The Kimberly Blouse - a new designing project

I love sharing designing ideas with you.  And if you're not currently a member of our Sure-Fit Designs Facebook group, you would have missed the latest designing project.

It's called the 'Kimberly Blouse' in honor of one of our recent Facebook group members.

The most interesting part about this entire project is that it was Kimberly's first ever Sure-Fit Designs project.  Not only that, Kimberly had just recently acquired her SFD Kits.  In less than 1 1/2 months, Kimberly tested and finished her test bodice blueprint and then went immediately into this first project.

I thought this would be a great story and project to share with everyone and Kimberly so graciously agreed to be the topic of one of our Sure-Fit Designs how-to videos.  If you haven't yet seen this video and you have a few minutes, I think you'll enjoy the entire story.

I needed a new blouse and what a great way to show you the exact designing process by way of designing one for myself.  Totally fun, easy to do and almost qualifies for one of our Made in a Day projects.

And needless to say, Kimberly didn't stop there.  She is literally charging down the road and has sewn what she is calling her 'Spring Collection'.  If you want to see more and aren't yet a member of the SFD Facebook group, I invite you to join - all you need is a Facebook page, and then simply request to join.  It is a 'closed' group. All this means is that photos and comments shared are shared only within the group, not for the whole world to read/see.  But you are still welcome to join. Sure-Fit Designs Facebook group


 Here are a couple more pieces that Kimberly has sewn. Yes, of course, all from her Sure-Fit Designs Dress Kit pattern.

Happy Sewing to all of you!

Skinny Stretch Pants

Not leggings...but simple skinny-legged pants sewn with a 4-way stretch heavy weight Ponte.
These were so super simple that I wanted to share the leg width change with you.

If you're wondering how much I skinny'd (if there is such a word) the legs, on my personal SFD Pants pattern blueprint with a low hip circumference of 36" the actual (master pattern) width of the front of the page leg is 7.5".  So, first of all I sized down 1/4" on each side - that removed 1/2", which left 7".  This removed ease to allow for the horizontal stretch factor of the Ponte.  Then for the front leg pattern hem width, I took it down to a finished width of 5.5".  Yup...that's right, I removed another 1.5" totally, which was 3/4" on each side.

For the back leg, the actual hem width, based on my 36" hip, is 9".  Remove 1/4" on each side for the stretch factor - this leaves you with 8.5".  The the final width of this skinny leg is 7.5".  That means I took off another 1/2" per side (or 1" more).

Even though this was a 4-way stretch fabric, it was too heavy for skin-tight leggings, nor did I want them as tight as leggings.

To help you out, there is also a free video in the Learning Center on how to narrow the leg width of your pants pattern.  You can go to http://www.sfdlearningcenter.com/Video_Library.html and look for Pants video P.6.11 How To Narrow the Pant Leg  
You can also find this on YouTube.  It should pop up here if you're reading this blog in your computer, tablet or smart phone.

To finish the waist edge of the pants, they are pull-on with 2" wide elastic.  Directions are in the bonus section for the Yoga Pants in the pants designing book - Pants that Mix n Multiply.

Have fun...enjoy your pants pattern.

Circle Skirts

I've been asked by a few customers to give a tutorial on the circular skirt.  And so I'm going to share with you an excellent tutorial by Rhonda Buss of Rhonda's Creative Life.  I simply can't see any point in recreating the wheel when this tutorial is so complete.

First, let's take a look at the differences between the full circle skirt through to the 1/4 circle skirt, which is sourced from Claire at www.sew-incidentally.com.
This is such an excellent visual comparison of the results.


Now to get on with the tutorial, hop on over to Circle Skirt Tutorial by Rhonda Buss. 

Happy Sewing!

Reducing Skirt Waist Ease

You all likely know that you can use your Dress Kit Skirt pattern to sew stand-alone skirts.  But in doing so, we need to address the waist ease that's allowed in the pattern.  Keep in mind that the waist ease in the bodice is 1" (2.5 cm), so when you sew the skirt together with the bodice for either a one or two piece dress, the skirt waist also needs to end up with 1" (2.5 cm) of waist ease, which of course, it does.

But now you'd like to use the skirt pattern as a stand-alone skirt.  The 1" (2.5 cm) of wearing ease is too much.  You are going to want to reduce the finished amount of ease to approximately 1/2" (1.3 cm).  When the darts are sewn in position, that's plenty of ease to tuck in a blouse or lightweight sweater.

Here's a short video to actually show you the process.

As I've said many times, how much wearing ease you actually end up with is very personal preference.  You may want more or less ease, but at least now you know the process.

Also remember that there are written instructions in your Dress Kit instruction book on page 29.

Happy fitting & sewing!