Nicole

Thank you for checking in, @motherof5 ! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to proceed yet. I’m a student and have a lot of homework, so my sewing has to happen in small increments on the weekends. Hopefully I can get a little more done this weekend, though! After this version for myself I’m planning a roller skate in lace for my best friend’s…[Read more]

Thank you for your response, Nicole! I didn’t understand that staystitching is meant to aid in the sewing process, and doesn’t matter after that. I’ll now confidently clip to the seam line.

Mmmmm. Maybe I’m trying to make it too hard for myself. I was thinking that I’d have to lengthen the armhole and the sleeve head by 1/4” – 1/2” to make enough room for her long torso. I may make up a quick and dirty muslin of just the bodice – no sleeves – before I make up the real thing. I know it sounds like a lot of work for a child’s jacket bu…[Read more]

And as always, I recommend the book Fit for Real People, which covers every aspect of altering dresses and blouses, including narrow shoulders, etc. You’ll feel confident making changes when you can refer to it.

So funny. 5 years ago I made this post. Today I measured my daughter and she’s 51″ tall. Has a 23 inch chest. 4T chest and a 7 in length, but I’d prefer the 8 so it lasts. She’s so narrow!

And I thought, didn’t I have this similar problem before and I wonder what the forum has to say. Voila!

I didn’t look at the sizing, but since Maggie’s been helpful and done so, then yes, just make the size 8 and add length.
I think your daughter and my son must be the same shape. He’s nine and I generally make a size 8, lengthened to 10-12 then throw on an extra 2 or 3″ sleeve length again!
Lengthening will be easy as the sleeves are quite straight…[Read more]

Based on your granddaughter’s measurements, I’m wondering if you really need to increase the width at all. Her chest measurement, which is the most important measurement for a jacket, is within the size 8 measurements, and her height corresponds with a 10, only one size bigger. If there was more of a disparity between height and chest sizes you…[Read more]

Thanks for your suggestion, Lightening. I must say, starting from scratch sounds a little daunting. I do have the Sunday Brunch Jacket pattern and I would feel more comfortable starting there. I’m not ready to start drafting my own patterns yet, although I do appreciate the suggestion. I feel the changes, except for length, are going to be under 1…[Read more]

You know what I would do?
I’d use the Building Block Dress block to get the right chest, shoulder, armhole width… That goes up to size 12. Make a basic dress or two to be sure of the fit.
Then I’d take the elements of the Sunday Brunch: wide cross over front placket, short bodice with gathered skirt, Mandarin collar and wide sleeves and draft…[Read more]

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]

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]

I should start a list of stupid things I’ve done while developing new patterns. It would start with sewing a zipper completely closer earlier this week…