A quick and colourful result

Sometimes you just need a quick and simple make. Especially when you have that "I want something new to wear tonight" feeling at around lunchtime.

So I whipped up this colourful skirt. Took no time at all. Just take one metre of cotton sateen, one centre back seam and an elastic waist and you have a bright, colourful skirt in no time at all. There are a million tutorials available if you want to make one yourself.

I was fortunate to just be able to use the selvedge at the centre back seam so didn't even need to finish the seams.

I machine hemmed it with two rows of grey thread. I find that two rows looks more intentional and therefore more finished than one sometimes.

And in case you were wondering a matching vodka is optional, although I do find it makes the photo taking a little easier to bear. I recommend pomegranate juice for a nice reddish pink hue.

Of course now I really need to make some tops to go with it. I don't have any other solid coloured tops and I'm not a print matching kind of girl. And this old RTW top is now enormous.

I think I might need to keep an eye out for some more colourful cotton sateens. But perhaps after I've made a couple of tops to go with this one.

To cowl or not to cowl?

That is the question. I've made M6604 twice now. The first time I ended up with bewbsmiles...

M6604

As someone else said, "It is too tight but with too much excess fabric at the same time". (Sorry don't know who said it but from now on I will try to remember to save these posts to refer to later.)

But I did think it was worth another try. So then I made version two.

M6604

Unfortunately I made this a while ago and now can't remember exactly what alterations I made. I think I cheated by just adding to the centre front thinking that I could then take in the extra in the neckline tucks.

While this has largely solved the bewbsmile issue, there is now too much fabric around the shoulders.

Now I realise that I probably have to do an FBA. Which is fine and I probably will make another with one at some stage. But I would really like to try the cowl neck  version.

But given the fit issues I've already encountered I'm not even sure what size to start with. The first version started at 20 then down to 18. The second is an altered 18. I also cannot get my head around trying to do any sort of FBA on a cowl.

So any ideas? Have you made M6604? How did you go? Any and all thoughts or suggestions are very welcome.

It's not you. It is the pattern.

Warning: Long (potentially boring) rant to follow. And it doesn't even have pictures.

I've been meaning to write this for a while but didn't quite get around to it. Then Seamstress Erin and I discussed it at length during our fabric shopping in Chiang Mai and I still didn't write about it. And then yesterday I saw a post by someone who discovered that the finished garment measurements on her McCalls jacket pattern were completely inaccurate. Unfortunately, I now can't find this post so if you know who this is, please let me know so that I can credit the author.

I had first read this very interesting thesis a while ago but didn't pay enough attention to the details. It was written by Debra Lee McLendon at North Carolina State University as part of her Master of Science (Textiles). We'll come back to this shortly.

When I was making M6702 I was looking at finished garment measurements, one of which was Hips 142 cm or 56.5". However, 142 cm does not equal 56.5" so one of them has to be wrong. 56.5" is actually 143.5 cm, so if you were to go by the metric measure you are already 1.5 cm out. Then I measured the flat pattern and the finished garment size at the hips is actually 145 cm.

So this prompted me to go back to the thesis. Basically, the author made test garments from fitting shells (Vogue and Butterick) and semi-fitted dresses in both size 10 and size 18. The semi-fitted patterns were from Burda, Butterick (size 10 only), McCalls and New Look.

These garments were then compared to both the pattern companies' stated ease charts and finished garment measurements. This is what it found;

Do finished garment measurements in key areas printed on patterns conform to the 
company ease specifications for each fit category?  Generally, no. 

• None of the three fitting shells met ease requirements in all three areas.  The size 10 Vogue came closest to meeting the required amount in the bust, whereas both brands of the size 18 had too much ease in the bust.  All three patterns had too little ease in the waist and hip.  
• The only brand to meet ease specifications for the semi-fitted category of the size 10 patterns under evaluation was Butterick #5746. 
• None of the brands of the size 18 patterns met the ease specifications for the semi-fitted category. 
• None of the brands evaluated met their finished garment specifications when compared to the tissue measurements. 

I know that you are all thinking "Well, yes, we know they have too much ease."

However, I had always thought of that in relation to what it seems most of us find acceptable. I hadn't really thought about the fact that they do not have the ease they claim to have or should have according to the companies' own specifications. It is also very easy to dismiss what seem to be small differences. After all, half an inch isn't very much. But when a fitting shell has half an inch too much ease in the bust, this is at least a 20% difference.

Do pattern companies really think that give or take 20% here or there is ok?

Now just have a quick look at the last point from the thesis above. That's right, the one that says
None of the brands evaluated met their finished garment specifications when compared to the tissue measurements.

We can argue about ease amounts, after all desirable ease and the fit it provides is subjective. But now we are talking about accuracy. As the author states, the tissue pattern measurements on all brands failed to match the finished garment specs for both the bust and hip.

That's right, not one of the patterns researched had accurate finished garment measurements.

The author concluded with this, Based on the data, it would not be possible to produce a garment from any of the patterns that matched the expected finished garment specs provided on the patterns.

How is this considered acceptable? How have we come to accept that patterns just are inaccurate? 

I must admit that I fear an avalanche of "that is why you need to make a muslin" responses. But surely a muslin should be to tweak a pattern to our unique bodies not to compensate for the fact that the initial pattern is just plain wrong?

I'd love to know what you think.

Style Arc Barb Pants Round 1

This is quite a long post with some very dodgy photos and way too many of my bum - you have been warned!

Well, these have been a very long time in the blogging. Once again (as always) photographs were the stumbling block. Someone recently (sorry but can't remember who) mentioned that they often like garments better after having seen the pics and blogged them. I'm afraid that I am completely the opposite. The pants to follow are a very good example. I made them, wore them, was quite happy with them and then I saw the photos and went "Oh, they don't look like they fit nearly as well as they feel like they fit". I think that this is exacerbated by the fact that I have never seen close up views of me in RTW pants. And these makes certainly fit better than any RTW that I've had recently.

But on to the Barbs. I got this pattern free and you can too by signing up for their newsletter here.

According to their size charts I am between 16 and 18 in the hips but a 20 in the waist. Fortunately for this promo you receive the size requested plus one size either side. I ordered the size 18 and received 16, 18 and 20.

So I made a first hopefully wearable muslin using a size 16 for the back and size 18 for the front. FYI I have comparatively small hips and a very flat bum. I used some very bright red cotton spandex. Which is fabulous fabric by the way, although very bright as you can see.

So this is the back of the size 16 with no alterations. As you can see, there is clearly too much fabric at the top of the thighs. The front in an 18 was also too big. I have taken these apart to recut in a smaller size.

I then made another pair using size 16 both back and front using fairly light stretch denim. I made a flat bottom adjustment using Style Arc's tutorial. I also took 1 cm out of the front crotch depth based one the many tutorials I found. I really can't remember which one I finally used.

Sorry, it's hard to see details with dark colours but obviously they still need to have more fabric removed under my bum. And there's still too much fabric in the crotch as well. However, these are in high wardrobe rotation and are very comfortable. And are usually only seen with a shirt out over them like this.

So then I made version 3 out of the same denim but decided to go for a capri length. I did another flat bottom adjustment (so I took out about 3 cm altogether) and took another 1 cm from the front crotch. I also basically removed the hip curve entirely and took a couple of centimetres off the outside leg seam.

And there is still excess fabric. However, again these are in high rotation and very comfortable. Note that I was not/am not looking for a really close fit as it is much cooler in really hot, humid weather to have a slightly looser fit.

This is also cheap stretch denim and doesn't have great recovery, hence the bagging at the knees. And boy that top is too big and doesn't have enough drape. But that's a story for another day.

I have since also made a pair of jeans using the size 16 Barb with yet more adjustments. So hopefully you'll see those soon. I also now have the pattern in a size 14, which is probably what I should have started with! In fact this experience (and a few other things) distracted me while I did some research into pattern sizing, finished garment sizes and the information provided regarding choosing sizes. What I discovered quite surprised me. I hope to post that in the next day or two and I will be really interested in everyone else's views on that.

Well done for getting to the end of that. Your turn now. Have you tried Barbs? How did you get on?

Not a complete loss

Some of you may remember that I was going to make this

I thought the Tessuti Pia was going to be a relatively straightforward sew. Silly me.

You see in my initial enthusiasm I somehow completely misread the sizing information. The XL has the following measurements; Bust 101 cm, Waist 89 cm, Hip 117 cm.

Ok the waist is too small but I didn't think that would be a problem due to the shape - and it wasn't. And the hip is pretty spot on. But my bust measurement is actually 116 cm. Not a great increase on the 110 cm that I read the pattern as. But a significant increase from the actual 101 cm.

So needless to say my first wearable muslin didn't quite fit - although I think it is salvageable. And I do want to salvage it as I really like the fabric. Actually I was (and am) embarrassed to discover that it is actually a cheap knockoff of this

On Walkabout by Karen Taylor

Which led me to have a closer look at some of the truly amazing Australian Aboriginal print fabric available.

I am actually not that fond of prints - largely because I usually find it so difficult to find ones that I like. I don't like florals or novelty prints. I do like strong, geometric prints. Boy do these aboriginal designs fit the bill. Check these out

So I am now going to order myself some of these fantastic fabrics. You can find them at

Fabrics Downunder

Kullillaart

Aboriginal Fabrics

And for those of us outside of Australia

Fabrics and art which by the way has flat rate international shipping of only $23.95 for up to 9 yards (and really good prices on this fabric).


So the Pia dress has been temporarily shelved while I contemplate the fitting issues. But it has opened my eyes to the wonder of Aboriginal print fabrics so it hasn't been a total loss.

Have you ever used Aboriginal print fabrics? Or are you now tempted? If you have, please leave links in the comments as I'd love to have a look.