I'm a winner and a new muslin!

Sigrid, Tany, Marji, Els and Angela nominated me for the Threads DVD giveaway that Mary Beth was kindly giving away and lucky me I won! I am so looking forward to receiving them and putting them to good use. Thanks ladies :)))



In the meantime I have received Lynda Maynard's fitting DVD and have been working with my sloper. I decided to work with the free Marfy pattern 1101. The smallest size is 44 and I at least 42 but maybe smaller. However after reading Lynda's book I thought I could work with the size 44 and agree it to my sloper. Remember I made my sloper from the saran wrap (which I promised to blog about but will when I am more confident that it works).



I laid my sloper over the Marfy (which I had cut out as a size 44) and made the following adjustments:



Back:
Took out 4cms in the back between waist and armhole
Took out 1cm each side from shoulder to hem
Took out 2cm below the waist
Reshaped the armhole (my line is the inside line and the original pattern is the outside line)
Tapered the shoulder line a tad.


Front:
4cms out between waist and bustpoint
Lowered bust point a bit more and redrew dart legs
2cms out below waist
Reshape the armhole (my line is the inside line and the original pattern is the outside line)
Taper the shoulder line a tad.

I also adjusted the sleeve to take out some extra ease from the front.

Now to the muslin:


(BTW, I have the cuff only on my left sleeve and oops, I have it on upside down. Oh and the dart looks like it is going too high but that is just a crease from my pressing.)

I was pretty happy with the front but had found it to be tight to move my arms. So I look 1 cm in on each side seam and adjusted the sleeve as well. This helped. I think I still need to reduce the ease in the sleeve cap a bit in the front.

The back, not so good! It is tight if I pull forward (see the horizontal pull up high on shoulder blades) and theres lots of fabric further down.

After putting in some darts and tucking a bit for a straight back this is what I have - much better but I want to go back and work on that further.
I had DD cut the upper back to see how much extra I need. I need it up high to cover shoulder blades but not around the armhole....mmm....maybe a shoulder dart. Need to go back and review sloper with pattern.

I plan on making this is a soft cotton so it will not be as stiff as the calico but will still have body and no stretch. So I mustn't over fit but when do I say - this is how it should look? After all I do have to be able to move in it.

I googled up this pattern and came up with a post by Liana and Sigrid. Both have made it before. If either of you are reading can you comment on what you did with the back on your versions? Did you leave it as per the pattern or did you shape it a bit? ETA - Both Liana and Sigrid have done reviews on PR - neither adjusted the back. Also Sigrid pointed out the error in the cuff - no wonder I put it on the wrong way!

Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed, but I am just playing at the moment. When I am confident that my alterations will work I will post a better example of how I went about the changes. In the meantime any feedback is always welcome :))

Popping in to let you know where I am up to.....

It has been a few weeks since my last post and I have to admit to no sewing, no fitting and just about no energy! It has been unbearably hot here (but cooler since Wednesday - and yes today we have the heater on) and I don't work so well in the heat. And when I say hot I mean sweat dripping off me onto the patterns hot! Pretty unseasonal for this time of year. It usually is just perfect autumn weather.

And to be honest I think I have lost a bit of confidence with the fitting! A bit like - OMG, where do I go from here? My plan is to make a shirt using my sloper as a guide. I have been checking out my Burda's but there are very few patterns in size 34. And to be honest again, I am not really a shirt lover (much prefer knits) so I am not getting overly enthused. But I think it would be good start to work on real clothes in a basic shape with what I have learnt. And I do have some shirting fabrics in the stash....wonder how they got there!?

I have been on the Internet a lot and have been enjoying everyone else's blogs - so thank you for that! I have also read the chat over on PR with Kenneth King and Lynda Maynard. Lynda has a CD book on adjusting commercial patterns using a fitted moulage. I figure my saran wrap is the same as a moulage as it has no ease, so I have ordered the CD book. Lynda mentioned that you start with matching your moulage waist with the waist of the pattern and then check out the shoulder point and make adjustments to fit. So I am hoping this CD book will send me in the right direction.

Also this morning I read a post by Lisa over at Blackwater Park on fitting and a book by Natalie Bray called Dress Fitting. The post called to me so I Googled up the book and it is available on an Australian Website - which means low postage and (hopefully) quick delivery. So that is ordered too!

This afternoon I will be going up to Shepparton (yet again - this is where my weekends are going) and won't be back until Monday. So the sewing will have to wait a bit longer. Maybe a bit of tracing out can be done while away.

Hope everyone has a very restful Easter and I will catch up with those Easter outfits next week!

Fitting - part 5 - saran (cling) wrap

This post is for Marji who had just left a comment asking for an update on the next stage. Marji has been helping me with some of those pesky fitting issues. I am still not satisfied so I have been delaying my report.


On my last post I made up a size 36 Burda blouse pattern which wasn't too bad but I felt still had some major issues around the shoulders, arms, front, back....well everywhere. So while reading my FFRP and also checking out a Palmer Pletsch pattern I have, they strongly suggest you start with a size that corresponds with your upper chest. That would put me in the size 34. So I made a muslin in 34 - better but still the same issues.

I can see armhole folds and gaping , shoulder "arrows" (btw, I did do a forward shoulder adj with this one), excess fabric in back below armhole and what would appear to be a prominent shoulder issue.

I have really appreciated all the feedback everyone has given me and I have tried all your suggestions. A common theme was to do a sloping shoulder adjustment.

On left no shoulder pads, on the right shoulder pads. The arrows to the shoulder are a bit worse and the neckline now is raised. And the armhole folds are not fixed. So no, it is not a sloping shoulder problem.

I played around and if I folded out a dart from bust to armhole it seemed to fix the problem. I don't think FFRP addresses this issue very well and I just wasn't confident in what I was doing.

So forward and onward I decided to have a go at the saran wrap. I had heard of this from Liana and followed the tutorial and Kathleen's Fashion Incubator site.

ok, no laughing! I will do a separate post of this later this week, but this photo will do for now to show your how I came up with this:

Most issues are gone! I can't quite figure out the lines just under the shoulder seams. I spent most of yesterday afternoon pinning, adjusting, resewing etc. In the end I have come to the conclusion that I have the neckline going too far up my neck or the folds are due to a dip in my shoulders - there is quite an indentation where my bra strap goes. The camera does magnify the lines. In the mirror they are barely visible.

So that is where I am up to. Next is to compare the sloper to a standard Burda 34 and see what adjustments I need to do to that to make it work. I am figuring the list will include:

• Petite adjustment
• Forward shoulder
• Rounded upper back
• prominent shoulder blades
• narrow lower back
• sway back

and the list goes on.........

I tell you, ignorance was bliss!