Wearing Ease in the Shirt Pattern

Wearing Ease in the Shirt pattern

How do you know how much wearing ease is provided in the Sure-Fit Designs Shirt Kit?

Let me explain 'ease'.  Ease is the amount of extra space a pattern has that is above and beyond your actual measurements.  Wearing ease is generally considered the minimum amount required for general comfort room.  Whereas design ease is usually added above and beyond wearing ease to change the silhouette of the basic design.

Previously I posted ease-explanation videos for the Dress and Pants patterns.  You can access this information through this link: http://surefitdesigns.blogspot.com/2018/11/ease-into-excellent-fit.html.

the Sure-Fit Designs Shirt Kit

Today the focus is on the Shirt Kit - seeing the easy process to determine how much ease your finished shirt pattern will have.

You may not be able to click the video link in your email display that is direct link to the video - therefore to watch it in YouTube, please use this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RErb07hXwqc

For those of you interested in beginning your fitting and sewing journey with the Sure-Fit Designs Shirt Kit, you might want to begin with the Mini Shirt Kit Combo.

 Remember the Shirt Kit is our Uni-sex kit that sews shirts and casual jackets for both women and men.  The discounted Mini Shirt Kit Combo includes:
**the Shirt Kit
**the Designing Stylus
**the introductory How-To DVD
 Mini Shirt Kit Combo.



Happy Fitting & Sewing,
Glenda...the Good Stitch!

 

The Long-Tailed Big Shirt - Sew Along with Glenda the Good Stitch

www.SewFitAcademyOnline.com

The Long Tailed Big Shirt is the newest Sew Along with Glenda the Good Stitch.  You'll love this comfy shirt designed and sewn from your Sure-Fit Designs Shirt Kit.

It's designed with a longer back hem and is perfect to wear with skinny pants or leggings.

Designed and sewn from your Sure-Fit Designs Shirt Kit, the Long Tailed Big Shirt is designed to be worn untucked over skinny-legged pants or leggings.  It's comfortable and casual.  This 19-lesson Sew Along will teach you all the necessary steps to design and sew a front placket, how to sew the collar and collar stand and how to sew the 3/4 length sleeve with a pert turn back cuff.

 The front...

 The back...

 The side view...

Save 10% on this new Sew Along.  Join me, Glenda the Good Stitch, participate in the Long Tailed Big Shirt Sew Along and save 10%.  Use Coupon Code 'take10' at checkout.  Watch for the small window that asks if you have a Coupon??

Have fun sewing along with this streaming video 19-lesson Sew Along.

Click Here

Or...you might be interested in our Bundle & Save 20% Sew Along package.  With this bundle you'll get all 6 of the Sure-Fit Designs Sew Alongs.  Please click here.

See you there!

Glenda the Good Stitch

Get Ready for the Long Tailed Big Shirt

www.surefitdesigns.com

Have you been wanting to add the Sure-Fit Designs Shirt Kit to your sewing patterns?  Now is the time to pick up the Shirt Kit while it's on SALE.

You'll want the Shirt Kit in preparation for the Long Tailed Big Shirt Sew Along which is coming next month.

Save 10% on the individual Shirt Kit - simply use Discount Code SHIRT10.
Or...save 5% on the already discounted Shirt Kit Combos - use Discount Code SHIRT5.

The already discounted combo choices are:The Mini Shirt Kit Combo

The bare minimum - the Mini Shirt Kit Combo contains:
*The Shirt Kit
*Introductory How-To DVD
*The Designing Stylus
Normally $77.95...
Now $74.05 - (with discount code Shirt5)
CLICK HERE

 

The Regular Shirt Kit Combo

The next level - the Regular Shirt Kit Combo contains:
*The Shirt Kit
*Introductory How-To DVD
*The Designing Stylus
*1x10yd Tracing Vellum
*Sew Sensational Shirts - Shirt designing book
Normally $110.95...
Now $105.40 - (with discount code Shirt5)

CLICK HERE

 

The Maxi Shirt Kit Combo 

The ultimate - the Maxi Shirt Kit Combo contains:
*The Shirt Kit
*Introductory How-To DVD
*The Designing Stylus
*1x10yd Tracing Vellum
*Sew Sensational Shirts - Shirt designing book
*Shirt Fitting Course DVD - in-depth Shirt pattern drawing, sewing & fitting.
Normally $154.90...
Now $147.15 - (with discount code Shirt5) 

CLICK HERE

This offer is good through Friday March 9, 2018.

Happy Fitting and Sewing!
Glenda the Good Stitch

Look What Your Body Blueprint Can Do!

www.surefitdesigns.com

You've drawn your body blueprint (your sloper) from your Sure-Fit Designs Dress Kit bodice - now let's take a look at 3 common designs easily drawn from your finished blueprint.

First of all, your bodice blueprint is represented in the shaded gray(ish) color.

An easy design to draw is the Vest - shaded in pink.  You'll find Vest directions in both the Sure-Fit Designs Shirt Kit (on the enclosed Fashion Leaflet), and in the Children's Kit on page 33.  The directions for an adult vest are basically the same, except you'll have your bust dart on the side seam.

Your bodice blueprint can easily be drafted into a blouse.  Just make sure to add your skirt blueprint attached at the bodice waist level so that you make sure you incorporate your correct high and low hip circumferences, so that the blouse will button up comfortably into your hip area.  There are directions for adding the skirt to the bodice on page 32 of the Dress Kit instruction book.  And there are a couple of free videos on blouse designing.  Simply go to http://www.sfdlearningcenter.com/VideoCategory-DressKit.html and look for D.20 Designing a Blouse, D.27 Blouse Designing 101, and D.32 How to Draw & Designs the Kimberly Blouse.

Next you'll see the shaded green area which represents a general outline for a basic jacket.  By raising and extending the shoulder point (for a shoulder pad) and widening the underarm to allow for jacket-wearing ease, you can sew jackets from your Dress Kit bodice blueprint.  See page 35 in the Dress Kit instruction book for specific Jacket/Coat Designing ease changes.

Happy fitting & designing!
Glenda...the Good Stitch

Copy/Copy/Copy

As you browse through traditional pattern catalogues, you'll come across all kinds of styles and designs similar to instructions that are often provided within the Sure-Fit Designs resource material.

Let's take McCall's 7655 as an example.

(Sorry for this photo being a little on the fuzzy side - when enlarged it looses the nice crisp edges).

How easy this would be to copy the simple draping that is featured on the front of this dress.  To design a similar style bodice - whether in a blouse or a dress - you'll find instructions on Fashion Leaflet #10 - Draped Front Bodice found on this page - http://www.surefitdesigns.com/DesignLeaflets.html.  This Fashion Leaflet is available in either an easy downloadable format or a hard copy if you prefer.

Our suggested drape is somewhat fuller than shown in the McCall's version.  This is simply a matter of spreading the pattern open in smaller increments than suggested in the Fashion Leaflet.

You'll also notice that the SFD version is featuring the high jewel neckline, whereas the commercial pattern version is a slightly more open neckline.  You'll find neckline variations on page 19 of the Dress Kit instruction book.

Here's a version I've sewn in a comfy dress sewn from the SFD Shirt Kit in a beautiful polyester jacquard.  This draped design feature works well whether you choose your Shirt Kit or Dress Kit.

Have fun designing!
Glenda the Good Stitch

Dragon Embroidery & Rounded Back

www.surefitdesigns.blogspot.com

Just in time for the new season of Game of Thrones...if you happen to be a fan.  This dragon embroidery was stitched by Christine Shanahan, one of our Sure-Fit Designs UK sewists.  She did a fabulous job and Wes (my DH and your cameraman) ended up with a new T-shirt.

But my DH is definitely developing quite a rounded upper back, so this is a good opportunity to review how to refine the back neck, lift it up and make it fit better.
Here's a photo of what a typical ready-to-wear T-Shirt looks like on his neck and back.

Notice how the front neck ribbing is riding high, the back neck pulls down and definitely doesn't cover his rounded upper neck hump, and the shoulder seams...oh they are riding so far back from his natural shoulder position.

To correct this on his Sure-Fit Designs Shirt pattern, I used to simply raise the center back neck point about 5/8", but recently I've also split the pattern and added more lift.

After you've slashed and spread open as shown above, you would typically true Center Back with a slightly rounded CB seam.  But because this was sewn into a T-Shirt, which doesn't usually have a center back seam, and because I wanted to place the dragon embroidery in the center of the upper back, center back was trued and straightened.  This neck lift is still there, but the curved CB shaping is eliminated.  Wes is definitely fast becoming a candidate for a shirt with a CB seam due to this upper neck rounding.

With the CB now lifted, you can see how much better the fabric comes up and over top of the back neck rounding.  And notice the shoulder seam - it is sitting where it is supposed to - on the top of his shoulder line.  Such an improvement.  Just look back to the olive green T-shirt above, the simple splitting and lifting of the CB makes the difference of night and day to how it is riding on his body.

You'll find an article in the Sure-Fit Designs Learning Center that goes into much greater detail and also shows incorporating the center back seam for total great shaping of the back.  Take a few minutes to click through to http://www.sfdlearningcenter.com/RoundedUpperBack.html.

 Happy fitting & sewing,
Glenda...the Good Stitch!

Adding a Bust Dart to the Shirt Front Pattern

www.sfdLearningCenter.com

Most of you ladies with a full bust are going to achieve a better fit with the Shirt Kit pattern if you will add a side-fitting bust dart to the pattern.  And even though this process is covered clearly in the Shirt Kit Instruction Book - see page 13, it's always beneficial to see exactly what the steps look like in a real life example.

So here 'ya go...a step-by-step photo tutorial of adding a bust fitting dart.

Step 1 - Draw the appropriate slash/cutting lines as labeled in the above illustration.

Step 2 - It's difficult to see in this photo, but you need to cut from D to A, leaving a pivot point on the seam allowance at Pt D.  Then cut from A down through point B.  Also cut from C to A, leaving a very tiny pivot/hinge point at A.  From there you want to spread on the A-B line the amount required for your cup size.  You are spreading the side wider to allow for the dart width.  The following table tells you how much to spread open for your bra cup size:
C cup = 1/2" (1.3cm)
D cup = 3/4" (1.7cm)
DD cup = 1" (2.5cm)
E cup = 1 1/4" (3.2cm)

Step 3 - Then back the opening with additional tracing vellum.  Tape it down well.  Measure the width of the dart opening on the side seam.

Step 4 - Draw a line perpendicular from A through the side seam.  Mark this as E.  From E, measure down the side seam the width of the dart and mark as G (sorry you can't see G on this photo).

Step 5 - From G draw a straight line up to point F, which is positioned about 1" (2.5cm) away from point A.

Step 6 - Back the openings with tracing vellum, tape well and then 'perfect/true' the dart extension point by folding the bottom leg of the dart up to the top leg of the dart. 

Step 7 - Temporarily tape (using Removable Tape) the dart in position.

Step 8 - Then cut on the seam line. 
 

Step 9 - Remove the tape and when the dart opens up you will have created the exact dart extension shape.

That's the process.  If your shirt tends to hike up in the front due to a full bust, you'll appreciate having this dart to give better fit and shape for your body.

If you'd like to see the video process of adding this side seam dart, just watch this short video below.  You may need to watch it on your tablet or desktop computer if it doesn't open up in your email message.

Happy fitting & sewing!
Glenda...the Good Stitch.

Stripes Every Which Way!

Sure-Fit Designs Blog

What can you do with striped fabric?  Follow along as I show you a recent SFD Dress Kit T-Shirt design.  Here's the finished top.  But how did I get there?

I used my pre-drawn pattern for a Dress Kit T-Shirt.  You might remember an article on T-Shirt Tactics in the SFD Learning Center that shows you how to remove the dart from your Dress Kit Bodice Front to make a closer-fitting T-Shirt (than the SFD Shirt Kit would provide).

Previously, I'd used these directions to draw this Color-Blocked T-Shirt.  You might remember this design.

If you want the instructions for designing this color-blocked T-Shirt, they are only $1.99 and can be found on this page.
For this striped top, I used exactly the same pattern.  So that was just an easy tracing of what I already had.  Then I re-drew the midriff sections which looked like this.

I'd purchased this fabric during a sale and on top of that it was a remnant so I had limited yardage and had to be creative and conservative with the pattern layout.  Before I show you the result of stitching the segments together, the next illustration shows you the dimensions for each of the segments (keeping in mind my 5'4" body and the longer length that I wanted).

Once the actual fabric had been cut - (oh by the way - make sure when you cut your pattern apart on the relevant design lines that you MUST add seam allowances to each cut edge so that you don't loose any length) - I used the following angles for cutting the stripes.  The main top section, lower hip section and sleeves all had the stripes running horizontally.

Here's what it looked like when all the sections were sewn together:

It was OK, but just being gray with a black stripe, I thought it looked a little on the dull side.  What would it look like if it was solid black in segment #2?

So I ripped out the necessary seams, added the black, and the finished result looked like this:

I liked this a lot better knowing that I'd wear this top with either my gray paisley-patterned leggings or my black skinny leg pants.  I then used a narrow 2-thread cover stitch to decorate and hold the seam allowances in place.  You can barely see the cover stitching since the black thread blends in with the gray/black fabric.

Here's the finished top with the gray leggings and the second photo is with the black pants.

 

This fabric is another piece of the most comfortable cozy knit - it's a low loop terry that has a fiber content of 47.5% Soy, 47.5% Organic Cotton and 5% Spandex.  (This fabric came from Bolt Fabrics in NE Portland OR - a great little shop in a funky Portland community).  Yes it stretches in both directions and yes my pattern was sized down about 1 measurement dot all the way around.

One last comment...here's another option for you to lay out the stripes - the sleeves could either be vertical or horizontal.

 I know you'll enjoy this project...give it a try.

Happy Fitting & Sewing,
Glenda...the Good Stitch!