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July 15, 2022
I remember taking classes from my mentor thinking:
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"All I have to do is know everything Erma (my mentor) knows and then I'll never make another mistake or have any wasted time doing things that don't work, cause I will be able to know instantly what doesn't work and not do it!"
HA!
After many decades of sewing, I've learned that's not only folly, I've learned that the creative process is full with mistakes and this is the natural way of creating. If you're not making mistakes then:
1. You're not doing anything
2. You're lying to yourself
3. You're due for a doozy*
Last week I picked out a perfectly good red ponte, with a little slicker finish/hand than what a standard ponte would have, but that's OK. That's wasn't the problem. I checked the stretch percentage and it was a little high, but the fabric seemed to be sturdy and suitable for a jacket that was going to be more tailored.
 
This is an older jacket pattern that I've used many, many times, and knew it fit and knew how it went together. But as I was putting it together, I realized it wasn't going to work. This jacket looks best when it's crisp, clean, sharp and absolutely no draping. But the jacket I was making (above) was draping - a lot. When that happens I need to back it - usually with organza which isn't a bad deal. Â
This is the difference when using the correct fabric - the collar looks and stands sharp and crisp, the jacket body keeps its shape (this is directly off the hanger and not freshened with an iron), the back is remarkably different in that it flares, but doesn't drape.
 
This is why it's crucial to have a plan B when you're creating something - especially for an event. I now have the time to come back and correct the error of wrong fabric for a project.Â
I'd made a bad choice for the fabric. This jacket requires body, and it needs to be crisp. Most of the time I use linen or a jacket-weight cotton. I have used a stretch fabric, but it's been a cotton stretch (with Elastane, Lycra or Spandex), which means the fabric has a minimal stretch - no more than 10% - which means the fabric is crisp and has body. My ponte had about 30%. So that means it would have been great for a stable-knit "stretch
pattern", but not this "woven pattern" (which I have used only a stretch woven for in the past). Hopefully that makes sense.
The point is that even in my wide-range of experience, I made a bad choice of fabric. Mostly because I went against my own rules: I KNEW that there was too much stretch in this fabric and that would cause it to drape, but I decided to try it anyway. It will work in the end, however I'll have to take it apart and back it with organza to make it work, when I could have simply gotten a jacket-weight cotton to knock this jacket out.
RULE: Keep to your stretch percentages. What are those:
- 10%-15% This is usually a stretch woven. It's really made for a woven pattern that has an "aaaaaaah" factor in it. Making anything other than a woven pattern with this fabric is probably going to end up a disaster.
- 20% - 30% This is your stable knits - ponte, ponte di Roma, neoprene, scuba knit and those sorts of fabrics are perfect for this type of fabric.Â
- 35% - 60% - These are most often referred to as jerseys which are great for sweaters, waterfall tops, anything that has a drape to it. They can also be luscious and have a fabulous hand - particularly those ITY (Interlock Twisted Yarn) knits fall into this category and resist pilling and feel divine.
- 65% - on up - These are called activewear fabrics and you see these as swimsuits, leggings, turtlenecks and those sorts of fabrics. They don't all have to have a slick sheen to them. Some of them have a soft hand, but they all have a tremendous stitch.
Be gentle with yourself.  The creative process is filled with mistakes, failures,
set-backs, and other obstacles that often seem insurmountable. But here's what you need to remember most of all, that there is a solution out there for almost every sewing problem. I've seen it and I've done it.Â
In this case I need to take a knit and turn it into a woven, which is easy to do. Turning a woven into a knit is not so easy, but you can add side knit panels that will make a woven a lot easier to wear. So there are solutions to mistakes in sewing and particularly in design mistakes - in this case picking out the wrong fabric for a pattern.
Honestly - I love sewing. I love finding solutions to these kinds of problems so the solutions are fun to work through. And of course I most of all love passing on my passion for sewing to others, and that passion sometimes needs a caveat or two:Â
- No you can't learn everything I know or everything there is to know about sewing. In a way that's what makes it so much fun - a never-ending search for new ideas and new techniques.
- Realize that the process of creativity always involves failures. This is a part of the process - working out of those failures is what makes the process so much fun, enjoyable and fulfilling.Â
- A lot of the solution involves tiny adjustments and small variations that bring about huge results.
- And for goodness sakes, enjoy this process. Realize that being a creative is not a time to pull out your hair or worry. The best way to solve and work through problems, is to realize that the solution is something that will happen and bring you great joy and fulfillment, aside from the fact that you will remember the solution forever!
So enjoy the process and know that you know a lot more than you think you do!
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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.Â
Skirts, Core Pattern Variations, Part 1 (but there's more than skirts in here)
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