Make the Most of Waste Fabric

If you have a single retro bone in your body you will have come across a circle skirt at some point in your sewing life.  And they are fabulous, no question.  However they have two possible drawbacks in the making.  They are:  you waste a lot of fabric and you always have to level the hem and in some fabrics that can be an ongoing process. In this post I will only be dealing with the waste fabric from cutting circle skirts.  You'll find more information about Circle Skirts in my other blog posts.

Checkout all the blog post detail on my website blog 'wellsuited'. 

Samples of the Turnback Tee Drape

We've all seen this particular style over the past few years on the catwalk and in the shops.  But unlike many fashion trends I think this one will be good for quite a while.  It's so flattering with the distracting diagonal drape across the tummy and hip area.

I've featured this particular pattern making move twice on this blog:  Twist and Turnback Top 2013,the Twist Jumper 2013 & Turnback Thinking 2014.  I've also made a number of samples in the past few years, testing different materials and design details.  I'm going to share those samples here and let you know which of the features and fabrics work the best for this design.

 Checkout all the blog post detail on my website blog 'wellsuited'.

Grading Women's Patterns

 Although it may appear complicated, grading sewing patterns is based on a few simple rules with definite numbers added to very specific parts of the pattern for each size up and down the size chart.  These rules are used in repeat for all garments within a category (mens, women's or children).  The image below is of a black fitted dress block graded from Size 8 to Size 10 by cutting through the crucial grade points and adding the extra required to go up one size in the pattern.  The white lines are these crucial grade points where the extra is added.  It is the example I use in my pattern making classes to assist in the understanding of where patterns grow between sizes.

You'll find all the blog post detail on my website blog 'wellsuited'.

Body Twist Tee Revisited

This is where it all started...  The Off-the-shoulder Twist Top from so many years ago.  This design was originally inspired by one of the dutch designers in a mens silk knit tee.  It has graduated from a mens tee to an off-the-shoulder model to finally a boat neck tee style.  It's this final version that I'm now preparing as an online PDF sewing pattern to add to the website.  Make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter so you're the first to hear about the pattern release.  You'll find the sign in box in the footer of my web pages.

 Checkout all the blog post detail on my website blog 'wellsuited'.

Drape Shift Rethink

 The Drape Shift was one of my earlier #PatternPuzzle posts that popularised my blog in 2014.  However the pattern making instructions proved to need much more work.  I decided in my first sample to include a three-quarter sleeve to suit my own aesthetic.  And to stay with the original one-piece pattern it needed and over-arm seam rather than an underarm seam.  Although I liked and happily wore my first sample it wasn't anywhere close to the original design sketch.

Checkout all the blog post details on my website blog 'wellsuited'.