I just now decided to make every Tuesday a tip day. A lot of them will probably be going back to the basics of sewing and they may be things you have been told 100 times, but they will be things that I find useful that I'm hoping will be beneficial to at least one person.
The first tip deals with selecting pattern sizes. Have you ever purchased a pattern and made something up that just fits terribly? I have...many times. You've probably even used your measurements and felt pretty confident that you did choose correctly. I learned very early on to never fully trust the pattern sizes. Every pattern incorporates what's called design and wearing ease into the garment. The patterns I have made usually have way more ease than I'm comfortable with. I don't really like my clothes to be a "second skin" as some may say, but I definitely don't want them baggy.
To remedy this issue, look at the finished garment measurements. Sometimes it can be found on the back of the pattern envelope at the bottom, but it seems like newer patterns are just having it on the actual pattern piece. If that's the case, don't be afraid to pull out the tissue paper and carefully unfold until you find the finished measurements. I do it all the time in the middle of the store.
Depending on the type of pattern (skirt, dress, top), you will focus on different measurements. For example, for a top, typically the most important measurement is the bust size. For a full skirt, the most important is the waist, since it wouldn't be form fitting around your hips. For a dress, it's easiest to get the pattern that fits your largest measurement then you can tailor in from that. My mom always taught me that you can always take away fabric but you can't add it back.
Anyways, back to the ease issue. So let's say you are making a pencil skirt, like the one in my last post. Let's say you have a 30" waist and 41" hip. The pattern would suggest you make a size 18 because of your hips. However, the size 16 has finished measurements of 34" waist and 45.5" hips. That's a LOT of ease for a pencil skirt. That would give you an extra 2" around your waist and 4.5" around your hips. For a pencil skirt, I only like about 1" of ease. The finished measurements for the 16 are waist 32" and hips 43.5" which would even still be a little large but way easier to tailor down. I made this skirt and was shocked at how huge it was in the hips. I had to put it on and pin it down to exactly how snug I wanted it. Another clue that you might want to go down a size is that in the description on the back of the envelope, it says the skirt is semi-fitted. Right away you can tell that it's not actually a snug pencil skirt style.
Some patterns aren't lying to you on your size though. For example, I just made a pair of jeans and made the size down that I usually do and luckily I made a practice pair first because they were SO tight! I could barely get them on. For that pattern, I would have been smarter to trust the measurements. I have just been in such a groove and going down a size that I didn't even pay attention.
Take time to take your measurements and see how the suggested size compares to the finished measurements size. You may be surprised at how much ease the pattern companies are suggesting.
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