Lessons learned the hard way

It's a good thing we can learn from our mistakes, because I've learned quite a few things in the last week.

Lesson 1  Photos can be/are deceiving
I had been seeking advice from Glenda by posting my work in progress photos and waiting for her feedback.  A lot of her feedback was helpful, but there were just some things she was seeing in the photos that I wasn't seeing in mirror.  The major one was, she said I had a flat derriere and need to make the adjustment for that. If you see me in real life you'd know I do not have a flat derriere, it protrudes out from my low back quite noticeably.  I'm not saying I have a Kim Kardashian backside, but there's more there than I would like and you don't really see it in the photos.

Lesson 2 Check the width of the fabric before you buy
Because I drafted my own pattern, I wasn't exactly sure how much fabric to buy.  I guesstimated based on how much muslin I used, but didn't take into account the pocket pieces or waistband and was able to get by with 3 1/2 yards.  So to be one the safe side I bought 4 yards of twill thinking I'd have enough, but it wasn't until I started laying the pieces out that I realized I bought 44" wide fabric instead of 58", which meant I had to cut each piece individually and when I got to the last piece I was short on fabric.  So back to the store, where I bought more than I needed in case I made anymore stupid mistakes.  I have enough left over to make myself a pair of shorts.  If only I wore shorts.


Lesson 3 Measure twice, cut once
This lesson doesn't just apply to carpentry.  Even though I thought I took meticulous measurements, I ended up cutting the front pieces about an inch longer than the back pieces.  Wasn't a huge deal, since they were going to be carpris, so I just cut the extra inch off to even them up. '

Lesson 4 Don't wait until end to try it on
I was so excited to finish as I was getting closer to end that I skipped trying them on; figureing I had made all the nessicary adjustments on the muslin.  I had put a dart in the center back seam like Glenda suggested, but once I got the waistband on and then tried them on, that dart pulled the waistband down to far and a good deal of my underwear showed.  If I had put a waistband on the muslin or at least tried them on before sewing the waistband in, I might have caught this problem that before I finished sewing and saved myself the time to rip the waistband out and re-cut another one because I put in on wrong in the first place.

Lesson 5 Double check your measurements
This one is very similar to lesson 3 and as I found out today, after doing the waistband the second time, my husband measured me wrong.  He measured my waist to be 3-4 inches bigger than it really is, so not only is the waist band to big that pants are to big.

Although I had my issues sewing these pants, overall I'd say it was mostly successfull.  I think I can fix the waistband issue with a drawstring on the inside to make them wearable and they are a better fit than anything in my closet and much better than the last pair I tried to sew from a real pattern.  I'm working on a new design and will be sure to make the measurement changes on the new pattern.

Sweater update

I started this sweater in November.  I'm getting closer to finishing and it's beautiful, but now I'm getting worried.  I forgot to take into account how much the cables in the back would pull in; and now I'm worried it won't fit.  As you can see from this pic that it's very form fitting, which isn't what I was going for, but I'm to far into it to frog and start over.  I'm hoping that it will stretch sideways once I get it done otherwise I may not be able to button it.  I think I might have to put a wide button band on it and that might not even help.  If I stretch it I can get it closed over my chest, but my hips are another matter.  Oh what to do?

Doing some fine tuning

Front view after shorting the crotch

Back view after shorting the crotch and adding a dart at the center back

 I was pretty happy with my pants before, but I has some questions so I contacted Glenda and she offered some advice to help them fit a little better.  First off I was having issues with the crotch.  As I mentioned before something was off and I couldn't figure out what.  After lots of staring in the mirror, and driving my daughter up the wall because I was in her room and wouldn't leave, I realized the crotch was to low.  So back to the drafting table I went and spend most of the afternoon trying to figure out how to fix it with out having to draft a new pattern and cut more fabric.

Contemplating the complexities of crotch seams

In the end I think I did figure it out and changed the pattern.  The tough part was figuring out how to change the muslin without cutting anything, in case it didn't work.

Another change Glenda suggested was to add a dart at the center back seam, because the waistband was gaping.  So I did that and it brought the back waistband in to fit better.  I'm happy, but then again I don't really know what a good fit is, so I'm waiting for Glenda's feedback.  The only other thing I can see that I need to change is tapering the leg a little.  They're a little to wide for my liking.

Update:  Got an email from Glenda.  She said these were fitting much better.  There's some pulling in the high hip area, so I might need to take the seam out just a little.  She agreed about tapering the legs, but said they might hang totally smooth if I don't correct the pulling, but over all I have a fairly good fit.

It worked

My first muslin using Sure Fit Designs

Last week I sat down and worked on extending my Sure Fit master pants pattern by a few sizes, and drew up my very first personal pattern.  Then I got busy toward the end of the week and didn't have time sew anything until this week.  I sewed these together on Tue and then realized I had cut the back pieces 2 inches to short so they didn't match up.  I got some more fabric today and fixed it.  Consider these a rough draft, there's no waistband and they're way to thin to actually wear, unless I used them for a lining, but I'm very happy.  I have a little tweaking to do.  I can't quite figure it out, but there's some funny shaping going on in the crotch (which you can't see, but I still want to fix it) and the legs feel a little wide, but other than that I think they fit great.  I can't wait to get started on a pair of capri pants for this summer.  I'm already bouncing around design ideas for future pairs of pants.

Duct Tape Dress Form

I finally got Hubby to stick around home long enough to tape me up.  It's not pretty, and not really the shape thought it would be.  I was a little surprised to see my belly sticks out farther than I thought it did, but I also was surprised to see that my chest isn't as big as I thought it was.

Before we started this, I read countless websites and watched a lot of  YouTube videos on how to make a duct tape dummy.  I even consulted a few people who had made one before, looking for tips.  And one of the things that kept coming back to me was how hot it was going to be under all the tape.  And that made me a little nervous; but really it wasn't that bad.  We did this in the middle of January and usually keep the house fairly cool during the day.  We did 3 layers of tape and Hubby was sweating more from doing the taping.  I was comfortable.  In fact, and I know might sound weird, being taped up like that was actually kind of comforting, like a full body hug, although I wouldn't want to wear it all day.

Really the only uncomfortable part was having my arms taped.  I think he got a little to tight around my left arm because I could feel it starting to tingle towards the end.  Cutting it off was a little harry too because I was worried he'd snip me with the razor-sharp scissors, so I sucked in everything I could to give him room to maneuver the scissors.

Dress form before stuffing

Now I just need to stuff it.  Which is another thing I did a lot of research on.  Some fill theirs with polyfil, some with newspaper, some with fabric scraps.  These are fine if you're a tiny person.  It would take maybe 3 bags of polyfil for a tiny person; but tiny is something I'm not, and I figured it would take a lot of poyfil to fill to stuff mine.  Not to mention the shifting and settling after awhile.  I  even thought about expanding foam, but I wasn't sure how well that would work or where to get it.  I did find a few websites that sold the stuff, but couldn't afford to have it fail.

Then on one of my knitting boards somebody suggested using something for a solid core and then add stuffing around that to fill in the gaps.  That sounded like a great idea, but what to use?  It hit me, Styrofoam.  It's lightweight, easy to shape, and fairly cheap.  I picked up a sheet at the home improvement store for $6.  My original thought was to cut it into  4 strips and stack them on top of each other giving me a 6" block for the core.  Turns out I didn't need the whole thing.  I started by cutting the Styrofoam the width of my hips since they are the widest part of my body and rounded the tops to fit my shoulders.  I shoved 2 pieces in as far as I could and then broke up a few other pieces to fit where needed and stuffed newspaper fill in the rest and taped up bottom.  Now that it's all stuffed and closed up, I see a few spots where it could use a little more stuffing.  I'll fix that with expanding spray foam (the kind used for insulation).  I'll cut a small hole, spray the foam in and tape it over when it drys.  Walla, my very own dress form.

Stuffing the dress form with styrofoam and newspaper

Finding the perfect fit: The next chapter

So my Sure Fit kit came yesterday and I'm very excited to try it out.  But first I need to extend the measurements a little, because I'm slightly larger than the master pattern.  This shouldn't be a problem because Glenda has some videos on how to extend the master, and it looks fairly easy just a little time consuming.

I live in capri pants during the summer and with Fashion Bug closing, it's getting harder to find ones I like.  A few years ago I found the perfect pair of capris, and I should have bought all of them in my size, because I wore those pants just about everyday, until they finally wore out.  I'm hoping with this Sure Fit kit I can make my own perfect capris in a multitude of  colors.

Another thing I'm doing to find the perfect fit; and you can call me crazy, but I've decided to make myself a duct tape dress form.  I'm hoping to be able to use it to help me with fitting the sweaters I knit and  once I master pants maybe I'll venture into sewing tops for myself.

I'm on a quest for the perfect pair of pants

I have an new obsession. Pants, or more so sewing pants, and even more so sewing the perfect pair of pants for me.

Over Christmas, I made a few pairs of toddler jeans for the shop.  They're really cute.  It inspired me to pull out the pattern and fabric I bought several years ago with the intention to make myself a pair of capris. The pieces were already cut, I just had to sew them together, but my fear that they weren't going to fit, kept me from finishing them, and they got put in a drawer and forgotten about.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I pulled them out and spent the last 2 days sewing them together.  Like I feared they don't fit quite right, there's some areas where it needs modified.  I started searching for tutorial on how to make pattern adjustments and found many, but I'm sure which adjustments I need to make.

I tried taking a pair of pants that fit well and compared them to the pattern pieces, but that didn't seem to help at all; since the pattern pieces were much wider than the pants and the main problem was the finished pants made from the pattern were to tight and I even used a smaller seam allowance than it called for.

Then I tried tracing the pattern and adding a few inches to the sides, but I'm not really sure that's going to help because my problem areas are my butt and lower belly; and I really don't need any extra room in the waist.  I haven't sewn them together yet to try it, I'm a little scared to.

Then I ran across a website called Sure Fit Designs.  It's suppose to give you a master pattern made to your body based on your measurements.  It's a little pricy, but after watching a few videos, I decided to give it a try, because I have yet to find any commercial patterns in my size range that I'm happy with.  So we'll see what happens.  If nothing else I could use it to draft patterns for my daughter, although finding patterns that fit her really isn't a problem.

So my quest has begun.  Finding the perfect fit.