pieces and use them in future projects.  I've found that a pattern with a number of smaller pieces works really well.  I use a paneled waistcoat design that has 5-6 pattern pieces that use the waste from the skirt design very well.

21 Aug

Posted at 16:12h in Fitting Patterns, Garment Construction, Pattern Puzzles, Sewing Pattern Alterations by
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After so many pattern alterations to the first sample pattern, I'm excited to show you how the second sample turned out.  Below you can see the pattern alterations (brown paper) I made to the first sample pattern.  And I've selected a cotton/linen blend for the second sample.  You will find all the first sample and pattern alteration detail in this post:  Sampling the Flare and Gather Dress and Pattern Alterations - Flare and Gather Dress Pattern.

03 Aug

Posted at 16:37h in Garment Construction, Pattern Puzzles by
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I'm beginning to love this skirt pattern - as long as I can find the right fabric to make it work.  Sometime last year I made this first sample and learned a lot about construction issues with drape patterns.  You'll find the original Pattern Puzzle post on the well-suited blog - Waterfall Jersey Skirt.  In this post, I'll discuss construction and be looking for solutions to some of the issues.

21 Jun

Posted at 13:56h in Garment Construction, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft by
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Trawling through the samples on my rail I see so many garments that I haven't posted to follow on from the original pattern puzzle.  So to re-cap I cut this first sample based on a folk costume pattern for a Mantle Dress, Inner Garment referred to as a Eura Costume.  Like many folk costume designs it uses all the fabric and qualifies as zero-waste.  It's from a time when all textiles were considered of great value and no amount of cloth was ever wasted.
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