Saturday, August 14, 2010

sewing for an adult

When I was a teen, I would often sew for myself.  It was nice because my mother was there to help me with anything I wasn't comfortable doing.  Of course, when you are young and thin things also fit so much better.  Since I've reached adulthood, I don't really sew for myself.  I've made two Halloween costumes and tried to make a skirt.  The first costume was back in my single- and much thinner- days.  I was the snow queen from the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.  I made a white dress with an organza overdress.  The other one was a poodle skirt done in probably 30 minutes- very last minute and done carelessly.  The skirt turned out fine, but it wasn't in a particularly great fabric.  I have pretty much stuck to sewing for children.  You don't have to fit it to them and, in my girls' cases, they are pretty skinny.  I moved on to home decor- slipcovers, pillows, and some quilts for the girls.  Then I discovered all of the fun handbag patterns out there.  Just recently, I decided it was time to conquer knits as well.  I am really breaking out of my comfort zone lately!
This summer, I have discovered several blogs where people post pictures of clothes they have made.  They look GREAT!  Their clothes fit them perfectly and look professional.  Looking at the pictures, I find myself thinking, "why can't I sew that well?"  Then I realized it.  I CAN SEW THAT WELL.  I just have to put forth the effort.  Adjusting and fitting the pattern to my body is the real issue.  I have never really done that.  It is not something my mother taught me, but what I need the most to improve my craft.
So far this summer I have made myself a shirt (a knit shirt at that!) and a denim skirt.  I need to work on the front waistline of the skirt still to get it to fit perfectly, but I think it is a cute skirt and it is long enough for church.  I am currently working a pair of shorts.  I am using McCall pattern 5391 view E and I think it is going to be great.  If the shorts turn out well enough, I will make several pair in different colors. 
I started by making the pattern up in muslin.  I adjusted it to fit better.  It took quite a bit of adjusting, but I took that muslin and used it to make a second muslin.  The second one didn't take as much adjusting to get right.  Once I get the fit just right, I can use the muslin to help get any pant pattern to fit properly.  Making a pattern up in muslin several times might seem like a waste of time and fabric, but so would making a pair of pants that don't fit and therefore never get worn.  I researched fitting for hours on the internet before and during the muslin process.  I feel like I am really beginning to understand it all now.  I will post pictures once the shorts are done!  



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