100!

I had an email early this morning to say my blog now has 100 followers via Bloglovin’. Even since starting this post, I've had several additional followers. Oh happy day!

Thank you every single one of you!

A very big welcome to my new and recent followers.
Thank you too to Kate and Rhonda both of whom mentioned my blog this week and  this very clearly contributed to an upturn in numbers of views

I think this is great especially when there seems to be a downturn in the number of blog posts. At least, with the blogs I follow - which are quite a few!

I'm using Instagram now, too. I find it useful and get more or as much feedback via that than I do via my blog. However, I'm not a photo person, I'm more of a word person (word auto-corrected to weird and maybe that's true too!). I haven't been doing so well recently - life gets in the way! - but my blog was to document what I made, how I made it, the difficulties I had, lessons learned for next time - and of course,  to celebrate success! So it's really a personal journal though its original remit has expanded a bit and become a bit diluted in the process. I'm happy though. My blog is not in any way commercial.

I'm trying to improve the photos in the blog posts but sometimes I just want it done and a phone snap, in class or wherever, will fit the bill. These snaps are so useful for fitting, of course. I'm lucky that I can get fitting help. Not everyone can, of course, but these photos do go a long way to help.

I have too many projects planned or on the go. I did get rid of quite a few UFOs either by finishing them or by deciding to abandon. Thank you Ruth for coming up with the term AUFO (abandoned unfinished object) My plan is not to start anything completely new until I get more under control. I did say completely new. I plan to blog garments in progress and when completed.

On my in progress bundle are:

• The biggy - the xth toile for trousers. Say no more. Though this will feature at a later point. I have an epic post in progress - it just needs the ending of a wearable pair of pants!

• Rory is fitting a close-fitting torso block ready for David and me to modify a dressmaking model for me. I'm about to cut out and sew up what will hopefully be the final toile. Rory is draping the sleeve in our next session.  This is an exciting project. Those of you who have followed me for a while will know that I modified a dressmaking model 'Missy' to fit my youngest daughter as I had to fit her wedding dress at a distance.  This was only partially successful. This is for me.

The next fitting will be next to the skin - I have a vest on here

Rory had to stretch a bit!

Not easy to see - the changes drawn in

The pieces cut apart - ie turned into princess seams with seam allowances

• A tank top - this was tissue fitted - it's cut out and darts sewn. I need to check fit before moving on. It should be a simple job. Okay, I've said that before! This isn't from my own pattern - I think it's a McCall's. If it doesn't work, I'll do another of my own pattern

• Two jackets - a Morris blazer and a McCall's blazer. I haven't touched either for ages. They are leftover from post jacket class sewing. Ran out of time as usual. Both in toile stage. With both, next stage is a fashion fabric. I guess I should check fit first though. My weight loss has stalled and I have a busy food-filled fortnight ahead of me but then...

• Child's raspberry waterproof jacket. This is our second outerwear class project. The class has finished.  The jacket is nearly finished but Rory wasn't there in the sewing bee this week to help Nicky and me finish

• Cashmerette Concord tee shirt. I was fitted and modifications made to tee. I've still to transfer modifications to pattern. It's pretty easy to make up after that. I have some suitable fabric

I need to alter the shoulder line on the tee. I haven't shown the sleeve and bodice next to sleeve changes required.

• I've got the pattern and the fabric ready to try the proper red silk dress for Helen. She didn't want me to start it until I'd put her wedding dress back together (dismantled to clean and repair).

Recently finished

• Yes, I finished repairing Helen's dismantled wedding dress and returned it to her over the Easter weekend. Yay! The relief! Hopefully it's now safely stored away in Helen's flat. (There are a few bits of the silk crepe left and I'm wondering if I could make a tank for her. I think I need something with lots of seams as there is no big chunk with selvedge. This is way down my list though. As is the red silk dress as I gave her a different Christmas present.)

• Checked skirt. Previously blogged. I'm not going to alter. For discard. That's a AUFO!

• Orange gilet. Previously blogged.
• Checked tank. Previously blogged.
  
  
  This one is a success.

• Shortened legs on new RTW trousers!! I've never/rarely had to shorten before. I think it's because I wear flat shoes and lots of people wear higher heels with wide legs like these. Usually I have to lengthen and add a false hem when there isn't enough fabric to let down. 

Planned over the next year

• I agreed to hack or somehow lengthen a dress for Alison.  She loves it but it's too short for work. This is a more complex task.

• Shirt for younger grandson - provided he hasn't grown too  big for me to be able to use the fabric leftover from shirt for older grandson.

• I will be fitting in jackets and trousers and tops for me! Well, they're really at toile stage. Provided I get good fitting toiles.

• Shirt and jeans for David. He's not difficult to fit. He has said he's happy to wait - he wants me to do something for me first, before anything else.

• The third term of my level 3 sewing class starts in May. Stretch wear inc swimsuit. I may restrict this to class.

• Helen's red silk dress, silk camisole and tartan skirt are all currently on the back burner. Her birthday is in November so probably the red dress for then.

• A kimono for Joanne. Not a big task- it's just fitting it in. I have the fabric. Her birthday is in August.

Joanne is on the left. She's wearing the shorts in this photo but very hard to see.

• Joanne will need new shorts as she's rapidly losing weight. I'll need to get more of the nice fabric I bought for the first pair of shorts. She read my Instagram (she doesn't follow my blog) where I said I'd prefer to make a different colour and has suggested a black or a white floral but not purple which was an option I offered.  She also asked about changing up the lace or missing out but I think it needs the weight. Once she gets to her target weight, I'll modify the pattern.

So that's me and my blog. Please do comment!!

Missy's had a makeover!

To help with fitting Helen's wedding dress when I don't have access to her as she lives and works in London and I'm further north, I decided to use a dress form.

This was an old dress form. It had been stored, badly, for many years. It was adjustable in width at bust, waist and hip, although one of the dials was broken. There was a small vertical adjustment to the waist length,  but not enough for Helen now or me then. There were a couple of other problems. Helen is nearly 6 ft tall with the long body and legs that implies;  the model was nearer 5 ft. Although the waist length could be adjusted,  the amount available wasn't nearly enough. Also,  although adjustable, it isn't possible to adjust apex height, shoulder width etc without a lot of work. Talking about shoulders - they were not collapsible and it was difficult to get garments on. Worse still,  the glue attaching the outside cover to the form had disintegrated and lots of rust coloured powder was the result and this got on to anything I tried to try on it.

I confess I flirted with buying a new polystyrene form as recommended in our class; by that I mean I did buy it but although I bought what I thought was the correct size, the measurements were too much. Too little is workable with but not too large. I had considered sawing it in two and lengthening but too big was a deal breaker. This model now has a new home! I considered buying the smallest size but that was shorter still in the body length, too.

I mentioned my problems with the model in my blog and Mary of Cloning Couture kindly pointed me to her posts covering form customisation and made some suggestions.

So David and I decided to go ahead with the major makeover required to make Missy work. If possible.

We were basing the adjustments on numerous measurements taken on Helen's body, my previous well fitting toile for her and Rory’s tightening of that,  leading to me making a further close fitting version which didn't meet at the waist,  so obviously I did something wrong as it clearly fitted when Rory was pinning it.

The steps are cut down here as otherwise this would be an exceptionally lengthy post.

1. Remove old cover
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. wash body to get rid of glue residue
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   She's pretty small in her native state!

3. minimise width sizes
4. lengthen model to maximum using adjustment available
5. Add to body length; David lengthened the body itself by adding cardboard and aluminium tape to the bottom (this was done after the model was rotated and redone); this lengthened it about 3 inches.. Previously the marking for the position of bum fullness was below the form body. He also added to the length of the upper body by extending the whole upper torso by placing a roll of masking tape about 1 inch wide on the internal top support plate on which the torso rested. 
   
   
   

   

   The reason the glue residue is back is because we had to take apart and redo after Fabulous Fit foam had been stuck on.

6. fill in gaps and joints with padding and aluminium tape. By this time the model was a lot taller and was beginning to feel sturdier - she had previously been very shaky. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. I used parts of the Fabulous Fit system to create hip and bum contours and also bust shaping and apex position
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. I might add that when we attached the upper part of the model to the lower part,  we got it the wrong way around!  None of us involved in the process (I took it to class and the tutor was also involved at this stage, as was David) noticed - it took someone else to query it. The tutor thought it would be fine but David and I retracted a few steps and corrected this when we returned home. When this was corrected,  David took the opportunity to reinforce the gaps from the inside too.
9. add layers of padding (bump,  mainly) , taped with masking tape. I couldn't find the materials mentioned by Mary. 
   
   
   
   
10. I used one of Helen's bras over an already padded bust area (Fabulous Fit pads) to add more definition to the bust area and to position the apex properly. 
    
    
    
    
11. amount of padding and distribution based on a close fitting calico toile which I tried on the form repeatedly. Helen has never tried on my toile - this was the toile I made from the adjustments to make the previous one much tighter fitting and I think I made a mistake in interpretation as I couldn't get it to meet in the zip area. So I had to loosen it a bit. I decided against tightly fitting the back into the bum until I had Helen present.
    
     
12. We then covered with a stretchy dress form cover, recognising that a bit of extra padding at the seat was probably required
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. I then made a final cover from the bump again using the sizes I used earlier - closer to Helen's original toile than the extremely close fitted one. I hoped this would give a lovely smooth and pinnable final surface. (I have toiles all over the place,  they’re taking over!)

This shows the bum shaping required at right

She looks good doesn't she?

I've still to add vertical (mid and side) and horizontal bust,  waist and hip) lines. However, I've discovered that while the bust size is great with the thick bump cover, the waist is marginally too big, made worse by the seam allowance. Too small would have been okay. Also, I think I need even more bum padding. So I reckon I use the bump for bust and hip but remove from the waist area so I'll need to cover with a thinner calico cover - does that sound about right?

Obviously, a dress form can never take the place of the real body, unless it's truly custom made from some sort of body cast.  Although this isn't right and probably never can be,  it will be a useful tool for me. (I must get around to customising my own dress form!)

Yesterday (Saturday) I had an individual lesson with Rory to help me with Helen's wedding dress, and the bridesmaids dresses.  We discussed the pros and cons of the styles I had pictured and drawn in my sketchbook. We discussed materials and construction. I used Missy to drape a practice wedding dress. This was very enjoyable and I was surprised at how well I got on. I feel it was important to start,  to get out of the mental block I had. I've emailed Helen some photos as even at this early stage there is a decision to make.

I've ordered metres of practice fabric. Also, I'm going to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate next week, on Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a few useful pieces…

Helen is coming up in 3 weeks and I have a few tasks to complete before then so that we can use the next booked session with Rory to the fullest. While she's here I'll make final adjustments to Missy.

Death knell for Missy?

I'm stuck!

I'm trying to fit a tight fitting cover to Missy my little dressmaking model.

The idea is that I took the model down in size,  I think,  and then pad out to Helen's sizes.

It sounds easy but I've been struggling and putting off. Help!

Because I was procrastinating, I bought a stretch cover for the model in size 12 - but can’t get it on. Those shoulders!!

I fitted Helen into a basic toile made up into a dress. I'm concentrating on the skirt here,  though. I have made some minor changes to the bodice.

The skirt wasn't too bad as it was on Helen if it had just been for help in making garments. My tutor tightly fitted Helen into it. The darts were lengthened and the sides and back seam taken in a lot. A lot. The skirt was very fitted and curved under her bum at the back. The diagonal marks are the position of Helen's bum fullness. I don’t have any pictures of Helen in it.

Too big at waist and tiny at high hip, though not sure why.

Now,  I guess this does fit Helen as she was fitted into it though I can't check. It’s possible I've made some major error. Helen's body isn't entirely symmetrical according to my tutor's pinning and I was sometimes not too clear about how to pin, so maybe that's it.

Or is it that it's difficult to judge on a dress form due to the lack of flexibility?

It looked okay on - until you got to the back that is. I had to reduce Missy's sizes quite dramatically to get the skirt to lie reasonably at the back. However,  although the model size is now a lot less than the skirt size in the waist particularly,  the whole thing fails to meet at zip area at the back. 

The waist meets as does the area below the zip but the zip area just doesn't work. I'm not sure whether this is because Helen has a more hollowed back, certainly much less fullness at this point. Maybe this is due to the fact that the model is too short - the marks on the fabric for the bum fullness are considerably below the bottom of the model which means that the fullness in the model is too high.

Helen is approx 6’ tall and I realised I couldn't use the model to determine floor length for her. But it seems I can't even use skirt length!

The model is currently extended to its longest length.

The pin marks the end of the model. You can just see the shadow of the body underneath. The curved lines are to mark bum fullness.

Do I have anywhere to go with this particular model or do I have to give up with it? I'm thinking the latter. Do I ask Helen to go to one of the model making courses in London - that would get a Helen shaped model. Alternatively she would have to come home here for a weekend which would cost just as much with train costs. There would have assistance and here we'd be on our own. There would be issues transporting back to my house. Don't know what to do!…

Thank you for all the advice and comments I've already been given - please don’t stop there, though!!! I'm just off to read some blog posts as posted by Mary Funt of Cloning Couture - thank you for the head's up. Edited to add - I've now read the post (linked, now) - very interesting and a wonderful form results - but conclude that Missy is not suitable for this process. Too big, too flimsy, too short. I share Mary's view of duct tape models but then, sometimes needs must?

I had bought a pattern with plenty of seams for fitting and which looked pretty fitted at the back and I thought that would be good to try for Helen. I forgot she doesn't like asymmetry and didn't like my description of skirt C here, which is the one that attracted me to the pattern. However, I decided to go ahead and make up a toile, using straight pattern sizes 12, of the symmetrical version B.

           

I'm showing a photo of Missy in the straight size 12, made up without the lining and not hemmed but otherwise the sizes are per size 12.. Approximately fitted to Helen’s sizes. The waist is rather loose. The rest is okay but I reckon could be more fitted. I'm going to post this toile to Helen to get her to try it on.

I'm feeling rather despondent about managing to fit Helen into her dress eventually.