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From: dopey
Date: 09-26-2003, 03:20 AM (1 of 8)
 Hello Everyone, I am hoping that someone can help me with this. I am 5' 8" tall. Not much bust but oh those hips. I find that some of the blouses and slacks have so much ease in both bust and hip area. Can someone tell me what would be considered a normal amount of ease. I had a friend take all of my measurements. Purchased a blouse pattern but my goodness with the amount of ease that was in the blouse I ended up looking like I was wearing a tent. The problem is that one can't take the instructions sheets or pattern out of the envelope (I understand why) and the finished bust or hip size is very rarely on the pattern. I am larger on the right side of my body than on the left so have to make two sides of any pattern I get. So, I don't want anything to tight either. Any help would be appreciated.Dorothy Dorothy
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User: dopey
Member since: 08-12-2000 Total posts: 6 |
From: jcook
Date: 09-26-2003, 12:10 PM (2 of 8)
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That is such a problem! All they give us are some not very accurate drawings to judge sizing and fit from. In addition, once in a while they'll give us something like loose-fitting in the garment description. That is why I went to tracing off Burda magazine patterns. I like the fit and at around $5 subscription price, it pays for itself even if you use it only once. I no longer get the subscription because I have a few years worth already and there are more than enough basics for me to choose from. There are probably other pattern magazines out there that I don't know about too. If that is not a route you want to try, buy a different pattern brand next time. I like the Vogue designer patterns and look for basics that I know I'll use over and over, and I get them on sale. I have heard another one is better with this information but can't remember if it's Butterick or Mccalls. I wish I could help you out more but technical knowledge just doesn't stay in this head! Jill |
User: jcook
Member since: 08-16-2000 Total posts: 50 |
From: habanerohutch
Date: 09-26-2003, 12:47 PM (3 of 8)
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Dorothy, Ease is a very subjective thing. My mom does not want her clothes to "touch" her, so she rejects some very nicely fitted garmets. For my taste, "You plus two" is fine in the hips, but with only 2" of ease in the bust I feel like street-walker. I want a minimum of 4" in the bust. I buy a pattern always by high bust measurement to get a better fit in the critical area of the shoulders and neckline. Everything hangs from there and a good fit is essential. Then everything below the middle of the armscye is "negotiable." If the top is to be worn outside the jeans, it needs to have enough ease to go around hips and jeans together, so I would measure with clothes on, and add a couple inches more. If it's to be worn tucked in, measure just over the undies and add 2". If you have any garments that do fit as you wish, measure the actual garments at bust and hip. If they measure, say 6" larger than your actual body,that will tell you that you like 6" of ease. Then flat pattern measure the actual tissue pattern (the printed "finished" measure is not always true) and decide whether to accept the ease the designer included or to change it. We are not obligated to accept the amount of ease the designer included. We can change that to suit ourselves. Lala Chile Pepper from Texas
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User: habanerohutch
Member since: 07-01-2000 Total posts: 49 |
From: dopey
Date: 09-26-2003, 10:05 PM (4 of 8)
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Jill and LaLa, thankyou so much for your help. Jill I have always been a bit afraid of Burda and Vogue. Are they for really experienced sewers. I am told that my sewing is excellent and friends wonder why I get so frustrated. It is the fitting with this body of mine that gives me problems. Besides being a different size on the right and left size of my body, I have a concave chest. Really concave!!! I was thrilled to see that Sew News had an article on this problem. I haven't had a chance to try it yet as we have remodelled our home and added a new living room. I have made wall to wall drapes and curtains for every window in the house. It took me quite awhile because I manage to do a lot of dumb things. I am on the last leg now just one more window and that's finished. Not my favourite kind of sewing but it sure saved a lot of money. I am kind of pleased now even though I did throw something in my sewing room at one point. Ok, back to patterns. Jill I am going bite the bullet and buy some Burda patterns. I haven't heard anything about the $5 subscription price and will be looking into that. LaLa I wanted to ask you about the high bust measurment. I think this is what happened in the blouse that I was referring too when I said that it looked like a tent. My high bust measurement is 35". Full bust is 40". Now that is mostly back not bust. Darn!! My hips are really big 46". I wouldn't be tucking the blouse in only if I wear a vest. Mostly I wear blouses out as my body is crooked. My question now is by using the high bust measurment will this mean I will have a lot of adding on to the hip pattern, and I also have broad shoulders would that then be another alteration? . How much do you think could be added to the hips without losing the design? Does this make any sense to you? I have all kinds of books on altering but I can't find me in them. I have one dress that is a princess line and it fits beautifully. I was wondering about a blouse with this same line. I love sewing, but it's the fitting that is driving me crazy. I must tell you this, I can't stand for long periods of time. I have a super high cutting table. My husband asked me why he couldn't do the tracing and help me with the pattern alterations. He said that I could just tell him what to do. He is retired now and said he feels that between the two of us we can do the altering. I thought that was pretty neat. Sorry to load you down with questions but you sound like you really know what you are doing. Thankyou again ladies. I have printed out your suggestions. This is just super. Dorothy Dorothy
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User: dopey
Member since: 08-12-2000 Total posts: 6 |
From: lovemyfabric
Date: 09-27-2003, 08:15 AM (5 of 8)
| I like making clothes with princess seams, because you can easily make something bigger or smaller. You have more seams to work with. You should try a blouse with princess seams, or what about a bias cut blouse? They drape nice. |
User: lovemyfabric
Member since: 06-06-2003 Total posts: 126 
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From: jcook
Date: 09-27-2003, 01:54 PM (6 of 8)
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Dorothy, The $5 subsciption is an approximate figure (US funds) for a magazine. Do you have any Border's bookstores by you or is that just a US chain? That is where I find them. Otherwise, I can try to find a link to order a subscription, let me know. Burda is a german publication that is done in many different languages so I don't know if you have other places locally that may be able to help you. Another thing you might want to consider is making a Duct-tape Double. I did one a few years ago and it worked out well, I need to do another one. I found the instructions then at <email address removed for privacy> let me know if this still works. Okay, I just checked this and it is only her email link but I guess you could email her and find out what her website is if you're interested. Basically, you use a couple of old tshirts and have someone wrap you with duct tape or the paper packing tape that you wet to use. The other person cuts up the back of the thing to get it off of you. You then tape the cut back together, stuff the lady and you can use the spray foam insulation in a can. There is more to it than that but you wind up with a duplicate of yourself that you can use to fit your patterns and garments to. It is very helpful for fitting. Just another idea I had! Jill PS. I'm with you on the curtains! They are done so much cheaper at home but oh, those long seams and I don't even want to touch sheers! |
User: jcook
Member since: 08-16-2000 Total posts: 50 |
From: habanerohutch
Date: 09-27-2003, 07:32 PM (7 of 8)
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Dorothy, If I had a princess dress that fit well, I would take a pattern from it and use that for a top. There have been articles about how to do that in Threads, and a couple of whole books on the subject. The books are so similarly titled, it is easy to mix them up. One is "Patterns from Finished clothes" and the other is "Making Patterns from Finished Clothes." I am thinking the author of the better book is a Tracy Doyle. Yes, when you buy the pattern for the high bust, you always have a lot of altering to do from the armscye down. In you case, you would use a pattern intended for a 36" bust, knowing that you would have to add 4" at the real bust level and 10" at the hip. If you only have the 2 side seams to work with, you would have to add 1" to each side seam at the bust level and 2 1/2" to each seam at the hip level. YOu would have to add the 1" to each side of the sleeve seam, too. With multi=sized patterns, you can just start smaller at the top and blend into the appropriate size for each body area. Or with princess seams you would have 4 extra seams to use and each adjustment would be smaller. Do you have Fit for Real People? That is the book I use the most for fit issues. It covers hollow chest, pear shape, asymetrical bodies, everything. I also like Gayle Grigg Hazen's book Fantastic Fit for Every Body. Lala Chile Pepper from Texas
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User: habanerohutch
Member since: 07-01-2000 Total posts: 49 |
From: dopey
Date: 09-29-2003, 01:24 AM (8 of 8)
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Hello Ladies, I don't know how I can thankyou. All of the suggestions that you have given me are great. I am going to my favourite Fabric Shop this week. Ted the owner carries Burda. If anyone will know about the $5 subscription he will. Jill, my daughter in law and I were at one of the big Sewing Seminars in Toronto a few years ago. A lady who was a rep for a big Canadian designer was demonstrating how to make a dress form. (I don't want to mention the owners name) My daughter in law phoned the next day and said that she and my son were going to have the dress form made for me. If was quite the thing. I felt terrible because it cost a fortune and I was never able to use it. It was so big. The company said there was nothing wrong with it but honestly my sewing friends and I measured it over and over again and it sure wasn't my size. I really think that the best thing for me to do is to get a princess line dress pattern. I am sure I have one. I went through my blouse patterns today and I do have a princess line blouse. I think it is the only way to go because of the number of seams, I will still have to make two side but with my hubby's help with tracing it won't be a big problem. Lala I like the sound of the book "Fit for Real People". I have so many fitting books and have made my mind up that I am going to really go through them carefully again and pay attention. I do have the book "Fantastic Fit for Every Body." I have't looked at it in ages but will give it a whirl again. I think when I got a lot of my fitting books I just wasn't ready for them and got discouraged. I made the mistake of getting patterns that needed a lot of fitting which at the time I wasn't ready for. Jill, I have to tell you the sheers that I am making aren't long, but they still have been difficult to handle because of the width. We have a bit of land so that when we decided to add a new living room we both wanted it with one particular view that we both love. We have windows on three walls so that where ever we look we have a lovely view. I am telling you all of this because that is why when I mentioned window covering my husband just about had a fit. He thought I was going to cover all of the windows. I promised him he would be able to see our view. I had 70 ft. width of sheers to sew. I have two walls completed now and this is what I did. I was having so much trouble with the material shifting around, never had so much trouble with a material before. So I ended up starching the edges really well, then I added a partial-lining. By this I mean I lined just below where the wide rod was going. It worked and it doesn't show. Tomorrow I start on the 3rd window. I also made french seams. It's funny because when one looks at them it looks like they are the easiest thing to make and they are, as long as the material behaves itself. I have the Janome 10000 and used the walking foot but the spray starch and the lining did the trick. Is it ok to pat myself on the back. They do look lovely. So now I have met one of my ambitions in life and that was to make all of the wall to wall drapes and curtains in our home. Don't ask me why it was an ambition it just was. After the last curtain is made and before I start on my clothes I am going to make some fun things ie: embroidered cushions, paper pieced cushions, quilted, appliqued, etc. Actually, a lot of the work can be done in the evening when I am sitting with my husband. I can hardly wait to start using the embroidery part of my machine. I have played around with it and it sure is something. I kept my Pfaff 1473 (still love that machine) so that when my Janome is busy embroiderying I can sew on my Pfaff. Thanks so much to all of you. I just never thought I would get so much help. I will let you all know how I make out. Dorothy Dorothy
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User: dopey
Member since: 08-12-2000 Total posts: 6 |
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