Tag: fitting

• Dart

  How darts turn flat fabric into a shape that fits a curve - the main types, marking, sewing a point without a pucker, pressing, and moving a dart that sits in the wrong place.

• Fitting and Alterations

  How to get a garment to fit - choosing a size, adjusting the pattern before cutting, reading wrinkles on a muslin, a table of common fit problems and fixes, and what can realistically be altered after sewing.

• Ease

  The difference between a body measurement and a garment's finished measurement - wearing ease for movement, design ease for style - plus negative ease in knits and ease as a sewing technique.

• Muslin / Toile

  A test version of a garment sewn in inexpensive fabric to check fit before cutting the real thing - what to make it from, how to mark and fit it, and when you can skip it.

• My First Dress

  My first dress came after my first circle skirt: the simplest pattern I could find, in a pretty bird-print fabric. The bodice took a lot of fussing to fit, and I learned the hard way why a muslin is worth making.

• My First Shirt

  My first shirt, in a soft ivory polyester. I was still new and not very confident, so I took my time over every stage and measured everything several times, and to my surprise it went smoothly.

• Princess Seam

  A long, curved seam running over the bust from the shoulder or armhole to the waist or hem, shaping a garment without darts - shoulder vs armhole princess seams, why they're easy to fit, and how to sew the curves.