ASG Sewing Blog – Page 80

December 18, 2017

Permission to Fit!

Garment Fitting

Home sewers and most educators approach fitting so differently it is no wonder it is so confusing. I like a combo of flat pattern alteration with the tweaking done in draping on the body. There is so much that plays into fitting from body structure, weight distribution, physical attributions and limitations, fabric type, the fabric weave, the fabric’s weight, and it’s stretch or lack of, and just how the wearer just personally likes a garment to “fit” them. And then of course, there is the pattern–how much is fit, how much is “design ease” or the silhouette of the garment (think mermaid skirt to a full-flowing ball gown skirt). Unfortunately, fitting is not a one-solution method, but what I will tell you is that most of us “over-think” it and make it much harder than it is.

Garment Structure and Undergarments

Remember the corsets and girdles of the last two centuries and more? Body parts were held firmly in place and supported. Fleshy portions of the waist and hip were smoothed out. Undergarments need to support areas of the body and most of us today want comfort over support. Wear a sports bra under a business jacket and guess what? The bust darts won’t shape as they should, there most likely will be wrinkles in the garment under the bust down to the waistline–the fabric will puddle like a drapery on the floor. Bust darts won’t point to the bust apex, and the garment generally just won’t fit right. Want a great fitting garment? Start with proper foundation garments.

Padding

In teaching classes on fit I always get push-back on “padding” out areas − like using shoulder pads. A dress or blouse “hangs” from the shoulders. If the shoulders aren’t supported, the garment isn’t supported. Padding also “evens out” uneven areas–and our goal is to make the garments we make look “balanced” (pad out a lower shoulder to equal the other). I think most envision “Linda Evans” ’80’s shoulder pads. That is a style. What I’m talking about are at least 1/4″ – 3/8″ shoulder pads that help support the garment from the shoulders and giving a smooth look. Take shoulder pads out of the equation on a garment requiring one, guess what? You’ll have drag wrinkles, a wimpy upper chest on the garment, sleeves that may twist at the cap, and just an ill-fitting garment.

Confidence

I’ve discovered people basically know what they like in fit, but they are not confident they are “right.” Home sewers are so concerned about doing things the “right” way. Well, I’m here to tell you, that the “right” way often boxes us into a corner and the project then becomes a UFO. Feel free to give yourself permission to do what YOU think is right—because guess what, it probably is! Body measurements to the flat pattern translate into a 3-D fabric garment. Add length and width where it is needed, not just at the seams. There might be more width in the bust area from the apex to the side seam, but not from the apex to the center front, or vice versa. Add more fabric where needed, and take it out where it is not needed, being mindful of the fabric grainline.

That’s how I’ve developed some of the things I do that are out of the norm or not considered the “right” way to do things. Those are my “AH HA!” moments. For a long while I’ve been contemplating something about pattern alteration and fitting and hopefully sometime soon I’ll start experimenting. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a whole new way to think about flat pattern alteration and fitting.

Sew until next time… enjoy the journey of sewing!

~Ramona

October 3, 2017

Create a Smooth Quilt Binding Join

I consider myself a very novice quilter although others have said I’m more intermediate to beginner-advanced. I’ve been sewing for years, I can read a pattern, sew an accurate seam allowance, and love using software and a long-arm to do my quilting. My goal has been to “perfect” (for my little quilting world) a quilt binding “join.” That said, I have tried various different methods (see videos in the members only area) and think I’ve landed on something that pretty much comes out correctly time and again.

Developing my own method

Years ago I was watching Marianne Fons (Fons & Porter) demonstrate her method of binding. I didn’t care for the trial-and-error methodology but used that as a base to create a method that works for me every single time. I use a low-loft cotton batting in most of my projects; if I were to use a different batting, a little more experimentation would be needed to figure out the measurement of the gap to leave to be sure the join is smooth.

1. Start by applying the binding as you normally would, mitering the corners.

2. Sew the binding to the quilt sandwich leaving about a 12″ area un-sewn. Find the center of the un-sewn area and place a pin.

3. Turn the piece so the un-sewn binding is now at the top facing you. Bring the right side binding to the center pin and create a fold in the binding at the pin as shown.

4. Bring the left side binding to within 3/16″ of the right side binding and fold in place. After trial and error, I figured out this measurement works for the low-loft cotton batting I use for most of my projects. If I were using a higher loft batting like a wool, I would test and discover what that measurement would be for that particular batting.

5. Now cut off a section from the end of the binding—about a 2”-3” piece will do. This little piece is going to be used as a measuring tool.

6. Lay the folded edge of the piece just cut, on top of the right binding, at the fold line. Make sure the folds align exactly.

7. Cut the loose part of the right binding even with the cut edge of the measuring piece.

8. Remove the excess right binding and the measuring piece; they are no longer needed.

9. Next, take the end of the right binding

10. and flip it to the left over the left binding.

11. Trim the excess left binding loose-piece even with the cut edge that was just flipped from the right.

12. Remove the excess left binding. Next will be to sew the join.

13. Position the right binding out of the way. We’ll work with the left binding section first.

14. Open up the left binding piece. Flip the left binding piece over so the right side of the fabric is facing up.

15. Open up the right binding piece.

16. Meet the right binding piece over the left, right sides should be together, and cut edges should match as shown; pin the binding sections together.

17. The seam will be sewn from the upper left corner to the lower right corner.

18. Using a 2mm stitch length, sew from the upper left corner to the lower right corner. Be sure the cut edges remain aligned.

19. This is what the sewn seam looks like. Before trimming the binding,

20. Fold the binding down as it will be once finished. The join should be smooth and the binding should match the quilt sandwich 1:1 with no extra ease nor should the binding and join be too short to cause the quilt sandwich to bunch up.

21. If everything is satisfactory, then open up the binding again and trim away the excess fabric leaving a ¼” seam allowance. Press the seam allowance open.

22. Fold the binding back into position and stitch the remaining section to the quilt sandwich. Begin a few stitches from where the stitching ended,

23. and continue to sew the seam, sewing a few stitches over the beginning stitches. Complete the the binding by sewing it to the project as you normally would either by hand or by machine.

I hope the few additional steps of actually measuring the gap left and using the binding itself to measure and cut, will result in a smoothly joined binding for you as it does for me.

Sew ‘til next time…enjoy the journey of sewing!

~Ramona

P.S. If you’d like to learn more sewing, machine embroidery, and quilting tips and tricks, join an ASG Chapter! There are free classes on the website and the chapters have events, classes; neighborhood group have members eager to share and help with your sewing.

September 28, 2017

Mystery of the Shrinking Embroidery Stabilizer

I love to do embroidery and when I work with cotton fabrics, I always starch them well before hooping. The starch makes the fabric crisp and the embroidery clean. After stitching, I then press again—without starch. After pressing a couple of the quilt blocks, I noticed some wrinkles along the stitching lines that I hadn’t noticed before. I pressed the second block and the same thing occurred. So, I starched the fabric again for the next block, stitched it, pressed and the same thing—only not quite as bad. This was perplexing so I began to do some investigating. I finally discovered that the poly mesh stabilizer I was using was SHRINKING when it was being pressed! It wasn’t a lot—about ¼” all around— but was enough to distort the embroidery and make me very unhappy.

My shrinking poly mesh stabilizer

Here I cut the piece of poly mesh stabilizer, placed it on a cutting board and placed pins at the corners so you can see the original size.

I then took the piece of stabilizer to the ironing board and pressed it well (I used lots of steam, too) leaving the pins in the board so I could check the size after pressing.

The piece was flipped and pressed again. Now I must admit, I press with a hotter iron than most folks to do because I work very quickly and I work with a professional iron—but, I also tested with a household iron and basically got the same results. I pressed well in all directions and all over the stabilizer.

After the pressing, I let the stabilizer cool off and then I placed it back on the cutting surface, aligning the top and right sides to the original lines.

You can see how much this piece of stabilizer shrunk—it is enough to make a difference in the finished piece of embroidery.

If you find your pieces have wrinkles around the outer (and even sometimes inner) edges of your work, check your stabilizer by pre-shrinking it. I’ve been using this same stabilizer for years and had not had this problem before so I wonder if the production of the stabilizer has changed in some way—either the brand changed manufacturers or perhaps changed the fiber content in some manner (maybe less expensive fibers to make more profit to cut production costs?) I’ll never know unless I write to the manufacturer and chances are they will not tell me anything.

So, now every time I get a new bolt of stabilizer—any kind of stabilizer (except water soluble, of course) — I will be heat testing it to be sure it can hold up to washing and drying and pressing.

Sew ‘til next time, enjoy the journey of sewing!

~Ramona

June 14, 2017

Radial Grading

Radial Grading, also known as Radial Projection, was a method used by pattern companies many years ago and I’ve often wondered why it’s not used any longer — it certainly would save a lot of paper and printing butt does require a little more effort on the part of the user. During the first part of the last century and before, magazines were printed with fashion illustrations and included were tiny little pattern templates of the pattern pieces needed for the garment all on a page or two. The fashion illustrated on the page was sewn from the pattern drafted from those tiny templates — clever, isn’t it! Honestly, once learned, the method can be used for any pattern and for any size as long as the pattern template is accurately drafted and printed.

This method is not new. The “Lady’s Godey” magazines used illustrated fashion “plates” and often included the patterns to make the garments. The University of Vermont has an extensive collection of Lady’s Godey books; they have scanned excerpts of patterns and illustrations. Some full editions may also be found online in the Hathi Trust Collection.

Costume makers use this method. It just requires using the template (small scale pattern) of a pattern piece and a ratio method to draft a pattern to full scale, as seen in this video.

Costuming Books

There are many costuming books available with pattern templates (check Dover Publications).

Fashions & Costumes from Godey’s Lady’s Book is an example
Scale Rulers and Charts: Not only can patterns be graded up, but they can be graded down using this method, as demonstrated by Don McCunn

Using this method is all about “ratios,” but it’s not that hard or complicated. Just use the ratio of the pattern to the person as illustrated in the videos and go to it!

How would this come in handy? Well, if you create a sloper for yourself, you can radial grade it down to a quarter or half scale pattern. Because it is a “personal” sloper, you already know it fits. It is sometimes easier to design in quarter or half scale either by flat pattern or draping on a half or quarter scale form. Once a newly design pattern in quarter or half scale is finalized, then all you’d have to do is radial grade the final pattern up and you’d have an actual full-size pattern in your size — how wonderful is that! Now, it won’t be “perfect.” There will still be some alterations depending upon the accuracy of your drafting, radial grading, and also the fabric used for the garment — there is always tweaking and editing as we know. You’ll be able to determine alterations while making a mock-up of the garment.

There are companies that have taken this method of pattern making and made companies. For instance: The Sunburst Pattern System,The Dot Pattern System, and Lutterloh — hot here in the U.S. in the 1980’s — they called it the”Golden Rule” system of pattern making.

Can you begin to see how beneficial this type of pattern making would be? Mr. McCunn has a downloadable and printable PDF of “scale” rulers used in his video at the bottom of the page—print them and try this method.

I think this might be a fun Neighborhood Group project for an ASG chapter, don’t you?

Sew ‘til next time…enjoy the journey of sewing!

~Ramona

June 1, 2017

RN Numbers

Clothing and Textile Manufacturer Registration Numbers

Mom needed a new pair of jeans. She gave me a pair that has a hole worn in the knee and asked that I just put a patch on them because they are good enough to wear around her apartment. As a dutiful daughter, I brought them home to repair them. The fabric is worn in more areas than the knee, though—Mom! You need some new jeans! Like many of us, Mom has had some medical issues and has a hard time finding a pair that had a looser elastic waist and simple, no fuss fit that she can just wear around her home.

I looked for a brand tag, there wasn’t one; however, there was a tag with an RN number, the registration number filed with the government by a manufacturer of clothing and textiles. It’s not a required function, but is certainly nice when done by the manufacturer. The one we’ll explore here is finding mom her jeans. Now, in doing this, one never knows what they’ll find. As we all know, manufacturers do sometimes keep clothing pieces from season to season, but many times things are made only for a season or two and then changed or removed from the line altogether. No matter, I wanted to see if I could find Mom the jeans she enjoys.

I started at the Federal Trade Commission website, entered the RN number from the tag, and clicked the search button. The system returned one record, for VF Jeanswear Limited Partnership.
I now have a manufacturer’s name. Clicking the blue link brings up additional information about the company and the location.
I then Googled the manufacturer’s name, clicked the first link and went straight to the website for the manufacturer. The home page listed the company’s brands but did not show where the brands are sold.
I went back to Google and searched the company name and included the number at the bottom of the tag—which I surmised was the garment style or inventory or some other number used by the company to identify the style as being an elastic waist, pull on jean… and on the right of the search page, I found a link to the style number by the manufacturer!
I clicked on the link and and was taken to the store’s website (Blain’s) where I was able to order mom two new pair of jeans.

I could have asked her where she got them, but then I wouldn’t have an educational blog to share with you and most of all, these new jeans wouldn’t be a surprise for Mom! Shhhhhh—please don’t tell her! I know she’ll be thrilled when they arrive in her mailbox next week.

Sew ‘til next time…enjoy the journey of sewing!

~Ramona