[Enbee]

I’ve only made this (or the recital shirt) twice, but I like to French seam everything, and it bothered me to have a raw cut at the vent, too. I found this tutorial – I haven’t flat-felled many things, so I’m not sure whether this method will work for that finish, but I thought I’d throw it out there. My first attempt at doing this technique with French seams wasn’t as neat as I’d have liked, and I could still see a bit of a spot where fraying seemed likely, so I bartacked across the two hem seams. But my second attempt looked pretty good!
http://longislandsewing.blogspot.com/2017/03/french-seams-with-side-vent.html

[Enbee]

I’ve resized it *up* successfully. I measured the difference between the sizes and followed the trend to redraw the next size up. It worked out just fine, so I suspect that sizing down would, too.

[Enbee]

If you’re also interested in dresses with twirly skirts, the Building Block dress is twirly, and you can add additional fullness to it to make it even twirlier.

In general, I think skirts/skirts of dresses that are cut curved are going to twirl more than skirts that are gathered rectangles – see circle skirts as the extreme example. I’ve made a modified BBD and accidentally added enough fullness that the skirt is just a little bit shy of a full circle, and it’s my daughter’s favorite dress precisely because it’s the “twirliest.”
(I say accidentally because I didn’t realize how close I’d come to a full circle – had I realized, I’d have just made a circle skirt!)

[Enbee]

What are you trying to enlarge?

At least for the O+S patterns, the pattern is sort of in three parts: there are the instructions themselves (comes first), the pattern pieces intended to be printed out on your standard home printer (after the instructions), and the large-scale pages intended to be printed out on a large-format printer (usually the last page or 2-3 pages of each pattern).

You can enlarge the instructions pages by changing the printing scale, but the pattern pieces to be printed out on a standard printer on 8.5X11 paper have to be printed out at 100%. For pattern pieces that don’t fit on a single sheet of paper, there are cut lines and labels indicating which pieces should be trimmed and taped together. So for an O+S garment front, for example, you’ll probably tape together 4-6 separately printed sheets, depending on how long the garment is.

The large-scale format page is the one to use if you have access to a big printer, and it will only print correctly on a large printer. AFAIK, there’s no way to print out the single (or few) sheet pattern as tiles – when I’ve forgotten to omit it from the end of my print, I just get a useless page.

Edit: I missed that you said Cinema Dress – so as an adult pattern, the front might be three pages wide instead of 2, and the skirt pieces might be 3-4 pages long on their own. I love PDF patterns for children’s clothing, but for adult clothing, I try to find a large format printer to print the large pattern pages! I’ve got access to one at work, and a (now closed, sigh) local sewing shop had one and would print out patterns.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Enbee.

[Enbee]

I don’t have experience making these shorts for kids at the upper end of the size range, but I have made them in knit with good success – that would provide a bit more ease. I think you could also fairly easily just widen the pattern pieces (maybe just the back panel, maybe both) and add a little onto the waistband.

Also again no experience yet with the upper end of the size ranges, but I adore the Art Museum pants as shorts, and the back darts provide some shaping. I might avoid the Class Picnic shorts, but that’s based solely on my experience sewing them for my (at the time) 2 year old – I found them to fit her a little snug, and when I make them again I’ll size up. But again, no experience with the 5-12 range there, so I wouldn’t discount someone else’s recommendation. On the other end of things, I find the Field Trip cargoes to be a generous fit that makes nice shorts, albeit a definite style of shorts that may or may not be what you’re looking for.

[Enbee]

The local places around me start at $89 and a few weeks for service (or did when I asked a few years ago). I don’t doubt that that’s a fair cost for someone’s labor, but it is a little hard to swallow when it approaches the cost of the machine itself. I paid $50 for my old Janome L108 on Craiglist, so when it stopped working a few years ago I hit Google first. Knowing nothing about the brand you mentioned, I’ll note a few things: some machines have all powered components in series, so if your bulb blows (this was my problem), your machine won’t work. Most foot pedals have a potentiometer in their wiring to allow for the variable speed, and they can go bad. Cleaning and oiling your machine yourself is REALLY straightforward – your owner’s manual ought to show you where to dust and oil. That might be all your machine needs.

You can also often find the servicing manual (not the owner’s manual) online for a few bucks – it’ll have internal diagrams and often part numbers. If you or she enjoys that sort of thing, and you’re OK with replacing the machine anyway, you might as well take a crack at repairing it.

For what it’s worth, although I haven’t found it worthwhile to get my machine regularly serviced (I can clean/oil/replace belts), I absolutely would pay to get it *repaired* if I couldn’t fix it myself, even if the cost would all but have to exceed the price of my Craigslist special. It’s solid metal, it runs like a champ, and it does everything I need it to. And I *like* tinkering with it – if I had a pricey computerized machine I’d be a lot more leery of taking a screwdriver to it.

[Enbee]

Chiming in to say I started digital patterns with O+S, and while I can see how it might throw you off if you’ve only ever assembled a whole-sheet digital pattern, I much, much prefer the O+S approach of individual pattern pieces instead. Storing the assembled patterns is much easier this way.

[Enbee]

This seems unlikely, but it’s the only thing I can think of that might account for that much excess: any chance something went wrong with the placket? The set-in placket option has you removing a strip from one of the shirt front pieces – if memory serves it’s a 1″ strip.

I’ve made the classic shirt in a 10 (with alterations, but not to the neckline), and I don’t remember any difficulty fitting the collar stand to the neckline.

[Enbee]

For your first question, I think the cut-on placket is a little easier than the set-in placket, although neither is really difficult. I think the main difference is that the cut-on placket is more formal-looking, and the set-in placket is more casual/matches the option for extra topstitching lines. For the 2nd, although I haven’t made this shirt (I’ve made the classic shirt, though), I think you could just make the View B collar and NOT cut the buttonholes, and that would give you a plain collar.

[Enbee]

You might try Farmhouse Fabrics – they have a wide button selection, and at least in their MOP buttons have a range of sizes, including the small cuff placket size (I’ve ordered buttons from them for a Classic Shirt). Their search function on the site is not great, so you may have to go digging, but they ship quickly, and they have lovely stuff.

Or I’d second Nicole’s suggestion to scavenge off an old shirt, yours or something from a thrift store. FWIW, I share your frustration about not being able to get them at your local stores – mine also have limited selections that seem more geared to scrapbooking than fastening actual garments.

[Enbee]

I’ve never used that fabric, but I have made the Field Trip Raglan out of a sweatshirt fleece with virtually no stretch, and that worked fine (I’ve made the school bus tee in a heavier, but stretchy, sweater knit, which also worked with no issues).

I find that the Field Trip raglan has a more generous neckline than the school bus tee, so I might recommend trimming 1/4″ from the front and back pieces of the SB tee if you get the fabric and there’s no stretch to it – I’ve trimmed the neckline back by that much with good results for my big-headed son who tended to outgrow shirts neck-first when he was a toddler.

[Enbee]

@macaronquilts, got it! And I can totally commiserate on the pandemic tax on brain power. Right there with you! At any rate, I agree with Nicole that there’s nothing inherently non-unisex about the Lisette pattern except possibly the length.

[Enbee]

Chiming in – if you have a Big4 pattern that fits him, I’d just take the pocket from the Lisette pattern and add it to the existing pants. I’ve done exactly that for my husband, and it worked out well.

[Enbee]

I think flannel would work fine, particularly for the jacket and pants. It might make for a somewhat stiffer/less drapey top or bodysuit.

[Enbee]

I second this getting easier with practice – my first few neckbands on knit shirts were a certifiable nightmare and required several attempts, extra passes with the serger, etc. Now it doesn’t stress me out.

However, if lots of pins don’t seem to help you, I’ll note that I go the opposite extreme from Lightning – I only pin my knit necklines (and also sleeve/ankle cuffs) in four places (line up neckband seam with one shoulder seam, then the other three evenly spaced). I find it much easier to adjust the stretch for each quarter on the fly as I serge. Too many pins mean I can’t do that adjustment.