So Refreshing...So Summery!

Thanks for sharing your latest sewing projects and accomplishments.  Carolyn has created the most attractive summer outfit - bright and cheerful, yet delicate, refreshing and summery.

You'll want to read of her successful weight loss and as she continues to shed more pounds, Sure-Fit Designs is being used to help maintain her wardrobe.

To read Carolyn's complete comments about her progress and her wardrobe, visit Carolyn's Sewing Room.

Caring for my Designing Stylus

Glenda,

I have been using my Designing Stylus a lot and I have been drawing my patterns in pencil, so my Design Stylus is getting messy dirty from the pencil and my little finger prints.
How do I keep my Design Stylus clean?

And thank you for the video "GI.4 Designing Stylus - What it is and how to use it." from the Sure-Fit Designs Learning Center.

 Hi Becca,
What an excellent question!  First of all, if you have a nice, big, fat, soft eraser, you should be able to erase the pencil smudges.  And the Designing Stylus is totally washable.  Just use some warm soapy water and that also should clean it up fairly well.

But Shelby from Kentucky wrote in a while back with this 'pencil tip'.  I would like to add a tip about using a mechanical pencil to trace SFD blueprints. Using a .5mm or .7mm mechanical pencil with HD lead makes the lines very accurate and thin and HD doesn't smear easily. The lines don't change size as you use the lead like a regular pencil and you can buy replacement lead to keep handy. These pencils come in many colors, so I buy them in a pack and keep several handy because they tend to "walk" under things on the table and the bright colors make them easy to spot. They work really well with the "big, fat eraser."

Test Muslin - How Best to Get into it? Add 5/8" at CF.

Glenda,

I am going to cut fabric for a Sure-Fit Designs Dress Kit Dress Sheath.  What was that you were telling me about adding 5/8” to the Center Front for testing and fitting purposes?

Rebecca,

You need to allow 5/8" on BOTH edges of CF - (CF can no longer be on the fold of the fabric) - you've got to get into it somehow.

See the attached photo.  This woman has added a 5/8" seam to the CF - then she simply stitched on this 5/8" line - so that she new exactly where the 5/8" line is.  Then when you put the dress on, you simply overlap the 5/8" stitching line when it's on your body.  Notice that she has CF pinned closed on this stitching line.

If this doesn't clarify, we can do a quick Skype - I'll show you my pink bodice

Glenda

Rebecca Revisits Her First Failed Sewing Project

I was digging thru my pile of "this doesn't fit - I messed it up" stack of failed experiences and I came upon my first sewing project which I attempted from a Cindy Crawford sewing pattern.  I pulled out the pattern and laid out my messed-up blouse.

NO WONDER I messed this up. Clearly this pattern calls for a stretch knit and I sewed my failed attempt in a tightly woven cotton.  Not to mention that the pattern just does not fit me at all.

Thanks to Glenda and Sure-Fit Designs I have a perfectly fitting body blueprint Bodice which I have drawn from the Dress Kit and with sleeves that fit my large arms.

Of course I still don't know anything about sewing with stretch fabrics, but this too will come.

Tune-Up: Narrow Shoulder to Full Bust

As I further analyze my completed Sure-Fit Designs Dress Kit bodice with the set-in sleeves, I think that the armhole seams could be drafted a little better to give me an even better fit.  My shoulders are narrow and my chest above my bust is flat.  I wouldn't say I have a full bust in that I have a large cup size (I am a B), but my full bust circumference including the across my back, is a lot bigger than my narrow chest.

When I was looking through all of the videos that Sure-Fit Designs offers, I found this  How-To-Video Narrow Shoulder to Full Bust with instructions to check and tune-up my armhole seams.  I am going to definitely try this out.  Even though I don't have a particularly full bust, I think the refinement might be beneficial to the fit of my pattern.

Large Upper Arm Tune-up

I used the instructions from the Sure-Kit Designs How-To Video Lowering the Dress Bodice Underarm - Minor Tune-Up, and the instructions on page 16 of the Sure-Fit Designs Dress Kit Instructions Book to tune-up my sleeve pattern.

I guess I should have read these instructions first, because with my first test bodice the sleeves were very tight since I have large upper arms. So I applied these instructions and widened the sleeve pattern upper arm width. I also lowered the underarm just a bit as this video suggests doing.  Not everyone is going to need to do this, but my test muslin now has sleeves that fit and I can really move, stretch and reach up high. 

My SFD Dress Kit Bodice

Glenda,
Here is a photo of my Sure-Fit Designs Dress Kit Bodice with the set-in sleeves.  The sleeves are a little twisty and when I relax my arms they still feel tight (that is why I cut a slit in the sleeve).  I was trying to see if I could make an adjustment on the top of the sleeve.

All in all I am pleased that I at least put in my first ever set-in sleeve, (Yeah!) but it was really, really difficult. And I think in general that sleeves stink.

I think the problem with sleeves is that they are made sideways to your body, but when you lift your arms above your head your arms point to the front of your body not the side.

Hmmmm arms and sleeves still need to be conquered.  Other than that, I'm pretty please with the fit of the bodice itself.