October 29, 2021
A few little bookkeeping notes here to start with. Usually every other month I do an update or extra and run a special on that. We're getting close to the holiday season, and I like to be very careful of your time and for me,to pile on a bunch of new techniques or whole learning curve, gets a little over-whelming. Just like the seasons, the fall is a time to slow down a little, take in the bounty of summer, and appreciate the slowing of the seasons. Especially
winter is a great time to take stock of what has been accomplished for the year and plan for the new year. Most of our seasonal rhythms with celebrations and slowing down run the same way.
For me, this has been an exceptionally productive time, and it's time to slow down just for a short time. Toward that end, I like to be a bit more reflective and especially listen to you and what you like, what you've been doing, what you've learned, what excites you and most of all what enriches your life and makes your sewing more joyful, satisfying and productive. That takes some time off to look carefully at where we all are.
Although I'm continuing our monthly Zoom calls for the rest of the year, I'm going to keep the "Back to School" Toolbox up on special, but not try to do something different for a while. I'm not a person who likes to tackle things partially and I'm particularly aware that everyone's time is valuable so don't want to waste it.
Of course if there is something you would like for me to write about or feature in the Resource Library, I'm always thrilled to hear about it - even if it's a small thing or some minor idea. I always love hearing from you.
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Now onto something much more fun. Often here I try to keep the subject fairly general and applicable to almost everyone's sewing level. This week, I'm featuring a technique that is a little more advanced.
Please don't let this intimidate you at all. If this isn't your thing or overwhelms you or you are new to the newsletter, I invite you to go through a lot of my archives by clicking here, which is always at the bottom of every newsletter as well. It's a listing of my past newsletters and can give you a lot of information at almost any level.
For this week, I wanted to turn to something I'm working on with a client. She's a very special lady and in a lot of ways a dream client. She's very pleasant, and is clear about how she likes to project herself. She is a true community leader in that she volunteers her time, effort and acumen toward the benefit of her community and is widely respected. Therefore she likes to look professional and yet modern.
She does carry a large part of her weight in her chest and stomach area. So she has some fitting problems and most of the time she solves those by wearing baggy clothes as RTW doesn't fit folks her size. She has sloping shoulders, not a large bust, larger through the waist and stomach, and in relation to the rest of her body her hips are smaller. She is being honored this winter for her community involvement by a very special and highly-prized honor and of
course needs a dress to reflect her celebration. She's also artistic and has worked in some creative efforts that show her creative talents.
Why is this a dream client?
Because she has some fitting dilemmas and because she's pleasant and understands the artistic process. She's willing to work with me and will even trust me when she may not be totally sure of what I'm going to deliver.
One of the greatest thresholds I have to work through with my clients is who the garment is going to look in the end. I can envision it easily, but to communicate that vision to my client is often very difficult. That's the only hold RTW has over my designs is that the clients gets to see exactly what the garment looks like. The very process of offering the garment as reality instead of a vision, limits what RTW can offer, and that's where I shine. My job is
to communicate it best as possible, and sometimes to simply say, "Trust me." That trust works more today than when I was first starting because I now have a reputation as wanting only the best for my client.
Now to the fun part.....
On this client's muslin, I had to nip in here, take in there and basically take all sorts of nips and tucks that made the whole garment look like a hodgepodge of a pattern. BUT after I finished, I could finish designing the dress the way I had intended. This week with a video I show you how I did that.
Basically what I've done here is take a hodgepodge of a pattern and draw the seam lines where I wanted and fitted them the way I want to be fitted and create the illusion I want to create without having to use the seams that I used in the muslin.
Wait?! Did I just say I'm not using the muslin seams? How in the world can that happen?
Muslins are a wonderful thing beyond giving a dream fit, they can also be transformed into wonderful works of art. Shingo Sato has been doing this for over 10 years and has quietly transformed many designs through his flat-pattern/draping techniques. They are truly magical, and I've been fascinated with them for hears.
Here's what one of his first designs looked like this:
 
Wild huh? Well, the whole garment is created with one dart seam. But as you can see the original muslin had 4 darts, yet the sewn garment has the shape of the original fitted muslin. It's rather magical.
Here's the technique. By keeping the seam crossing the dart point lines, the seam, no matter how it's shaped, will retain the fitted shape of the original muslin.
Here's a bit more complicated but still very dramatic use of this principle.
Using this same technique (but making the seam go through the dart points on the muslin), you can literally create any seam. In this case, I wanted to draw princess seams that would elude to a more shapely figure. Which one do you think works?
Even using dart or seam lines to elude to a shape is possible, as long as I draw these lines through the dart point lines on the muslin. Below is the video to show how this is done.
Watch the video here.
This is done all the time on stage, movies and particularly in operas where a fuller figure is prized and considered an asset, but the character they are portraying has shape and style. Jane Eaglen who is an accomplished opera star is not svelte or that shapely, yet for her rolls she looks fabulous due to the costumer designer.
In the case with my client, she will need to move differently than Jane Eaglen on stage in that she will have to get in and out of a car, sit, stand, and be comfortable so that means that even though all Eaglen has to do is stand (or sit) and sing and comfort isn't high on the priority list, doesn't mean that my client can't have the same look with comfort. Lots of times this is a bargaining point as to the level of comfort. I like to make is as comfortable
as possible, but like everything in life it can't be perfectly 100% comfortable, and my clients is mature and realistic enough to know that.
What hopefully you can see from this is that there is more to the eluding to a figure than simply fit. The line, which darts and seams play a huge roll in, are as key and sometimes can be the breakpoint between an "okay" look and a look that is stunning. Believe me, once the dress is finished and worn, I will show it here so you can see the finished look.
I will, of course, post updates to this design after she has received her reward, but I wanted to share the creative process here and how magical seam lines, darts and other fitting mechanisms can transform a regular garment into a smashing look - no matter what shape you are.
And this process is not that hard - it's simply foreign and probably something you haven't thought of before. These kinds of variations are only the beginning of the kinds of variations on your core patterns.
This is the quintessential toolbox for the wannabe designer, and you don't even have to draw to use them. All you have to do is trace. That may sound just a little too far-fetched, but believe me, not all designers can draw, and most of them do not sew. So you are one up on most designers.
This package includes a lot:
Elements & Principles of Design w/Color
Proportion (Divine and Rule of Thirds) and Apex Point Fitting
and something new:
 Sketching - taking the idea to sketch, to pattern to garment and yes, you can do that. It's not that hard. There are a lot of steps, but this is the final part of the whole package of creating something especially for yourself.
You know all those pictures on Pinterest or pinned in your studio or on your bathroom mirror?...those ones you know you would look smashing in if...1.) you could find the right pattern, 2.) you might be able to find it in RTW, but to fit you would be a problem or 3.) you've always wanted to create a look or certain collar or fabulous sleeve or some other detail and never knew how. Here's how to do that.
This does require that you have your core pattern up and running. That's what the whole pattern will be based on and it is what makes all this work so well. Whereas commercial pattern makers and designers have to go through 5 to 8 iterations to get it right, with your core pattern, we already know it works, and what we're doing is copying that to make the style you want.
If you already have only one of the above, then you have the opportunity here to bring your toolbox up to date by acquiring the only what you need at a discounted price. The Sketching Resource is the only one that's new that no one has before this month.
At the same time if you want the whole kit and caboodle, it's at an even greater discount than normal. Here's everything with the whole kit and caboodle at the bottom!
Enjoy!
Elements & Principles of Design with Color Primer - This is what art and design students learn in art school. The only difference between them and you is that they have the time to play around with them. But we can do the same, albeit a little less time.
Fitting with Proportion and Figure-Flattering Tools
(This one comes in two parts)
Sketching - From Idea to Garment
The Design Toolbox - All Three Resources above in one download at a terrific price.
Once this special is over, the Sketching will go into both the Proportion and Elements & Principles (it's already in the Toolbox), at regular pricing.
http://sewingartistry.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AAAguideheader.png
????, 2021
Start
https://sewingartistry.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Resource-LIbrary-2.jpg
This is the quintessential toolbox for the wannabe designer, and you don't even have to draw to use them. All you have to do is trace. That may sound just a little too far-fetched, but believe me, not all designers can draw, and most of them do not sew. So you are one up on most designers.
This package includes a lot:
Elements & Principles of Design w/Color
https://sewingartistry.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/All3-300x300.jpg
Proportion (Divine and Rule of Thirds) and Apex Point Fitting
https://sewingartistry.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Fitting-with-Proportion-and-Figure-Flattering-Tools-300x300.jpg
and something new:
Sketching - taking the idea to sketch, to pattern to garment and yes, you can do that. It's not that hard. There are a lot of steps, but this is the final part of the whole package of creating something especially for yourself.
You know all those pictures on Pinterest or pinned in your studio or on your bathroom mirror?...those ones you know you would look smashing in if...1.) you could find the right pattern, 2.) you might be able to find it in RTW, but to fit you would be a problem or 3.) you've always wanted to create a look or certain collar or fabulous sleeve or some other detail and never knew how. Here's how to do that.
https://sewingartistry.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Media3-scaled.jpg
This does require that you have your core pattern up and running. That's what the whole pattern will be based on and it is what makes all this work so well. Whereas commercial pattern makers and designers have to go through 5 to 8 iterations to get it right, with your core pattern, we already know it works, and what we're doing is copying that to make the style you want.
If you already have only one of the above, then you have the opportunity here to bring your toolbox up to date by acquiring the only what you need at a discounted price. The Sketching Resource is the only one that's new that no one has before this month.
At the same time if you want the whole kit and caboodle, it's at an even greater discount than normal. Here's everything with the whole kit and caboodle at the bottom!
Enjoy!
Elements & Principles of Design with Color Primer - This is what art and design students learn in art school. The only difference between them and you is that they have the time to play around with them. But we can do the same, albeit a little less time.
Fitting with Proportion and Figure-Flattering Tools
(This one comes in two parts)
Sketching - From Idea to Garment
The Design Toolbox - All Three Resources above in one download at a terrific price.
Once this special is over, the Sketching will go into both the Proportion and Elements & Principles (it's already in the Toolbox), at regular pricing.
On the Blog
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What has happened to fashion? There was a day when well-dressed and even not-so-wealthy women looked to the latest in ...
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