Sleeveless? It must be summer somewhere...

I'm a little late for summer in the USA unless of course you're living in one of our warmer southern states, but nevertheless, in this blog I thought I'd address the sleeveless armhole.

There's been a few times when customers have emailed to say that their armholes are fitting too tight.  I always check to find out if they have a large upper arm and didn't do the large arm tune-up, or perhaps they've done a sloped shoulder tune-up and forgot to lower the underarm level, or maybe the seam allowance wasn't trimmed away and is causing extra bulk.  If all of these issues are not the cause, perhaps....just perhaps, the set of dots for the sleeveless bodice was used inadvertently.  I've seen this happen in a fitting class and it took a little investigative work to find that the wrong set of dots where used when drawing the bodice and that is what was causing the armhole to feel too tight.

When drawing the regular bodice for a set-in sleeve, use the lower series of dots. If you want a sleeveless bodice, make sure to use the upper row of dots as shown in this photo.  They bring the armhole up closer to your underarm and closer to your torso. Let's take a look.

Here's a close-up view.

Please make sure these dots are used only for a sleeveless bodice.  You may still have to bring the armhole a little higher or tighter to your body especially if you are using a knit fabric, but these dots offer a good starting point.  The rest is personal preference.

Let's take a look at some tops and dresses sewn by our SFD seamstresses.

Thanks for sharing your happy creations.

Aquarium Airline Tubing & Measuring??

Who would have guessed that airline tubing for aquariums would come in really handy for helping us to measure accurately.

One of the things I see most frequently when ladies send photos for a 'fit opinion' is that the shoulder seam is too wide.  Identifying and visually marking your shoulder width is greatly enhanced by use of a couple of pieces of this flexible tubing.

Cut a piece of airline tubing about 15" long.  Set it on your shoulder, wrap it underneath your armpit and I secured the ends together with a little black connector/coupling (also sold in the aquarium store).

It's a little hard to do this yourself, maneuvering it into place and getting it to stay put. You're best off doing this with a measuring buddy.

The great thing about this tubing is that it really does give you a great visual of where you'd want your armhole seam to sit on your body.  This tubing has a tendency to slip off, so have your measuring buddy mark the top of your shoulder bone.

Then you can easily measure from neck point to shoulder bone.  Notice that I've placed a chain around Kelly's neck.  Usually a necklace or chain will ride in a comfortable place on your neck where your neck stops and the shoulder begins.

 And, if you place a piece of tubing on both shoulders, then this also gives you a visual reference for measuring your upper chest width.  If you have narrow shoulders and upper chest width going into a fuller bust, you may be needing to 'scoop' the armscye slightly for your personal body shape.

Depending on how wide you are across the back, you may need to check this width as well in comparison to what your personal pattern gives you.  This tubing provides a great visual guide.

This tubing idea was shared with all of us at the April SFD Fit & Sew Retreat by Kay W. from Georgia.  Thanks so much Kay; we all learn from one another.

There is also a video in the Sure-Fit Designs Learning Center that addresses shoulder length and how best to measure it.  In this video, I use blue painter's tape.  The concept is still the same, but I think the tubing is more accurate because it's narrower than the tape.

Front Crotch Length just a little too Long?

You may have missed this article in the SFD Learning Center on refining the front crotch length.  In general, the crotch both front and back feel pretty good, but you may have some slight fullness directly under your tummy.  Here's what to do to alleviate that situation.

Some women experience horizontal fullness or bagging directly beneath their tummy and just before the crotch curve begins.  Once you’ve sewn your test muslin for your pants, if this is occurring, you will find one suggestion for a minor tune-up on page 12 (#1) of the Pants Kit Instruction Book.  This may be a satisfactory refinement for you. 

Another alternative is to remove this fold of fabric at CF.  Follow these directions:

1.  To determine how much you need to remove, pinch out the fabric in a tiny fold.  If you pinch out ¼” (.6cm), this will mean that you will be totally removing ½” (1.3cm).

 Close-up of dart/tuck wedge from CF going to nothing at the side seams.


2.  Mark this level location on CF of the crotch seam.  Draw a perpendicular line (to the grainline) over to the side seam.  Mark point A and B.

3.  Cut from CF to side seam, leaving a small hinge of paper at the side seam.  This will act as a pivot point.  Secure the pivot point with plastic tape.

4.  Overlap the CF seam the amount you require, thereby creating a small horizontal dart or tuck which begins at CF and goes to nothing at the side seam.

5.  True the CF crotch seam.

 6. The more you overlap at CF, the more the waist edge tilts down and angles the CF seam.  To maintain the original orientation of the upper CF seam, when you true the crotch seam, you will be creating a narrow wedge as indicated by the green arrow.  (The blue line indicates where CF at the waist edge originated).

7.  Cut/remove this narrow wedge and tape it back in place at the side seam waist edge.  This will maintain the correct waist circumference and true the side seam shape so that it will sew in the same curve to the back side seam.

8.  Redraw and reposition the front hip-fitting dart to best suit your body contours.

9.  Bring the straight of grain up from the leg.

This process will shorten the CF crotch length by the amount of the dart/tuck.   Be aware that you may need to add this amount on to the back crotch length so that you maintain your overall crotch length requirement.

Happy Sewing!

Darts & Color Blocking

Sometimes you might wonder what else you can do with the darts to make them kind of well...disappear.  Most of you know, you really can't do that since you need them for shaping your curves.  But you certainly can camouflage them by turning them into gathers or pleats.  Or...you can incorporate them into a color-blocking design as Joy has done (Joyful Expressions). 

Joy was copying a Burda pattern with her SFD dress blueprint and has done such a good job of explaining how to do this that I thought you should just see her video.
This is the Burda pattern that Joy copied.  Keep in mind, she did not have this pattern - she only saw the design lines and thought she would transform her SFD blueprint into this shift-style dress.

This is her completed accomplishment.

And, here's the video showing you how she did it.  (This is really Video #1)

Basically, your pattern would look like this illustration.

This is very definitely a great way to incorporate the dart for good fit as expressed in Joy's Color Blocking creation.  (Joyful Expressions)   Thanks for sharing and well done!

Highlights: August Fit & Sew Retreat

Yes this blog is not only dedicated to the lovely ladies who attended the SFD Fit & Sew Retreat this past August (it's hard to believe we're already in September and nearing the last quarter of this year), but also to the princess seam - in the pants leg, that is.

Why the princess seam?  Well when you introduce it into your pants pattern, it simply offer the option of refining the fit of the pant leg even more.  If you have a particularly flat butt, or very thin legs, or thin legs with a thick waist/torso, this seam is in the perfect location to truly shape that pant leg to your body curves.  In some of the following photos, you'll see the difference it can make.  So try not to negate or resist this concept, because once you've improved your pants fit to your satisfaction, you'll never go back.

Once again, ladies came from far and wide to attend this Sure-Fit Designs Fit & Sew Retreat. 

And then the fitting.  Notice the use of the princess line seam.

And if a princess line seam wasn't needed, the pants looked equally as good - in fact great on this diamond shaped hip student.

Just in case you are interested in how to add in a princess seam to the SFD pants leg, watch this short video - P.6.5 - How to draw a Fish-Eye Dart in Pants Back.  And though you may not be adding the Fish-Eye dart, the process to add the center leg seam is clearly explained in this video.

If you'd like to see a few more photos both of the fit results and the fashion garment projects, please just click through to Sure-Fit Designs Fit & Sew Retreat August 2013.

And even though the October 2013 class has long been full, soon I will be posting the 2014 dates, so please stay tuned.  Good fun and lots of learning is had by all.
Kindly,
Glenda

Beyond the Dromedary Hump

I hope you read last week's blog on my husband's dromedary-humped back neck.  There I showed you a simple remedy for this high, rounded upper neck.

Now it's time to discuss other areas of rounding in our backs.  Depending on the shape of your back, how erect you are - how curved you are - how prominent your back shoulder blades are, you may need a shoulder dart.  Sometimes it doesn't always appear that obvious when looking at your back...not that you generally look at your back unless you've got a 3-way mirror...and then again, sometimes it is more obvious.

In taking a look at this photo, you'll see diagonal folds in the back bodice going from the underarm up toward the shoulder blades.  This is saying that she's rounded across her upper back and that back shoulder darts would help to eliminate them.

Here is what the bodice back looks like with the simple addition of a shoulder dart.

There is a marked improvement in the back fit.  It still might be a little too wide under the arms, but remember that some of this is necessary wearing ease.  If you remove it all, you've now got a moulage and won't be able to move in it.  This center back seam is there for final fitting refinements and so it could be curved slightly, but in this sample bodice that CB seam is perfectly straight.

Here's what a pattern looks like during the process of adding the shoulder dart.

 For complete step-by-step instructions to add the shoulder dart, click on this link - Adding A Shoulder Dart.

And for those of you who prefer to watch this process, here is the detailed video:

My Husband's Dromedary Hump!

I know he doesn't like me calling it that, but every time I look at his back neck, I see this high, rounded hump at the top of his spine.  Our chiropractor says it's nothing to worry about, but I tell him he should take more calcium.  And you know how much husband's listen to their know-it-all wives!

Be that as it may, my husband, Wes, wanted me to sew him a couple of long sleeve T-Shirts.  I do enjoy doing things for him, but this was one time when I told him he should just go to Walmart and buy a couple of $5 buck T-shirts.  After all, he's just going to use them for our weekly hikes and Walmart is definitely cheaper than my time.  Oh well, his birthday was coming, so I went ahead and sewed him a couple as he requested.

Now...back to the Dromedary Hump and how to modify his Shirt Kit pattern.

This is how his store-bought T-shirts normally sit on his body.  Notice how the front neck rides up and pulls on his Adam's apple and the back neck rides back.  The back neck of his pattern definitely needs more height and the front neck needs to be lowered.

Now to his pattern:

 The back neck point was raised 5/8" and gently re-shaped into the shoulder neck point.

The front neck point was lowered 1/2" and re-shaped to the front neck shoulder point.

Now let's see how the SFD T-Shirt sit on his neck.

I think you can see there's a significant difference in the way they sit on his neck both front and back and his shoulders.  The neck line now covers his back neck hump and the CF sits down where it should.  (The ribbing looks looser than what I wanted it to be, but he didn't want anything tight around his neck.  No wonder!  He's used to being choked all the time in the ill-fitting R-T-W Tee's).

This is a really simple modification for this type of body rounding and particularly when it's sewn from a knit, no further rounding of the back is required.

Let's not forget the kids!

I love it when all of you ladies send your finished garment photos to me.  Seriously...I love seeing what you've created and how well it fits.  But rarely do I see any SFD kid's clothes.  I know many of my customers sew for their grandkids and make some pretty darn cute clothes.

I'm grateful to Maree Weeks of MW Handmade Designs (in Australia) for sharing these photos of her boy's pants.

And here he shows us a little 'attitude'!

I encourage more of you to take photos of your children and grandkid's clothing and send them to me.  I know others would like to see your accomplishments for kids!

I'll also share with you this very appropriate commentary on hand made items that Maree posted on her FB page.  No matter whether you are selling your work or creating for yourself, you all know that we are hand artisans and put in countless hours (our labor of love) into every project!

Highlights - Fit & Sew Retreat - July Class

In all the Fit & Sew Retreats, I always feel so fortunate to meet such delightful women with their unique personalities.  This recent July 2013 workshop saw attendees from Portland & Eugene (Oregon), Idaho, Florida and Mexico.

Six days of lessons, drawing patterns, sewing and fitting can be wearing - we were all tired come Friday afternoon.  But even so, there was always time for some fun and laughter.  This is truly a beehive of activity.

We fitted sloping shoulders, rounded backs, forward thrusting neck, apple and straight-shaped frames and large upper arms.

Any of you who do photography know that without exception lighting, every crease, fold, or wrinkle will look its worst, particularly in muslin.  Just realize that in person the garment looks much better than the photo might portray.

And our sisters from Eugene and Portland, not only got their yoga pants completed (almost except the hem), they also designed and sewed their tank tops.  I'm very grateful that they've given permission to show these photos.

 Sorry these photos are dark - just simply not the best of lighting.

 And do notice...NO gaping armholes.  The SFD Bodice master pattern has a series of dots for sleeveless garments which raise and bring the armhole in slightly for a better fit.

My thanks to all of you for being such great students.

Kindly,
Glenda