 |
April 15, 2022
First off a little technical business:
Email clients like Thunderbird, Outlook, Apple Email and that sort of thing, will by default block images. In all the gobbledygook of the image file, virus, worms and other nasties can hide. When you open the picture - poof you have a mess on your computer. So the email clients will block those pictures.
The way you protect yourself is by knowing where the image comes from. If it's from a reputable source (Pinterest - even though they spam like crazy, Google - as much as we may hate them, and your friends) are almost certainly OK. It's those emails from #$#%$&@flybynight.af (af is Afghanistan), and it has an image that is blocked by default by your email client, then that's good, and opening the email won't bother your computer
cause the image is blocked. This is a good thing.
Getting an email from me, the email clients notes that it's sent out to a lot of people, sends up a warning flag. That it's coming from a reputable company (Aweber), keeps this from happening, but some email clients (and some versions of those email clients) can still block images.
I can tell you that I either take the photos or get them from reputable sources, and if they haven't infected me, they won't you! I run a check on all my images so I know they are nothing but images and contain no nasties in the code of the image.
However, that means you have to set the email client to accept photos from some of your addresses. Some may already be set, some may not.
Here are some of the most popular email clients and instructions on how to enable images in your emails:
Microsoft (Outlook)
Thunderbird
Apple Mail
Windows Live Mail
Windows 10 Mail
The other option is that at the end of each email (click here to see it in this email) is a link to view the email online where the pics load - it may take a while cause I usually have graphic rich emails (which could also be the reason you're not seeing them in your email client).
By all means, LMK if you're not receiving the pics. They are a major part of my emails (as you can tell!)
Now back to the fun stuff - -
When using a core pattern, then working with variations, you are laying out new seams, darts and moving things around. There are some basic rules for this to help you. Otherwise you can end up with some pretty weird designs. Although these days it's hard to tell weird designs from some of the junk you can see in the stores.
As you're tracing designs from your core pattern, there will be times when you can rotate darts, which is one of the most fun things in transforming your darts. But there are some rules here. They are basic, and I really don't like breaking them very often.
In this example:
These darts and seams don't do much. Both front and back show a mish-mash of darts that don't really do anything. In truth they aren't even good design.
The circles with the "+" in the middle are fitting points on the body - bust, hips (front and back) and shoulders.
In the back view #1 & #2 skirt the fitting points, but really don't fit that well. This is what is wrong with this kind of princess seam.
See how the princess seam doesn't cross the bust point. It skips it entirely. This does not make for a decent bust/waist/hip fit. You see this in a lot of ready-to-wear and you see this panel (I don't even call this a princess seam), in a lot of patterns as well.
Here's how you can correct that bad panel and make it fit your body better:
But I got a little astray there - because there are rules for setting up seams and darts in your garment. Here are a few example of some "off-the-wall" designs that I just made up out of thin air to show you how you can arrange your darts and fitting seams to make a really remarkable out fit.
Further, #3, #4, #5, don't even come close to any fitting point - what's the purpose other than taking a dart that doesn't do anything?
In front #7 doesn't come close to fitting the bust, nor does #8 which is pointed off toward center front when there's no bust I know that's on center front! Number 6 might be fitting a waist, but only partly, not at center front, and there's no dart on the right side so there's no fitting there at all. Numbers 9, 10 and 11 all miss their fitting points and so they simply become a dart that points to nowhere and fits nothing.
This is the problem with dart making. A dart has to have a function otherwise it's taking up space and worse, fitting an area and causing a bulge or dent in a place that 1.) doesn't need a bulge or dent and 2.) makes for irregular shaping of the fabric around your body. Yikes!!
This is the classic princess seam, which is an all encompassing seam that will fit almost any shape.
Here's a more angular version of the princess seam only with a cool variation:
- Notice that the bottom part of the seam has been angled back to the side.
- In that side angle, you can insert a pocket
- But even better, I angled the back the same way, and then when it hit the side seam, I matched those seams exactly so that both of those "side angled" seams fit into the side seam all at the same place. I like this sort of thing cause it's a subtle way of saying, "I'm an expert and you're not!!!!!"
This is simply one of the most flattery seams out there. It's a curved dart, often called a French dart, and it fits both the bust and the hip and waist. Additionally, when this seam goes into the side seam, making the same dart in back, means that all those seams have to match exactly which makes a huge show of your expertness!
This is a classic seam that a lot of famous designers, (Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, Calvin Klein, Bill Blass) use(d) on their more famous clients who don't(didn't) have model figures. This seam can fit just about any shape out there.
Another variation on that shoulder to hem seam, only going into the side seam making it a chance to show off your couture professionalism in match all seams at one point.
This was a cool leather jacket that I self-drafted for myself. I wanted a bike jacket to look really tough and this does it in spades. I did add a pocket to the right side seam with a zipper in that pocket that doesn't show here, but simply using the dart rotating method I can rotate those darts and poof I'm off and running.
These variations can get to be really mind-boggling. And frankly I could sit here and go on and on about these. But it's been a long time since I've done a Zoom, and I thought it would be fun to share some variations with you and then trace them from my core pattern so you could watch how variations work. If we have some times we could even do some Transformational Reconstruction by Shingo Shato:
It's been a while, and it would be fun to share ideas.
Bring your ideas and if you have any questions about them I will answer them.
Email me back here that you would like to join in the fun on
Wednesday, April 20th at 1pm CDT
It's been a while since I've done this due to switching sites and working with all sorts of IT stuff, but this is done now - hopefully! And let's have some fun while we plan for the change of seasons!
It's free, all you have to do is email me and let me know you'd like to come:
Insert: I WANT TO COME TO LIVE ZOOM in the title bar
and I'll send you all the details.
Let's get together and create some fun things!!!
This is a beginning guide on what to do with your core pattern after you have fitted and worked on it.
All the work that you have done in your core pattern contains all the information to make a garment that you will totally love. This means you really don't have to buy another pattern for making skirts, pants or leggings. Variations on your core pattern makes it possible for you to have the styles you see in a photo or on Pinterest without having to look for the pattern that looks like it might work. You can now simply trace it onto your core pattern and
you're done.
This resource also contains some other important resources at huge discount because they are so important to this creative process of varying your core pattern. It also contains some downloads that aren't available in the Resource Library at all, but are vital toward making good design.
In this world of crazy, illogical fashion, we sewists are having to turn into designers. That sounds really hard and foreboding, but it's not. Unlike designers, we simply haven't had all the experience they have, most of that experience they got when they went to design school. More than anything I wanted to make this process encouraging, empowering and enlightening without having to worry about whether or not you could vary your core pattern.
You can! It isn't that hard. It is knowing some guidelines and charging out into the unknown. That's what we sewists do and we do it very well most of the time.
This is the beginning of the series into variations on core patterns. I wanted to start with something basic, so that you wouldn't feel so intimidated. It takes a while to write these up, cause I'm an idea factory, and coordinating and organizing these ideas can be monumental with the sewing muse yacking in my ear 24/7.
The resource is available now at a discount so that you can enjoy it before spring starts in full force. Right now, I'm thinking happy, colorful and pretty. Those are all fresh looks for future clothes. When things seem upside down, it's great to have something to make us happy and often bright, springtime and summertime fabrics are just as much as drab, dark and somber fabrics. I'm ready to be beautiful, comfortable and look flattering in my clothes and
I'm dying to share that with you.
Skirts, Core Pattern Variations, Part 1 (but there's more than skirts in here)
On the Blog
I wrote this about 10 years ago but since then I've changed IT
folks twice, changed hosting services, had my ...
|
This reminds me of the all-too-often-quoted add: Where's the beef?
https://youtu.be/Ug75diEyiA0 So the funniest thing about this, is that she ...
|
And yet another wonderful Spring/Summer 2022 couture show. For so many
decades it's been so discouraging to watch season after ...
|
This popped up on my feed for some reason, and the first thing I saw
was this: And thought - ...
|
View past emails or in your browser click here.
To talk about a sewing problem, a style quandary or size situation one on one with Claire, click here.
We respect your email privacy. |
|
