Following this week’s sewing theme, this evening I set to work on creating my first sloper!

Jason came over and helped me get down all my measurements properly — thank goodness he did too, because it seems there are many more tricky measurements to take than I had initially anticipated! Center back to shoulder point and shoulder to shoulder proved especially difficult to measure.

With all the numbers taken down and double-checked (and corrected :P), I’m finally able to draft fitted slopers for myself!

For my first, I started with the bodice-front sloper. It took me only about an hour to make, and that was really only because of a grave mistake I made with the dart on my first attempt. All in all, the process was pretty painless, though not without a few bumps along the way :)

I still have to draft the bodice-back sloper and then cut both the front and back out on muslin (or in my case, some vile blue cotton cloth I have from a quilt I made in 2000). I need to fit these first trials on to my body (another Jason visit, I expect) and correct the slopers where necessary… then repeat the process. THEN I will have fitted bodice-front and -back slopers for myself.

I am so proud! Maddie seems to like it too.

This process is so fulfilling — learning and creating, math and design… my brain is happily full :)

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Tags: art, creativity, fashion, maddie, sewing

Pinning the hem for maxi dress #1

In the last couple of weeks, I have read two amazing books on patternmaking. I went into reading these books thinking I could improve my understanding of darts and seams for shaping — but I’ve learned more than I could have ever imagined!

The first book I read was Make Your Own Dress Patterns by Adele Margolis, a really simple and easy book on how to do anything you want to do with cloth. If you’ve any idea how a clothing pattern works, this book will teach you wonders! The only thing lacking from this book is an explaination of how to make a sloper.

A sloper (in case you didn’t know :P) is the fitted base pattern that correctly fits the model for which you’re sewing (in my case, myself). A sloper is the base pattern you work with to create new patterns for literally anything. Adele’s book has you start with pre-made generalized slopers before modifying the patterns, which I was unsatisfied with.

Luckily, I had on hand How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald McCunn (who also has some vaguely helpful videos on YouTube), and THIS book really taught me the last bits of patternmaking that I had never understood before… that is, how to make clothing from scratch. YES!

So now I know how to make slopers for my body for ANYTHING! I am so thrilled! I’m slowly working my way through my wardrobe now, altering and fixing and creating new things. I’m still in the altering phase, but I should be done in a week or two, at which point I’ll begin creating drastically new clothing from older garments that I never wear anymore :D

Today I altered two of my older maxi dresses. I used to be a fan of these long dresses when I was heavier, but now I think they make me look too blob-like — I needed definition at the waist and a shorter skirt to show off my legs :) I shortened both dresses by 16-20” and took extra care to match seam lines, grain, and to make new darts and gathers where necessary. I’m so proud!

New dress, 20'' shorter and with a new waist sash :)

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Tags: art, book reviews, books, creativity, dresses, fashion, making clothing, patternmaking, projects, sewing