In-seam Full Bust Adjustment

I took a class by Lorraine Henry called 'Swivel Your Seams' that teaches a way to make pattern adjustment at the seamline.  The method is very easy to adapt and makes so much sense to me that I want to share it with you.

• All you do is create hinges that allow you to move the seam in or out depending on your adjustments.  I love that it doesn't change much about the original pattern making it easy to match pieces together, everything seems to make much more sense.
• Start by making all length adjustments then add or subtract width as needed at the seamline.
• It's that easy!

Here are a couple of notes from the class.

The Dreaded FBA!

Each time I sew up a new bodice or jacket I always dread the fitting issues in my upper torso.  You'd think that once you've learned a fitting technique that it would basically apply to all, right?  Not so!  While I don't always sew up a muslin, I always fit the tissue pattern to my mannequin, this gives a sign of how much it's going to take to tweak the pattern in order to get the fit.  I'll have you know that I am fitting obsessed and require certain points that are my pet peeves to look just right.  One of my main problems is "gaposis" anywhere on the bodice top, whether it be the armhole, neck or upper chest.  Sometimes I 'swivel my seams' and other times I 'pivot and slide' but mostly I just add more length and width over the bust and ease it to the back which so far does not require any adjustment.  This book is very helpful as is the "Fit for Real People".  I like this book because it shows the best approach for each design.  I hope that I've conveyed by now that one adjustment has yet to fit all for me.

I've also successfully broken some "rules", like smashing parts of the patterns paper so it's flat and folding little darts here and there, so far, so good.  If you are having any fitting issues, don't give up, if you keep at it- you'll find the tricks that will be just right for your body.

A Good DVD on Jackets

I've become an information junkie and am always scouring around for new learning tools.  Here is a good DVD by Sandra Betzina.   What I like is that she describes jacket construction on real jackets, shows a teaching presentation then goes to the machine and sews it up.  I personally don't love when instructors jump from one completed step to the next, I want to see them on the machine making it all work the way I will when I do it myself.  Sandra does it all from soup to nuts.  I find myself playing chapters during construction and it really helps, especially with sleeves and linings.  I consider this one a good investment.

Vogue 8644

Cut and ready to sew.  I need a dress for the grey jacket and ordered a beautiful print from FabricMart but the color wasn't quite right once I received it.  To the stash, found a lovely remnant wool from BBlack and Sons, it's a summer weight wool with a touch of lycra and I'm hoping it will turn out.  I'm only doing the dress for now, but may make the jacket later.  I was inspired by The Mahogany Stylist who made it in yellow and it is stunning.

BTW, I wore the black and white jacket today and received a constant stream of compliments, doesn't it feel good after all that work? ;-)

Simplicity 4047 Jacket Done

Here's the jacket, it was easy to make, all the pieces fit together easily and construction was very basic.  The front of the jacket stretched a bit and had to be eased back onto the facing very slightly.  This is something that happens a lot during construction and should be checked.  Sometimes I lay the pattern back over the piece to check but this time I used fusible hymo from B. Black and Sons on the facing- it didn't change.  I like to use hymo in any jacket that requires good shape, even if the pattern calls for fusible tricot you may want to beef up a cuff or collar with hymo as I feel it gives controllable shape (collar up or down, it stays where you style it!).
My tool for this post are my Kai Tailoring Shears, I love the 10" size and use them most often, they cut ALL fabric like butter!

Collar up

Collar down

Scissors on fusible hymo

Enjoy!

A little inspiration

What makes a great suit?  I love a good cut, smooth fit and great fabric.  Marilyn Monroe is wearing a sophisticated suit that shows off her figure and looks very chic.  Then, there's this Lilli Ann suit, this is my idea of dressing at it's finest, I can do without the fur sleeves but the rest is a knockout suit for a special occasion.  Inspiring?

Halfway with the jacket

Here's a look at the front.  Fabric ravels very well :)!  My solution for marking was to use tailor tacks everywhere, they really helped a lot.  I also used the Clover chalk marker to mark the darts and foldline for the vent in back.