October 16, 2020

So I've been perusing around with sites in some very unusual places or places I wouldn't normally see or even think about visiting. And going to a great site, that has some really fabulous patterns.  Trish Newberry who I call the queen of hoodies for her creative ideas and designs on hoodies.  So I found this pattern for the whole look, but as always there are some problems.

So there are some issues with laying this out and doing it correctly to flatter the fabric. 

This is almost one of those times I expected to design the pattern to fit the fabric.  BTW, this is still available here.


Back to the pattern - it's called the Alternative Assassin's Hoodie, which sounds so Halloween.  No matter cause it has a lot going for it. See - isn't this totally creative?  I love the whole idea of this, but there are some problems.
Off the shoulder - no way.  I haven't got the figure to do that, and besides it will make me instantly look dumpy and frumpy.  So gotta fix that.
No FBA, but there's a great seam to put it in. 
Not hot on the hand warmers, will probably insert pockets in that seam
Minor thing, but since I'm at it, the center front bottom is too full and will straighten that out.  I'll probably lengthen the center front piece so that it's straight coming all the way out, and will continue the curve so that the sides are longer. 

Basically what I love about this is that it will flare flatteringly at the bottom, but the top has to be contained and fitted.  The back yoke is fine and I'll leave that as is. 

Now, you may say, why go to all this trouble?
Because it's a chance to show you another great use for your core patterns.

Because it's a chance to show you how to further transform one part of your pattern, while leaving the other in same condition.

Another question:  Why even get the Alternate Assassin's Hoodie? Because it has some great design in it, and with a few modifications can be another go-to pattern in your pattern portfolio.

So here goes.
Basically what this is, is transforming one part of the pattern while keeping the rest intact.
First, you may look at this pattern and think, "Gee this is realy good lines that Claire would love...out at the shoulder, and in at the higher waist and flared out flatteringly!" 

Well, yes, but it's off-the-shoulders and I really don't like it nor do I recommend it.  Usually I will tell you pass this by, but this has a lot of style and cool cut lines, that I'm not going to recommend that.  Instead, we're going to alter that armhole. 

And yes, I've said way too often that altering the armscye is a pain, and one of the hardest things to do.  But I'm more referring to an already-made garment rather than the pattern.  In this case we're going to alter that armhole/armscye, however we're going to cheat a little.  We're going to use your knit core pattern to do this.

Cause this is really the lines we want, and this isn't all that hard, besides we can redraw that armscye and add the FBA all in one fell swoop!!!

Here's what this looks like.  On the left is the original piece and on the right is our favorite knit core pattern.  This pattern on the right has a set-in sleeve which is what we're looking for.


So this isn't all that hard, however this is one of those step-by-step processes that has a lot of steps but they aren't that hard.

Here's the philosophy behind this.  We are going to copy the part from the core pattern onto the new pattern.  The part we need is that armscye.  Once we have that armscye copied onto the new pattern, then we will use the core pattern sleeve head (and make it any length you like). 

You start with putting the core pattern on top of the purchased pattern

The idea here is that you need to have some points to match so that you're not drawing the armscye at the hip.  OK, that's an exaggeration, but we're working with an X & Y axes here, and you need to place the pattern so that it's on the correct place horizontally and vertically. 

There are three main matching points
Shoulder
Waist
Center Front/Back


On the left you can see that we've matched Center Front (the long vertical line on the left), the bust point, but not the shoulder.  Notice how the shoulder is simply shorter.  So moving the pattern up so that it still remains on the center front, but finally the shoulders match, but the bust point doesn't match.  For this, I'm not worried about the bust point cause we're going to draw in that FBA too, so we're going to use the core pattern bust point. 

Notice that the waist (the middle horizontal line) is completely off.  The waist is way lower on the core pattern than on the purchased pattern.  This is normal because the core pattern has an FBA that will raise the waist, so that's the waist line we're going to use.

So there are three parts we are going to trace off onto the purchased pattern.  Actually, I put a new tissue over this so that the pattern we will really use so as not to destroy the core pattern or the purchased pattern.

Now that you have the points matched, you can trace off the armscye, FBA and waist.  The rest of the pattern remains the same so that's a simple trace. 


OK - so here (in blue) is the finished pattern.  This has the collar (same as purchased pattern), center front (same as purchased pattern), hem (same as purchased pattern), waist (like the core pattern), side seam, (same as purchased pattern), FBA (same as core pattern), armscye (as the core pattern) with shoulder (same as purchased pattern).

With matching points like center front, shoulder and waist (notice that we matched the shoulder [on the horizontal or Y axis] and center front [on the vertical or X axis], so we didn't need to match the waist, which we moved to make it more FBA horizontally friendly). 
  Now this does several things in comparison.
First, it takes out the bulk under the arm, which doesn't show up in the tech drawing here, but once you put it on the body, it does that.  Additionally that FBA brings in the waist and side silhouette a little making that a fitted area.  This also raises the underarm slightly again, making this a well-fitted and flatteringly shaped area.


You may think that having a core pattern is wonderful for the variations.  But another great use is that you can copy parts of it that you particularly like or you know fit and are flattering on your body. 

 

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September's Feature Resource
 

Fitting With Proportion and Figure Flattering Tools

aka Apex and Proportion Tools

This is one of my best resources in the library as it collects the 40 years of experience I have i fitting all sizes, shapes and styles.  And I mean all of them.  A dwarf who was a bridesmaid - the bride brought me the fabric and trim and a photo of what the other girls were wearing - and she wanted something that would really last and it did!  Another debutante had scoliosis surgery (to correct her spinal curvature which would have eventually pressed against her lungs and kill her) 3 months before the ball and I designed her dream dress to wear on her special night.  Then countless grandmothers and mothers who watched their granddaughters and daughters be fitted by me and wanted the same treatment.  Their bodies weren't so complicated as much as having 30 to 60 years of living in them and like all of us wanted to look special. 
  These figures all taught me that we are all different, but it also taught me that we can all be fitted.  Usually clients showed up at my door with some problem that RTW couldn't solve.  But after I finished a few years of my clients, the word spread, that I could do anything (well, except read minds and defy gravity) and the challenges continue to today.  I love these challenges (I have one this fall that I will share with you later, that I'm really excited about).
 
And I love sharing these techniques and tools with you because there's more to sewing than simply perfecting construction techniques. There's the looking good in your garment;  there's the feeling good in your garment;  there's the feeling comfortable in your garment; and there's the being flattered in your garment.  As sewists we have so much more than simply making a garment when we can have all this comfort, flattery and fit too! 

You sorta feel sorry for those who can't sew - And no, you don't sew for others, unless it's for someone really special!

The Fitting With Proportion and Figure Flattering Tools Resource is available here and is at a 16% off.  I rounded the cents down so it's a little more discount this month.  
 

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