I love going through blogs to get ideas for stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 Since I’m going to actually sew a wardrobe for myself, I’m looking at colors, fabrics, ideas and what have you on blogs.<\/p>\n
I’ve noticed several complaints along the same order.\u00a0 Someone buys a pattern according to clothing size and is astonished when it doesn’t fit — commonly the complaint is about the hips.\u00a0 Now, these are people with sewing-specific blogs, so I confess at being a little surprised that this has happened.<\/p>\n
Someone who is new to sewing wouldn’t know this, but clothing size in ready to wear clothes is vanity sized.\u00a0 Every few years, they’ll make a size 12 a little larger.\u00a0\u00a0 You know the famous line about Marilyn Monroe wearing a size sixteen dress?\u00a0 That’s about a size 10 in today’s fashions.<\/p>\n
Well, sewing patterns are not vanity sized.\u00a0 To get the right size, you take your measurements.\u00a0 No sucking in your gut to get a number you like better.\u00a0 The point is an outfit that fits you, not the numbers.\u00a0 You look better in clothes that fit, anyway.<\/p>\n
When you buy patterns, look at the back.\u00a0\u00a0 Check out the bust, hip and waist measurements.\u00a0 That’s the size you’ll choose to make.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, your measurements might not match up exactly.\u00a0 Ideally, you’d choose the size on the largest measurement and make pattern adjustments for the smaller one.\u00a0 As a beginning seamstress (hem! hem!<\/em>) you’ll wanna just make the outfit.\u00a0 Trust me.\u00a0 Bespoke tailoring is a well-paid profession for a reason.<\/p>\n It really astonished me that people who sew regularly<\/em> were choosing pattern sizes according to ready to wear dress sizes.\u00a0 I could see someone who is learning doing it (once!), but if you’re into it enough to have a blog about it and you’ve managed to accumulate a big stash and are showing off pictures of fancy sergers, it would seem to me you’ve been sewing long enough to know better.<\/p>\n And if your excuse is that you usually draft your own patterns, that’s even less <\/em>of an excuse!\u00a0 You know<\/em> measurements are the important bit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love going through blogs to get ideas for stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 Since I’m going to actually sew a wardrobe for myself, I’m looking at colors, fabrics, ideas and what have you on blogs. I’ve noticed several complaints along the same order.\u00a0 Someone buys a pattern according to clothing size and is astonished when it doesn’t fit … <\/p>\n