Playing With Paper

Carolyn (of Handmade by Carolyn with THE most fantastic photography) wrote - Think about your surroundings. For inspiration look at some photo shoots in fashion magazines to get some idea of how a fashion photographer's mind works. Think about your colors. For example, if I lived up where you are, I would be racing out into the snow at every opportunity for my photos. The brightness and whiteness would be a stunning backdrop for fashion photography. I envy you that!!

LOL - here's what our outside has looked like for most of this winter. There is more snow in the United States than in my part of Canada. We did have some snow earlier before Christmas but not much since and what is falling is not staying around on the ground to act like a backdrop. Spring shoots are pushing through and people are gardening in some areas of town. Luckily not mine. I'm not ready for that.

I spent yesterday playing with paper. Because I'd already sewn Simplicity 2892, it was the perfect pattern to test my theory of sizing on. I bought the other copy so that I had the entire size range. Sizes 6-14 are in one envelope and sizes 14 to 22 in the other. How nice that they overlapped a size. That made it easy to line things up.

I traced a fourteen through the shoulders, neck, armhole, upper chest, and overall length. On the side seam, I tapered from a size 10 to a size 16 on the front piece and a size 18 to a size 20 on the back piece. This did two things. It divided the hem width appropriately for me with more around the back than the front and it shifted the underarm point forward about an inch which is far more comfortable on my body. My arms are positioned forward on my body.

Belinda of Sew 4 Fun has some recent blog posts on pants. I've linked to the last one. The others are before. In these postings, she talks about her leg position in relation to her torso and how that differs from drafted patterns and the changes she makes to accommodate this. My arms are very similar. A huge piece of learning for me was that we are not truly symmetrical and that small adjustments can make a big difference. Moving the side seam forward an inch doesn't seem like much but it feels tremendously different on the finished garment.

In the image above, the side seam is hanging straight. I've pulled the front and back tightly around so you can see how the back lifts and that bubble of paper that is being pushed up from the hemline and down from the neckline.

Below, you can see a 3/4" tuck pinned through the upper back chest. That's how much paper is pushed together and that's the position it wants to be pushed to in order for the pattern to hang correctly.




That adjustment was a "click" for me. I remembered taking the exact same tuck in the exact same position before when I had Charlene (a local seamstress and sewing machine store owner) fit me to a Butterick fitting shell. I remember thinking it was a balance to the full bust on the front but now, I remember that I used cup specific sizing on the front so that doesn't make sense at all. LOL - only took me a few years.

I called Charlene and she said that yes, this makes sense due to the way the pattern is drafted and the width of my hips in relation to the width of my shoulders. I added the 3/4" back to the bottom of the center back length tapering it to the sides. After that, I was curious to see what would happen with the back. Perhaps this tuck and NOT a high hip adjustment is what I should have been doing all along. Below, with the paper adjustment, you can see that the hem hangs straight.

Here's the finished top. We can't decide if it looks like an angel costume or a choir robe. I've tried to explain to people before that I don't wear light colors and that they don't suit me, especially white, and it's something that's difficult to get across since in part it's about personality. I am not a bright, white person. My husband and both boys said, you're not going to wear that are you? Probably not. Maybe if dyed a different color. Otherwise, this was the fabric least likely to be missed while I experimented with the sizing.




In comparison to the blue version I posted last Monday, this one is very comfortable. The adjustment to the arm position allows for a greater range of movement and getting in and out is much easier. In the image below, you can see that the side seam is hanging straight from the center of the arm pit. Perfect.

AND... across the back... there isn't a huge excess of fabric pooling at the waist or being pulled into the armhole. I think the shoulder width could be narrowed slightly. If I did that, I'd use the slash and pivot method so I didn't disturb any other lines. I can definitely see the benefits of tracing on the appropriate sizing line as opposed to adding a wedge as I did with the cardigan. Now... to make the cardigan again and see how those results differ.

Almost everything I sew can be sewn with black serger thread. I don't worry about matching as much as blending. These spools of serger thread were bought in October 2008. There are four each of grey, burgundy, purple, navy, dark beige, light beige, white, and brown. They are unopened.

In contrast, I should have bought more spools of the black. I'm starting to run low and will need to rotate the spools when I re-thread the machine later today. Can you tell that I've been mostly using a three thread serge? Too fun.




Today is knitting. I've finished the back and both sleeves for the cardigan. To keep going, I need to count the number of rows on the back and make a diagram for the front. I'm not quite sure yet how I want the garment to overlap and close so I'll go through some of my knitting books as see what ideas I come up with.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - confirming the value of moving the side seam forward in all garments and of cutting on the appropriate sized lines for my wider back half and narrower front half. Balance is maintained.

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Personal Growth - I spent some time yesterday thinking about the online sewing course. It does look interesting however, some of it is information that I already have in book form and some of it is information I don't really want or need to know. Paying for that doesn't make sense. I want to learn and be challenged and stretched. Part of learning is having a good discussion. This is not an interactive classroom with discussion between the students and instructor. It's an electronic correspondence course.

Kristin wrote - Have you ever thought of doing the City & Guilds correspondence course? I think it would be interesting. I can relate to the need for structure. I definitely need that in my life?

Maybe ten years ago, I signed up for the C & G course. I did three modules of the first level. They included dyeing the color wheel which I was already sick until death of before then, stitching four patches which was something I'd already written books and taught classes on, and creating a design with hexagons stitched by hand. I don't do hexagons and I don't do hand work. That sounds so rigid. It wasn't.

It's not that I was unwilling to do things that I didn't normally do otherwise, how do you learn. However, I'd already done these things and advanced beyond those stages. The way the course was structured, I had to do them again to get to the level that interested me - about twenty modules later. That didn't sound like a good idea to me. Instead, I took a different - and very satsifying - route. Right now, I'm on a sabbatical from textile work. It won't be forever even though it's currently indefinite.

Yesterday, I realized that the issue is more about loneliness and about being home alone far too much. I'm not out in public or as stimulated by interaction with other people as much as my personality needs to be. Apparently, what I want is playmates and playdates. Someone to show and share with and to talk to on a regular basis. Something in person. Ongoing conversation with other women who share my interest for art and fashions and conversation that is on a similar intellectual and competency level to my own so that I'm not always in teacher mode or being told I'm intimidating or allowed to be right. It's not good to always be right. It's fabulous to be challenged and stimulated to new ideas.

With fashions and art, I have found these kinds of conversations with women who live outside of Kamloops. I just haven't found it in town in any regular, ongoing, committed kind of way - at least not in a long time - HOWEVER... I do have good friends in town and we do have wonderful conversations about other things. I'm very thankful for these friends and especially for their support of me in difficult times. I'm going out for coffee later today and it will be fabulous.