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August 19, 2022
Many of life's quotes work for sewing and some are almost made for sewing. One of my most favorite people to quote is Churchill. He was credited with saving Western Civilization from the Nazi threat. The truth is that after France fell (in 3 weeks), the British Isles were in extreme peril and fully expected the Nazis to cross the English Channel at any moment. Each week brought new worries and anxiety. In the meantime, the British Isles were being
bombarded by the V2 Rocket. This was a particularly nasty machine in that once launched the Nazis had no idea where it would end up. It was given enough fuel to go for so long and then dropped after that. There was no guidance on the bomb. This made this bomb even more terrifying.
In the midst of all this angst, Churchill was leading the last free country in European sphere. His quotes from this period are some of the most eloquent of all English literature and pertinent to life while living through some of the worst of times.
My favorite is:
Never, never, never, never give up.
(Another one that goes with this is that "You don't surrender when you head is in the mouth of the lion", which I've used a lot when I'm in a hard deadline!)
This is really the secret to success. The brains, luck and even connection will all fade when a leader or businessman has stamina, durability and fortitude.
The number of times that I've worked with a particularly difficult client to fit, I've remarked to them over and over, that simply stick with me on this, and we will find a look that works well on you and can work for you.
Taking your fitting one step further means that sticking with the project in the "Never, never, never, give up," mode can give you the strength, courage, energy and moxie to get to the solution that works best for you.
What is important to remember here is that fitting is a step-by-step process that may take 10 steps (and thank your lucky stars) or 30 steps (which is probably more accurate). Some people think that if a fitting takes 30 steps, that it's not worth it or worse that it's difficult. The truth is that it is worth it, but only if you're going to use the fitting information more than once.
This is why I don't recommend or like purchasing new patterns for a project. That new pattern then needs to go through the fitting process that you have already accomplished on your core pattern. So why go through all that again?
Here's now that looks:
This looks like something that was a new pattern I purchased. In reality, this is my core pattern that I modified so that the seam lines here were from an old, old pattern, but they went across certain fitting points so that I could fit well on my body because I used my core pattern.
This is the end result of literally tracing some lines onto my core pattern, and then tracing the pieces, adding seam allowance.
It's totally stylish and doesn't look like my core pattern at all - except for:
1. It has the shape built in that looks so good on me.
2. It has the length that is right
3. It has my fitted FBA
4. It has the hang from my shoulders that I love
5. It has the sleeve head that goes it beautifully but has that slight "poof" at the header that I also love so much.
6. It gives me the right silhouette side, front, back and moves comfortably on me.
Here's another perfect example:
 
This is a great jacket from Katherine Tilton and it's got a lot of style and great line to it, but one problem. It's made to fit a really large shoulder area so much so that the rest of the pattern is large too. As a matter of fact, I think the pattern comes in sizes that are extraordinarily large. So I set about cutting this pattern down. I actually did 4 muslins of this pattern and I couldn't get it cut down to my pear-type figure which is a lot
smaller in the shoulders than the smallest size of this pattern.
I kept thinking that I should have simply traced this off onto my core pattern but oh noooooooooooooooo - I had to prove to myself that I could alter this pattern. The truth is (when I finally came to admit it), I wasn't ever going to get this to fit right because there were some structures to it that wouldn't translate well on my body. The armhole and shoulder area weren't constructed well to give me good strong shoulders which I need for my clothing to balance my
over-endowed hips. It would have been so much easier to have simply traced the lines of the pattern onto my core pattern and It would have been made up beautifully. I would have had the gorgeous line-style of the pattern, but on my core pattern it would  have looked smashing (and flattering....and comfortable...and wou
ld
have worked without a lot of effort). This was probably one of the first in-my-face moments of why didn't I use my core pattern for this?
All that information is in my core pattern and I can have that in this garment from an old, old pattern that I would have had to alter for heaven knows how long to make it work. In stead I trace off the lines onto my core pattern and boom I have it - with hardly any alteration at all to the style.
But I didn't get to my core pattern without a lot of sweat and struggle. I got there through persevering through a lot of working it this way or that way or whatever way to make the look, hang, tilt, comfort and flattering work as well as possible. This sort of thing does take time, however once you get that gem of a core pattern, then you can have a field day with it. Throw altering one pattern after another out the window because all you have to do is trace off the
pattern to your core pattern and you're done.
So if you're working on a core pattern right now, allow yourself some time and most of all be gentle with yourself while you are creating a model that you can use over and over again. The time you spend making this core pattern will save you gobs of time in the future.
Take it from someone who has not only gone around the block but I feel like sometimes gone around the world to finally discover that there really is an easier way, but it does involve never, never, never giving up!
PS - I know I usually do a Zoom every month, but am taking off this month as I'm particularly booked. This is nice in that I'm doing what I love, but the other side is that it seems my time isn't as much mine right now. We'll pick up again in September so enjoy the August holiday for now!
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)
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