Lost in Transit

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I’m not a happy bunny today. Fabrics I ordered for my sloper fitting (and more) have gone MIA (Missing In Action).

And you know how I feel about fabrics. At work I was asked to introduce myself to a new team and one of the questions was your “interests / hobbies / what makes you tick.” I was going to write “sewing”. But on further thought, I have to admit’s it’s really “fabrics”.  Selfish as it may seem, if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I think I’d want to be buried with all my unused fabrics. All 200+ pieces of them.

So this order was placed online a month ago with Calico Lane. They looked like a legitimate shop and claimed they’ve sent out part of the order three weeks ago. But fact is I’ve received nothing. And I guess being a small business, they’re not set up to refund me promptly. So I’ll be out of pocket probably for another couple of weeks – they’re waiting for the Post Office to reimburse them before they’re able to reimburse me.

I guess that’s the peril of internet shopping. Time to get my lazy self down to Goldhawk Road or even venture out to Walthamstow for some instant gratification. Cargo Cult Craft has compiled a handy guide to sewing supply shopping in London. And I’ll be checking out Did You Make That’s guide to her favourite fabric shops in Walthamstow as well.

The Siren Call of Tissue Fitting

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The Holy Grail

It seems like I’m not the only one on a quest for the perfect fit with personal slopers.

Frabjous Couture is working on one following Kenneth D King’s Moulage class instructions. Tanit-Isis Sews made one a few months ago using  Winnifred Aldritch’s “Metric Pattern Cutting for Women’s Wear” book. And who can blame them when you see all the fun Petit Main Sauvage has bringing her designs to life using her slopers.

The Odyssey

I’ve attempted many time before. They all seem to fizzle out somehow, leaving a trail of useless fitting muslins behind. You can then understand my reluctance to make a toile for every singe new pattern.

But how else do you get a decent fit? I obviously don’t have the answer, judging from the drag lines on quite a few of my recent makes. But it doesn’t stop me from trying and try again.

The Siren’s Call

So when I bought Palmer / Pletsch’s “Fit For Real People” book on the recommendations of many a Sewist online, I was quite taken with their approach. First of all, FFRP is a great read. So many interesting factoids! I now have more appreciations for the Big 4 even if they don’t deliver me the perfect fit out of the envelope.

Palmer / Pletsch’s approach seem so empowering. A method to fit patterns – any size patterns – so that you’re no longer limited by what the pattern companies can afford to offer. Best of all, very little measuring and no more piles and piles of useless toiles…I’m SOLD on this “Tissue Fitting + Fit-As-You-Sew with Fashion Fabric” approach!

Don’t get me wrong, I will still be making toiles for some projects. Like many have said before, tissue paper doesn’t behave like fabrics. So I don’t see how I can tissue fit a negative-ease knit pattern or a design with some flowy billowy details. Or any of those origami patterns from Vogue pattern’s Donna Karan line!

But then not all fabrics behave the same either.

If you fit with muslin / calico fabric that doesn’t behave the same way as your fashion fabric, you might still end up with garments that look / fit differently than your toile. Hence the appeal of Fit-As-You-Sew step.

Plus I don’t know how you’d handle slash alteration method if you’re working with fabric. You can’t exactly tape fabric together, can you? If your alterations are many I’d imagine you might end up making a few toiles just for one pattern.

Yes, you might have to do that with tissue fitting too. But tissues are easier to recycle. I always feel guilty about throwing away fitting toiles or poorly fitted projects. What DO you do with your toiles afterward?

The other thing I like about Palmer / Pletsch’s approach is that by starting with a Big 4 fitting pattern, I’ll learn how my shape differ from their target shape. That’ll help with altering any patterns from the Big 4 as well as having a basic sloper to create my own designs from.

If I had drafted a pattern from scratch – which I’ve done many times – then I wouldn’t have their target shape as a point of reference. Yes, you can compare a fashion pattern to a self-drafted sloper. But then you might end up altering the design because you won’t know if the difference between your sloper and the pattern is due to the design or differences between your shape and the pattern company’s target shape. (That’s another reason I’m weary of Burda Style patterns. There’s no way to find out what their target shape is now that they seem to have discontinued their fitting pattern.)

All Aboard!

I’m sure there’ll be pit-falls. Theories always sound good. The reality may not always be so rosy. But you can’t knock it until you tried it. And I mean really tried it.

So hop abroad for the ride! I’ll share my trials & errors with you as I go along.

And if you’ve tried the Palmer / Pletsch’s approach, do share your knowledge and wisdom! Tell us your experience in the comments. Link to your blogs or forum postings if you’ve wrote about your experience before.

Burda Style, it’s complicated

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Being formerly American, I’m fairly new to the world of Burda Style magazines. Most of my past pattern purchases have been Vogue Patterns. But since I started lurking on other sewists’ blogs a year ago, I started buying the odd issues. I did consider subscribing, but (A) it’s not any cheaper, and (B) our love affair has not been true and constant. Towards the end of last year there were a few months of love-ups. But recently it’s been mostly blah disappointments.

That’s until the current issue. I saw this picture in the July 2012 issue and I just had to get it:

“But it’s just a simple square top!” I hear you protest. Well yes. I didn’t exactly buy this issue for the patterns. I bought it for the image of this scarf fabric. Because it reminds me of another Restyled Ready-To-Wear in my closet…

Like my newly decorated sewing room, the colors and pattern make me happy.

It’s from Top Shop, a second-hand top I think. There was only one on the rack and it’s made from this 70ish plasticky polyester. I wish the fabric were smooth drapy silk, for the original design might have worked better. As it was, I had to restyled it to avoid looking puffy. Here’s the Before & After diagrams (click on the images to enlarge and see the details):

The alterations:

  1. To create a slimmer silhouette I cut apart the sleeves from the bodice along the original stitching lines. Sewed the front & back side seams I just created about 2/3 way up. Hemmed the remaining part of the slits to create Japanese style kimono sleeves. (See close-up photo below.)
  2. To further slim it down I replaced the elastic gathering at the waist with loops at the waist side seams that pull the extra fullness towards a couple of buttons on the back. (See enlarged After diagram above.)
  3. For a bit of Greco-Roman flair – and that all important extra wearing option – I opened up the shoulder / sleeve top seams part-way to create slits. (See top two photos below.)
  4. Lastly a decorative waist tie thrown in for good measure. A couple of venetian beads weigh these fabric tubes down.

Et Voilà…


I like it too with a couple of shawls for a remotely English Civil War inspired look. In my rather irreverent muddled head anyway.

And back to Burda Style 7/2012…

I’m hoping to track down scarfs like the one used in that series of patterns. Sadly Roeckl, which supplied the ones used in the magazine, doesn’t seem to have that exact pattern anymore.

Anyone has suggestions for where to look?

Older But Not Wiser

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Decades ago, when I was a relative sewing novice, I was much more adventurous with my sewing.

Slapdash Pattern Happy!

I thought nothing of my poor techniques, and happily dabbled with making my own patterns. Like this dress…

Apology for the blurry photos. My Mom wasn’t exactly ace with the camera and this was in the days before digital cameras. So you had to wait for the films to be developed to find out that you got some dud photos!

Note the stiff exposed back zipper. The collar probably wasn’t properly interfaced either. But it was my own design, probably inspired by some magazine photos. And then there’s this one…

What was I thinking of? LOL. My head was in the cloud back then. I don’t even remember making this one. (You know I must love you to share such unflattering photos of myself with you! 😉

Designer Love Love Love!!

Many were the attempts at copying designer clothing I liked but couldn’t afford. There was the Romeo Gigli coat wannabe I wrote about a while back. But my main love back then was the Japanese design house COMME des GARÇONS.

Here’s an example, modeled after a skirt from COMME des GARÇONS Spring Summer 1988 collection…


With the twinkly sequins and sparkling tear drop crystals, the lace skirt was like the widowed Scarlett O’Hara on a crisp rainy day. Rain in its romantic glory of course, not London gloomy.

And another inspired by COMME des GARÇONS Autumn Winter 1988-89 collection…

A red flannel pleated skirt with crochet lace embellishment and self-fabric belt.

I love that folklore inspired collection! There were many more ideas that I didn’t get around to try out.

From the next collection – COMME des GARÇONS Spring Summer 1989 – there were at least two more…


A gathered skirt with one panel folded back up at the hem and hand drawn Renaissance style Pierrot characters.

The blouse pattern was rather interesting. The sleeves were cut as one with the bodice, not separate pieces. They were like bat-wings extending up beyond the shoulder seam. Halfway up the armholes they separate from the upper armhole of the bodice, then were gathered and reattached to the upper armhole. You know those Japanese designers, they like their origami! And yes, those are pom-pom faux buttons.

Sometimes I’d take the liberty to “improve” on the original. Like with this Marc Jacobs dress. I made my version reversible.

Bring On Them Tailoring Challenges!!!

I also wasn’t afraid to tackle tailoring. Here’s my first Vogue suits – Vogue Pattern 9199…

The result is a bit conservative for me at the time, so I didn’t wear it much and have no idea what happened to it.

But then under the lens of the right photographer – my university friend in this case – even a plain old suits can look fashionable!

That suits though didn’t make use of proper tailoring. But this Vogue Pattern 1224 one did… Apology about the lack of mug shots. I guess I used to take sewing for granted so didn’t think to document my projects. Anyway, this one had the pad stitching, the hair canvas, the roll line tape  and everything.

Jolly Old Midlife Crisis!?!?!

So what happened? Well this for example:

Note all the drag lines. Fitting has never been my forte. Nor was picking the right proportion and silhouette. The V1224 suit above for example had wide lapels and extended shoulder that doesn’t really flatter my short-waisted figure. I also didn’t think to lower the waist band slightly to create the illusion of a longer torso. I mean a waist goes where your waist naturally is or where the pattern designer intended it to go, right? So naive I was. I simply took instruction and the pattern at face value. I didn’t think to customize it to suit my own figure quarks.

The other thing that happened was aging. Although I wasn’t great at fitting, stuff I made before didn’t look too bad. The T-Shirt above is actually a recent make. Shock Horror – my figure has changed. And in exactly the ways described in Fit For Real People! The rounded upper back, forward shoulder, fuller bust front and narrower back, fuller tummy, sway back and droopy behinds. You name it, I got it. Makes fitting so much more difficult.

Hence my current obsession with making slopers instead of lovely clothing from the Big 4 patterns  and Burda magazines I’ve collected.

What about you? Have you grown wiser with age and sewing experience? Have you ever hit a sewing midlife crisis like me & got over it? Please, please tell me there’s light at the end of the tunnel! 😉

How to do Candy Floss Sweet

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OK, so I’m a bit slow to the game. But Louis Vuitton Spring / Summer 2012 collection’s fashion show video still tickles my fancy. (Watch the video before it’s gone from their website!)

There are some things that seem a bit off from a Sewist’s point of view. Frabjous Couture wasn’t impressed by the poor pattern matching at the center front of Look 4 (the peach dress in the picture above). I find some of the silhouettes potentially lethal. If even the tall skinny models look a bit frumpy in Looks 6 & 11 what chance is there for mere mortals like us?

But the show itself is pure bliss. Cotton Candy Bliss!

And there are details I really like. There’s a graphical element to the designs that keeps them from being sickly sweet.

Like the broiderie anglaise in big graphical pattern. It’s funky, not tacky or matronly like some lace can be.

Same with the pairing of the lace and pastel croc leather.

Or embroidering over otherwise dowdy suiting.

And stiffer organza instead of limpy chiffon.

Plus plastic cut-out flowers that twinkle like little stars! Brilliant if impractical.

American Vogue had one of these twinkle flower dresses in a Mad Men style spread.

I swooned over it, which is why I got on the case and tracked these down so late in the SS 2012 season. But it’s fine by me. A lovely dress is a lovely dress is a lovely dress. My taste has no time table and answer to no Fashion Police! 🙂

Which is just as well. Because I rather like these ludicrous combination of hot pants and 3/4 sleeve tops!

All of these bring me back to sewing. Because I have this pink lace that has been in the stash of what must be 25 years. It was a present from my dad – he liked his women sweet. I had no idea what to do with it – I’m a New Yorker at heart, I don’t do sweet.

Now at least I have precedents to go by, even if this is not quite the right type of lace. I’ve got some cream organza ordered. But don’t hold your breath for results any time soon. These things have to gestate. So maybe another 25 years hence and you’ll see me wearing this lace alongside the lovely ladies at Advanced Style!