Site-Wide Activity

Mom is in town and measured! And as suspected, I’m going to have to do some modifications. Length and sleeve length I get, but I’m not quite sure what to do about her shoulders, which are quite narrow. If I go by bust size, she’s an 8, but by waist/hips more like 12. I know shoulders are harder to change on the pattern – should I trace the 8 at…[Read more]

Brilliant, thank you. My twin needle hems are a bit hit and miss so it’s helpful to have some other ideas up my sleeve!

Thank you! I will give that a try.

One of the easiest ways to deal with a sheer fabric is to underline. That is; cut the main fabric and the lining fabric, baste them together around the very edge, then treat them as one for the rest of the construction.
Obviously you won’t get the clean inside finish of a true lining. But you also won’t see your seam allowances through the sheer…[Read more]

Shelly it was not the circles I was bothered about (was a little bothered but figured out I will be able to sort that out), it is this piece of added length at the waist that is a result of the FBA. It’s the first time I’m doing an FBA and from what I understand FBA is about adding volume, which results in length and width added, in this case to…[Read more]

Thank you for our answers! mlinton what you wrote makes a lot of sense. I just cut the lengethened skirt but haven’t cut the yoke yet so I think I will follow your adive, lengthen the yoke and fix the skirt to be as the original piece. Thank you again! Learning from other women’s experience is amazing 🙂

Yes, I did it this way the first time I made this dress. I found lengthening the skirt instead of the yoke made this more empire length in the front, and the seam line between yoke & skirt in the front vs back didn’t align vertically when wearing the dress. (It actually worked out for a maternity dress.) If I make this again I will try l…[Read more]

Is it the circles on the second picture not lining up that has you worried?
Don’t forget that it’s at the stitched seam line, not the fabric edge, where they should line up. Whenever I get those slight discrepancies I try pinning the seam line at the notch point, matching the notches, and then work out from there and it usually works as the curve…[Read more]

Absolutely! I haven’t shortened the Parachute pants but it would work fine. I often do this to the previous years trousers as my son grows in length much faster than width.
I’d do a 3/4″ single fold hem and use a twin needle. If you’re not keen on twin needle hemming then a zig zag or even a long straight stitch, as the hem won’t need to stretch…[Read more]

Thank you for the answer! I decided to add length in two places – once for the upper addition at the bust, at the front yoke, and once for added length at the waist line – I added at the front skirt – at the waist line as well. Notches should noe align. I think it’s a mistake in the instructions so maybe an errata should be published? This time…[Read more]