Premade Pattern vs Self-draft pattern

When I started drafting patterns, I thought something like "wow, this is so cool, I can now draft EVERYTHING I would like to sew/wear". And while in theory, that is true, the reality of it is a little different.

I am not a seamstress. I need instructions. I can now draft patterns (a little), I can put them together somehow and I understand a lot better now, what changes are neccessary to make them fit better. (Which is why starting to draft patterns and making lots of toiles is a great way to get to know your physiognomy and fit issues and how to solve them)

But I lack the actual sewing skills. There are so many ways to put garments together and to construct them - I don't even know where to get all of that information. Even my Vogue sewingbook, despite being very full of information, didn't really give me the answer how to construct a garment.

And that's when Premade patterns are really good. If you have a premade pattern from a company that gives lots of help and hints on constructing the garment, you can go further from that. (I really like the instructions from closet case patterns, scroop patterns and ottobre design, just to name a few)- I love learning from them and getting to know their methods of assembling clothes. The little tricks and good shortcuts. And hints, where you really should not take a shortcut...

I've now drafted a few garments for myself, but for me, the advantage of a premade pattern are clearly the instructions.

Funny enough, I only understood what "a good fit" is, when I got into my little bit of 18th century sewing. If the bodice crumples over the stays, it is just not good. That's not the way it is supposed to be. If the stays are uncomfortable - they don't fit. It took me quite a while to get from historical clothing to modern sewing ... but now I am enjoying even more to make my every-day self-made wardrobe. The way I want. Not what fashion magazines tell me to wear. And RTW that doesn't fit anyway.

I can only encourage everyone out there to do a bit of pattern drafting (e.g. a basic pencil skirt and a basic bodice) and then after understanding your bodyshape - go for indie patterns!

We're all unique - Beauty and Drama

Found on Google.de

Quite a while ago now, I've posted about my endeavours to draft a pattern for a jersey shirt and make the adjustments necessary to find the perfect pattern for my shape. I also included a bit on why normal t-shirts/clothes don't fit me really well. I also made jeans, that fit me well, but didn't trust the pattern I graded, because it looked so curvy... And when in shops, I try on beautiful things - just to look at myself in disbelief, and see how they don't fit. Or how jeans are uncomfortable and don't fit.

So I thought I'd write a bit about off the rack clothing. And body shapes. Basically, if you don't have the measurements that the manufacturer uses to make these clothes, they are not going to fit you perfectly well. And whose body is exactly what the manufacturers make things for?

When designing a garment, manufacturers also take into account how to get the maximum amount of shirts or jeans or whatever else from the given amount of fabric, to cut economical, to make it "sort-of-fit" a majority. So basically we are walking around in garments, that just "sort-of" fit. And that might sacrifice fit and design to a more econamical use of fabric.

And because that's all we get out there, we don't even notice the difference. Just sometimes a manufacturer will have measurements that approximate our own a bit more while another one caters more for another shape. Or it is just chance. I don't know.

I find getting clothes that fit me, really difficult. Jeans are a nightmare. Shirts acceptable but a good fit is different, they usually crawl up. Dresses are usually too long in themselves and if the top fits the hip usually doesn't or the waist is where my hip is, ...

Anyway, I found these sizing charts (international) really interesting, which also explain, why most clothes can't fit. Because a sizing chart for a whole nation - how likely is that going to fit me?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_sizes


Even if you buy a pattern, you will find, you will have to make a lot of adjustments to achieve a good fit. So why not draft a pattern from scratch, which is at least as close to you own body as it can get and then work on those base patterns until they are perfect. You will learn about your body, about how clothes are constructed and understanding this will make it easier to alterate patterns and/or clothing in the future to make them fit better.

Let me tell you a bit about my own unique body shape.

I am small. I have slim shoulders, a slim chest, smallish boobs, a very slim waist and relatively wide hips and a round bum. I have a sway back and a little bit of a belly (which is due to the fact that I have two gorgeous daughter and my waist circumference in pregnancy was more than 100cms, I am still in awe, how the body manages all those changes!). I have slightly sloping shoulders (which I noticed gets a lot better when I do yoga regularly...)
I have a relatively high waist, an upper body that is slightly on the short side (I suppose being smaller, it's the normal length...), and thus a relatively long hip. I also have strong calfs. And small feet.

In numbers (all in centimeters, just the important ones)
I am 159cms tall.
shoulder width 10cm
Bust 86
Underbust 72
waist 66
hips 102
hip point 27
shoe size EU 35-36  (very important measurement for sewing...) :)

If you compare this to Standard German clothes ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_sizes#Germanic_sizes_(DE/AT/NL/SE/DK)
I am all over the size chart, from 36 to 42 (although I should say 18-22, because I need short sizes)  (US size 6 and 10 - but standard measurement differ here...). Drama. Nothing fits, of course not.

Since I started making clothes, I've come more and more to the point, where I found it was SO much more comfortable to make my own clothes. Yes, it is rather costly (or is it? how much would you have to spend on made-to-measure clothes these days...), yes, it takes a lot of time... but I enjoy the process and I enjoy the result. It feels like a full circle, I started making my first "own" clothes in 2001 (dress up) - made my wedding dress - continued with historical clothes, got more into fitting and clothes constructions - until I've finally arrived at making "modern" clothes for every day life.

It is such an enjoyable thing to make and wear clothes, that really fit. That are just completely "me".

Free 1961 Pattern drafting book!

I've come another great resource for drafting patterns. I was actually looking for ways people adjusted Ginger Jeans, when I came across this blog Kat Makes and she's doing a lot of great stuff and despite the fact that she has a completely different shape to me, I found lots of really cool stuff on her page. So check her out.

She's also drafting her own patterns and is using this free(!) and downloadable resource, which I recommend. It has the same sort of feel my "Dorothy Moore" book has, but is so much easer to access. :)

Pattern drafting and grading (by Michael Rohr, 1961)


Enjoy!!

In search of the perfect T-Shirt - Pattern drafting and an approximation (and lots of sheep)

Self drafted T Shirt! Nobody should look this stern with a self drafted shirt full of sheep. I don't know how I managed!

(If you just want the instructions for drafting a t-shirt and not so much talking: Here it is  How to draft Jersey shirt pdf)

And here is the talking:

Because my body is unique, I usually have problems with store-bought clothing:

1. the waist line is too low on me (sort of "on the hip", looks silly), because I am smaller than what standard clothes are made for. (if you want to know more about standard sizes in clothing  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_sizes)

2. I have a comparably small waist  and bust in relation to my hip measurement (compared to standard sizing).

3. My hip point is lower than average.

4.  My shoulder width is rather small.

5. I have a sway back nobody seems to want to have anything to do with

Vogue Patterns calls this gallantly "triangle shape", I think it used to be called pear shape? :)

So, all in all with off-the-rack clothes, they are too long, the waist is in the wrong place and the hip width is too small, so if I wear e.g. a T-Shirt, that fits my upper body, the waistline is just a tad too low and the hips small (even with stretchy fabric) so everything is travelling upwards to the waistline with movement and I end up pulling shirts down all of the time, even if they seem to fit ok at first glance.

To cut a long story short, I decided to draft my own t-shirt pattern.
It is really easy, if you just follow instructions!

There are a lot of  tutorials on youtube, I used this one (in German) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ3kdhVyMNM.


The thing you have to know about pattern drafting is this: It will give you a close approximation (probably closer to your body than any of the off the rack clothing is though...) and you have to make the fine tuning with a muslin on your body. Then you transfer the changes to your pattern. If you've made a lot of alterations or big alterations, I recommend making another muslin. Is is a lot of work and a lot of fabric potentially going to waste, but in the end you will have the perfect jersey shirt pattern. Which you will be able to use for all sorts of Jersey shirt variations.

And you will know a lot about you body and clothes fitting.

When you have a pattern finally, bear in mind, that changes to the neckline might need more changes in the upper bodice than just cutting the neckline. Jersey fabric is rather forgiving, but still, everything you change in the fabric might have consequences in fit overall (Dorothy Moore is dedicating a whole chapter on neckline changes... but I will write about that another time)

Also the amount of stretch of the fabric influences the fit (and also the recovery...)!

My first muslin was made from a piece of cotton jersey without much stretch. So I accepted it would be a little tight. There was pulling above the chest towards the armpit. That's the fabric asking for a dart. Hm. And the basic pattern has a very high neckline.

First I cut out the neckline the way I like T-Shirts, which changed the whole appearance of those wrinkles. But they were still there.

I also found the shoulder width was a bit wide, so I reduced it by 1 cm on each side. And changed the paper pattern accordingly.

I also have lots of wrinkling in the lower back, because I have a sway back.

There are several options how to deal with a sway back in knit shirts.
1. Ignore it.
2. Make sure it's not a too small hip width which makes the shirt travel up.
3. Introduce a seamline in the center back. Or two. Or just two darts. Those can take up the excess fabric.
4. You can try to remove about 2-3cms (1inch) just above the waistline on the back pattern and when you assemble the shirt you stretch the side seamline about 10 cm (5inch) around that area. It works sometimes.

Oh, and those wrinkles in the front could  be removed if you introduce a side dart, either to the side seam or to the armhole.

Has anyone else got good ideas to seal with wrinkling and sway back on knit fabric?

I chose to go with option No 1 this time. After transferring all the other changes to the pattern, I made another muslin. This time I used a mad fabric which I bought years ago because I wanted to make shirts for the children from it. It's nice quality stretch jersey (i guess 95% cotton and 5% elasthane) and has a nice weight to it, which I bought in a sale because most people probably found the pattern a bit too busy. I even made a shirt for the children for it, but even on them it is a bit busy. So I had enough left to make this shirt.

I like the fit despite the wrinkling in the back and that little bit of pulling in the front. And there are a lot of sheep on this. A lohohot. I might use it for pyjamas, which makes just the right amount of sheep. I might need pyjama bottoms with dogs now, i suppose.


Sorry for not taking any pictures during the process of making it. I just assembled it.
1. Match shoulder seams. Sew.
2. Insert sleeves, Make sure front part of the sleeve is in the right place.
3. Close sleeve seam and side seam.
4. Insert neckline binding.
5. Hem sleeves and bottom.
6. Iron carefully.
Finish.

  Here's the resulting pattern and shirt though.

Actually I think the shirt fits better in real life than on this picture.
Less wrinkles around the chest.

see the wrinkles in the back -> not adapted for sway back. I can feel another muslin coming...
(And also quoting The Fast Show: "Does my bum look big in this?")

Below you will also find the description and drawing for drafting this shirt. Don't be put of by the instructions, you'll end up with you own personal shirt pattern.

Enjoy! Bah! Bah! Baaaah!

How to draft your own jersey shirt pdf

If you have questions, leave a comment!

On fitting t-shirts for FBA (I don't really need FBA, but it is interesting anyway and maybe you want to try this out!)

http://www.jenniferlaurenvintage.com/2014/06/how-to-do-full-bust-adjustment-fba-for.html
https://www.mariadenmark.com/2012/08/fitting-t-shirt-fba/
http://www.mariadenmark.com/2014/10/removing-bust-darts/

Pattern drafting and sewing tutorials

This is a German video by a very talented lady who is also drafting her own patterns. I think she is explaining it very well and I also really like her style.

Kleider für Julia - by Andreia

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIErcwywBwlUO55fvv8c8XA

I'm a fan - more sewing and pattern drafting!

Although I've not been sewing a great lot recently, and didn't really make a lot of progress with the pattern drafting (non whatsoever...), I've been researching patternmaking and stuff. Dreaming sort of... And in this lovely blog -> Sewing galaxy (german and russian) I came across this lady, and it's just great. I love looking at what she's doing (because of the kids I am mainly watching on mute...)

 Looks at this!

The Channel of Paukshte Irina https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_VhfmP15VMjJhha5TRtTPQ

Try out her "no pattern 10 min summer dress" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M0VwfF7r1A 

If you know russian, go to her russian channel (or learn from watching only...)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClFZNw1KA_yLcNHMWFgab1A