want to get better at fitting? here is a collection of resources

So you’ve decided you want to sew more for yourself this year? Hurray! If you’re newish to sewing, or if you want to improve your skills, chances are you have some questions about fit and how to adjust sewing patterns to get a good fit. We’re here to help!

Here is a round-up from our extensive archive to help you get started:

The first step is to select the right pattern size.

If you’re not consistently one size, here’s a tutorial to help you blend between sizes.

Then, once you’re got the right size, here’s some help in lengthening and shortening a pattern to get the right fit.

What’s next? I always recommend making a muslin, which will help you work out the fit before you start getting involved is sewing the details. (This saves so much time and frustration when you finally cut into your good fabric!)

Darts aren’t in the right place? Here’s an easy way to raise or lower the darts, or to adjust the length to suit your needs.

Did you know that we also have an extensive series of fit tutorials for many of our patterns? You can find many of them in our Fitting Room series. These tutorials are designe to help with specific patterns but can easily be used for many of our other sewing patterns as well. For example, the Cannes Trousers fit method that Lyndsey used is really helpful for fitting almost any trousers, including our Hollywood Trousers and Montauk Trousers.

Did you know that you can also visit our online shop to see all blog posts associated with any specific sewing pattern? It’s an easy way to search our archive. For example, here is a screen shot of some of the posts from our popular Gelato Dress. Just look for the blog posts tab, as shown below.

What else? If you have questions and can’t find answers on the blog, you can always visit our Discussion Forum, where you can post questions and get answers from me or from other members of the community. The archive in our forums can be quite helpful to view past questions and answers.

And we also have a collection of free videos to help you! If you need help understanding how to read a sewing pattern, finish a seam allowance, or sew a button (or buttonhole!), these are for you.

I also encourage you to subscribe to our blog posts and to our newsletters, which will arrive in your email to keep you up-to-date on our newest tutorials, releases, and other news.

I hope that helps! Sewing can feel a little overwhelming when you’re new, but it’s so fun and rewarding, and we’re here to help!