- Thread starter
- #21
pattern sizing
- Thread starter abifae
- Start date
Bubblingbrooks
Made in Alaska
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2010
- Messages
- 3,893
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 139
Well then. Chuck that patter in the trash and never buy anotherabifae said:TV shows are great as long as I already know it. Like, I could watch a show on ganache and learn from it because I can already make a ganache.Bubblingbrooks said:
Yeh. I get ease, well not how much is needed, but the basics. What confused me is the pattern size that fits is SMALLER than I am, per measurements. By a LOT. lol.
I can't figure out where to even START on a dummy. I bought a book but I don't understand it at all.It's a really good book too. If a person could read and stuff.
I might give up and do a duct tape dummy. It isn't as good as doing one from sewing blocks because you compress the body so much in it. But I guess I'll have to.
I tried school and it was an epic failure. I gave up on that concept entirely. I don't know how to find individual classes, though. I don't know why I keep trying. I'm kind of sick of it all. I haven't had anything turn out the way I like in years.
I can't measure. I think that's part of it. My geometry teacher said I had to be bending reality as I went because there was no reason for the things that happen with me and measurements LOL.
Also, I rip the stupid tissue paper patterns to shreds. When I do my own, it's drawn straight on muslin with all the important fitting lines drawn in so I can make it match up.
Sewing is really bad for me. I don't feel like I'm good at anything when I sew. I get depressed and suicidal. LOL. But it is sooo much better than SHOPPING for clothing. I'd rather set fire to all my patterns and give up and just wear jammie pants than go shopping
Can Imooto help you with the form?
I really think a form would be your saving grace.
- Thread starter
- #23
Abi, I really don't know how to advise you; your frustration with the process is so very evident in what you have written. Is there any way for you to find a seamstress/mentor in your area who could show you what you want to learn?
However, having seen the pictures of that really very nice dress that you made some time ago, I have to say that you do know how, you just need guidance.
We all have our own ways of learnng; I, for instance, need something visual - either pictures or a well written description. Telling me often doesn't work. As my DH's way of teaching is mainly verbal we have troubles sometimes with how he teaches and how I learn
However, having seen the pictures of that really very nice dress that you made some time ago, I have to say that you do know how, you just need guidance.
We all have our own ways of learnng; I, for instance, need something visual - either pictures or a well written description. Telling me often doesn't work. As my DH's way of teaching is mainly verbal we have troubles sometimes with how he teaches and how I learn
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
Yup, it sounds like a class or even if you could scrape up money for a few private lessons (ask local independant dressmakers) might be the way to go, not just so you could get hands-on instruction but so that you could get help constructing a sloper (sort of a generic personalized-to-your-body basic universal pattern, which you can then change in all various ways to make all various different particular garments of your own design). If you could come up with a good fitting sloper for you, then you can mess with it at will (however your design whims take you) and be reasonably assured of the result fitting. As opposed to playing commercial pattern roulette or having to tweak and alter commercial patterns.
There also may well be BETTER books out there that WOULD ring a bell for you. I have got a lot of use from _Fitting Finesse_ by Nancy Zieman and _Make It Your Own_ by Lori Bottom and Ronda Chaney; but a quick Amazon search for "altering patterns" shows a bunch of books that may be as good or better.
I will tell you, I once worked my way through some book or another making a custom-fit pants muslin pattern. Oh my GOSH I hated doing that, it kept coming out wrong and was very frustrating... BUT at the end, after a couple weeks of off again on again hard work and quite a lot of good new swear words, I emerged with a pants sloper that darnit fit me PERFECT. I made several WONDERFUL pairs of pants out of it. Then of course I forgot about it and when it next resurfaced about ten years later I was no longer even remotely the same size or shape LOL But still, I would say it was *well* worth the aggravation, especially would've been worthwhile had I made more pants out of it.
(And fitted pants are the toughest -- tops and dresses are much much easier to make a sloper for)
Alternatively you if you have a somewhat generically-designed commercial pattern that you've used and are real happy with the fit of, you can treat that sort of as a sloper and just modify from there. You will probably have some educational moments if you are freelancing modifications to that pattern, such as when I learned *why* knit shirts with low necklines typically still have a high neck in back (because otherwise they fall off your shoulders and you experience Wardrobe Malfunction, is why!
) but by and large you can do quite a lot just by minor tweaks and twists on a pattern you like.
Pat
There also may well be BETTER books out there that WOULD ring a bell for you. I have got a lot of use from _Fitting Finesse_ by Nancy Zieman and _Make It Your Own_ by Lori Bottom and Ronda Chaney; but a quick Amazon search for "altering patterns" shows a bunch of books that may be as good or better.
I will tell you, I once worked my way through some book or another making a custom-fit pants muslin pattern. Oh my GOSH I hated doing that, it kept coming out wrong and was very frustrating... BUT at the end, after a couple weeks of off again on again hard work and quite a lot of good new swear words, I emerged with a pants sloper that darnit fit me PERFECT. I made several WONDERFUL pairs of pants out of it. Then of course I forgot about it and when it next resurfaced about ten years later I was no longer even remotely the same size or shape LOL But still, I would say it was *well* worth the aggravation, especially would've been worthwhile had I made more pants out of it.
(And fitted pants are the toughest -- tops and dresses are much much easier to make a sloper for)
Alternatively you if you have a somewhat generically-designed commercial pattern that you've used and are real happy with the fit of, you can treat that sort of as a sloper and just modify from there. You will probably have some educational moments if you are freelancing modifications to that pattern, such as when I learned *why* knit shirts with low necklines typically still have a high neck in back (because otherwise they fall off your shoulders and you experience Wardrobe Malfunction, is why!
) but by and large you can do quite a lot just by minor tweaks and twists on a pattern you like.Pat
freemotion
Food Guru
I say find something in your wardrobe that fits well and flatters you, and find a pattern that has similar basics. Get one that is very, VERRRY simple, not lots of pieces and lots of darts, pockets, plackets, etc. Use the garment as a guide to putting the pattern together. I can figure the instructions out better if I can look at something already made. Or use youtube to learn basics instead of the pattern instructions for each new skill.
Once you have the pattern basics down, you can use the basic pattern to design almost anything you want. I suspect your mind will work better this way. I use the pattern instructions as a guide to the order of steps, and I barely read the instructions, I just look at the pictures. Of course, now I know the basic steps to, say, make a dart or put in an invisible zipper. So I don't need to read about it. The instructions are so confusing. Very left-brain, while sewing is very right-brain.
Yep, a dress form will help, but cover the duct tape with something that you can pin onto, like quilt batting, maybe? Just guessing. I bought one years ago at Joann's. It doesn't work for pants, though.
Once you have the pattern basics down, you can use the basic pattern to design almost anything you want. I suspect your mind will work better this way. I use the pattern instructions as a guide to the order of steps, and I barely read the instructions, I just look at the pictures. Of course, now I know the basic steps to, say, make a dart or put in an invisible zipper. So I don't need to read about it. The instructions are so confusing. Very left-brain, while sewing is very right-brain.
Yep, a dress form will help, but cover the duct tape with something that you can pin onto, like quilt batting, maybe? Just guessing. I bought one years ago at Joann's. It doesn't work for pants, though.
- Thread starter
- #27
Wifezilla
Low-Carb Queen - RIP: 1963-2021
Yes, we do need to make a duct tape form.
As for bending reality...
I think that is the problem. Abi, being from another dimension and all does cause a reality warpage where ever she goes
The weird thing is she gets math but the real world measurements never work out. I don't get math on a lot of things but I can make shapes fit by totally ignoring that numbers exist.
As for bending reality...
I think that is the problem. Abi, being from another dimension and all does cause a reality warpage where ever she goes The weird thing is she gets math but the real world measurements never work out. I don't get math on a lot of things but I can make shapes fit by totally ignoring that numbers exist.
- Thread starter
- #29
- Thread starter
- #30
