An Engineer's Guide to Handwork

Trousers that fit! The Pattern I am using the Meriam Trouser pattern from Cashmerette. As is typical with their patterns, it is excellent. The pant leg is balanced properly at the knee, and all the pieces match up nicely. The instructions are very good, the welt pocket and fly particularly. And they even provide a "full bum" back piece, which is a godsend for some one shaped like me. All in all, highly recommend.  Fitting I used the Top-Down-Center-Out method for fitting, and had good luck with it. Though I did end up with a waist too big for the waist band, that was very much a me issue. I somehow managed to skip the basting step in the top down center out method, so I didn't get everything quite right with my new waistline. I'll go back and baste it, and pin trace the seams to make sure I got it right. I ended up decreasing the rise by 1" at the back and 3" at the front - this sets the waistband fairly low, around the top of my hip bones. This tends to be ...

 The next thing on my list of garments that are hard to buy for my body is pants! I have a lot of butt, and a fair amount of thigh, and proportionally a much smaller waist. In a front view I'm reasonably straight up and down, most of the difference between waist and hip is "Z" dimension (where X and Y are horizontal and vertical).  I am starting with the Meriam Trouser pattern from Cashmerette. On first inspection, it appears to be a very well drafted pattern. The center grain line is balanced at the knee on the front and the back, and the seam lines match up. I measured 40" at the actual waistband location (around my hips rather than my natural waist) and 48" hip. This puts me right at the size 18. I used the full butt option, since I know I'll need it.  I am fitting them using the Top Down Center Out method by Ruth Collins, @ithacamaven on instagram (and described by The Crooked Hem on youtube - her how too guides were super helpful). It basically has yo...

Bras! My creations since August One of the hardest things to purchase off the rack (at least for me) is bras. I recently re-measured and tried to order some using the r/abrathatfits subreddit instructions, and aquired one whole bra that mostly works for me, at the (dicounted) price of $60. I decided that enough was enough and it was time to go back to bra making. I did make several bras years ago, using the Pin Up Girls Shelley pattern and the Boylston bra from Orange Lingerie. Both required a fair amount of modifications to work for my shape. It turns out the bra making world has changed fairly significantly in the intervening 6 years. I ended up using the Labellum bra from LilyPaDesigns, on the grounds that it's shaped similarly to the Shelley, and is drafted for a fair amount of projection. I used the fitting instructions from Sew Busty for sewing a fitting band and getting the cups corrected for my shape. I ordered some dissolvable thread, which is pretty great for test fitt...

 This is really more of a test garment than a muslin - I made a fully interfaced and lined jacket, with pockets, shoulder pads, and sleeve heads. I also put in a bound button hole for practice. It's actually reasonably wearable, except for the fact that it's white and all my winter clothes are dark. But I could see wearing it over a summer dress. I got through cutting everything out and fusing the interfacing bay in May, and then stalled out until practically Thanksgiving.  And then when I went to put everything together my sewing machine needed work - apparently all the internal grease had seized and needed to be cleaned out. I ended up taking it to my local sewing shop (Pintuck and Purl in North Hampton NH) and they were able to service it. And they sold me a Bernette - the 35, which is the more advanced mechanical version. I was able to put everything together with it, and pick up my Pfaff a few weeks later as good as new.  All of the changes from my original muslin ca...

 I went through and sewed the seams I had previously pinned, and it became clear that the original 1" swayback was not enough. The center back vent was still swinging open, which is pretty typical of too much length there. So I sewed out about a 1/2" seam across the center waist line, tapering to nothing on each end. Honestly I'm not sure why I ever though 1" was going to be enough - I almost always need a 2" swayback adjustment, but live and learn.  Back view of the blazer muslin, with wrinkles at the back and the vent opening After finalizing the changes, I went through and traced them all onto the pattern pieces and traced them out. I then went through and cut some cheap fabric for muslin #2, my test garment. This version will be pretty close to complete, basically everything I want to do to the final version I'll do with it, including pockets and lining. The construction is different enough from the Jasika that I want a full test before cutting into the ...

 Cashmerette recently released the Auburn Blazer, a tailored jacket with princess seams and welt pockets, and clearly I needed to make one. I adjusted everything to fit on three sheets of Arch E paper (36x48) and swung by the office to plot it out. Then I traced the body pieces onto medical paper and pinned it to my dress form Hazel.  Pattern pieces pinned together on my dressform Back view with 1/2" horizontal tuck at center back Side view with no tuck - back hem is lower than front The front princess seams is a little wonky, but I think part of that is trying to pin two opposing curves in paper. Also Hazel doesn't have exactly the same bust shape that I do. I'll have to review that area in the actual muslin.  The back is a little bit long right off the bat - I took a 1/2" fold at center back and it lies much better. This is not surprising - Cashmerette patterns have some swayback built in, but my body has a lot, so having to make a 1" swayback adjustment doesn...

 Muslin take 2!  This time, I adjusted the front and side pieces for a 1/2" shoulder slope and a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment, combined into a 1" change to the front piece only. Because I don't want to change the armscye, the shoulder change needs to continue down into the underarm area, to keep the length the same and make sure the sleeve still fits. I used the pivot and slide technique here too, to make sure the length didn't change. Then matching the notches on the modified front and side panels allowed me to transfer over the change, and pivot back to the back edge.  Sketch of the adjusted front and side pattern pieces I recut the body pieces, with the shoulder adjustment and staying with the size 18 for the full size. I pulled the sleeves and collar off the original muslin and put them into the new one. Getting pretty close to being ready for the real thing! Blazer - size 18, front and back views The sleeves are definitely too long, but I'm not sure ...

 My dreams of making a blazer that actually fits me are inching towards reality. I started with the Jasika pattern from Closet Core patterns. I knew that I was going to need to make a full bicep adjustment, since my arm measures 16" and the finished garment size is 15.75". I added 2" to get a reasonable amount of ease. I also followed the advice the ever helpful Carol Kimball on Ravelry to pin the flat pattern pieces together to check the fit. This made it obvious that the back was going to be too long and I needed to do a sway back adjustment. Pinning out the lower back made it sit much better.  Initial paper pattern fitting on my dress form I adjusted the back pieces for length, using the pivot and slide technique suggested here. I shortened the center back by 1 1/2" (since the fold I pinned out was 3/4") and tried it on the dress form. Making the initial pattern adjustments to the paper patter made the back fit better, but there is clearly a shoulder slope...

A while back I decided that it might be fun to add a waistcoat/vest type garment to my wardrobe. Something to wear over a long sleeve t-shirt to dress up and add warmth for work. It turned out to be a bit of a fitting journey, since the pattern I started with (from freesewing.org ) was drafted for a masculine figure. There are a couple of adjustments I needed to make to get it to fit me correctly (slight understatement).  Freesewing.org is a pretty excellent resource, with several different patterns all drafted to your measurements. They have patterns drafted for figures with breasts and without, though not every pattern is available for every body. There are some limitations, a design that's been drafted for a masculine figure may not do so well on a body with breasts, and there are some combinations of measurements that will cause the generator to fail. I ran into that with a basic body block - when I put in my actual chest and arm measurements it threw an error code. I think th...

I've been wanting to sew a shirtdress for a while (actually years) and finally decided to bite the bullet and make it happen. I'm using the Lenox Shirtdress by Cashmerette. My measurements standing are High Bust = 41, Bust = 46", Waist = 38 1/2", Hip = 46". When I sit down the waist and hip measurements increase to 41" and 48 1/2" respectively. (This is pretty common, people are shaped differently sitting than standing) Since I'm planning on making this out of a non-stretch woven, I want the finished waist measurement to be at least 41" or the garment will feel too small when sitting. I'm not worried about the hip measurement since the pattern is a free hip. Based on this I chose to make a size 18.  The measurements for the finished garment are 48 1/2" bust and 39 7/8" waist, so the waist is going to be a bit tight as written without adjustment. I ended up adding 2" to the waist, to get up to the size 20 finished waist measu...