I haven’t forgotten about this blog. I’ve been sewing and surprisingly, having some great results. I’m starting to feel pretty good and confident about garment construction.

After that Very Simple Idiot-Proof Top (VSI-PT) that was a complete disaster, I got discouraged. I knew it was in the fit, I also knew that what I didn’t know about making a garment fit properly was the next hurdle to clear. So I stopped sewing and started reading and watching instructional sewing YouTube videos (hugely helpful!).

Even though I had already read Fit Made Easy , I just couldn’t quite wrap my mind the concepts. I recognized the expertise of the authors, but thought that this must be one of those books written by maestros for virtuosos. However, the next garment I started, I surprised myself by realizing after I cut it out that I had given the layout of pattern pieces on the fabric a lot of consideration. Fit Made Easy goes into great detail about the grain and cross grain lines and making sure they are in correct parallel/perpendicular order. I paid very close attention to the grain and cross grain lines. That helped like you read about. Before, I was trying to get as many pattern pieces on the fabric to conserve the leftover fabric as much as possible and giving only cursory attention to the grain lines. Additionally, I found little tidbits of info burbling up to the front of my mind during construction, which would send me off to fetch Fit Made Easy from the last place I left it so I could refer to it. It wasn’t until I physically applied Fit Made Easy to a garment under construction that the concepts started crystallize.

Fast Fit: Easy Patter Alterations For Every Figure - another good book. I’m heavy on top and have since learned that off the rack ready to wear AND store bought patterns are designed for the generic bust: a B cup. I haven’t been a B cup since I was a teenager. I think I may have spent 6 months as a B Cup as a passing phase onto full blown high end of C’s. Not quite there on the D side, thank God for “small” (**Pun Alert!**) favors!

All the reading and YouTube vids introduced me to a thing called Full Bust Adjustment (FBA). This is an industry term. Now, it could be that I’ve just read enough and watched all those instructional videos on the subject so the seed had been planted and cultivated, but Fast Fit was the book that gave me the confidence needed to boldy slash an FBA alteration on the pattern. Seriously…you slash the pattern open where you need more room, lay it out again so it lays flat, tape tissue paper under where you’ve opened it up, pin the darts closed to make sure the pattern fits, flatten it back out… Fast Fit made it easy breezy lemon squeezy where before it was difficult, difficult lemon difficult.

Lastly, this third book which got me fired up and inspired~The Dressmaker’s Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques: Essential Step-by-Step Techniques for Professional Results  This book is AWESOME! I was so galvanized, I went directly upstairs and grabbed some cute tie-dyed fabric I’d been saving until I got better at this and put together a darling knit top. (Sorry, pics/Lessons Learned to be posted later when the photographer, AKA The Whoosbando, gets home). Came out just cuter than a brand new puppy. Until I washed it. In my excitement, I forgot I hadn’t washed this particular fabric and it shrunk a bit in the dryer after construction…I’ll go ahead and wear it anyway, but still.

Then…I made this pattern~View A:

Again, can’t post a pic until the Official Photographer gets home from his day job, but I will post a pic and Lessons Learned as soon as I can. But just know–

I’m over the moon in how it turned out. I did do an FBA on it (Great Success!) although there were some other areas I had obstacles to work through (Successfully as  well!). But that is the subject of my next post…soon, I hope.

You know? I can do this.