Working Toward a Dress Sloper, Take 2

Boy, I'm hard on myself. I'm having a tough time focussing on one thing at a time when 5 or 6 need to be done. On the homefront, the Little Miss and Mister started at a new school on Monday. It was just getting too hard to drive them across town and then double back to go to work. They seem to be adjusting ok. And I still have to move some furniture from the old apartment to my mom's townhouse - and call the Salvation Army to pick up the rest. My lease is up on Monday and I haven't heard 1 peep from the landlord since the great flood of '26.
Now, on to my slow progress on the sewing front. On Sunday morning, I added more measurement lines to the cling wrap and finished the measurements Sunday night before bed. I missed a few that B5746 called for (like hip length and arm measurements). I finally finished those up last night.

Many people suggest that seamstresses buy patterns based on their high bust size: I didn't know that when I bought my fitting shell pattern in 2007. I should have bought a 16 based on my high bust but bought a 20 based on my full bust.
After comparing my measurements to the Butterick's standard size 20 measurements, I've learned a few things - or had a few things made glaringly obvious.

1. I am short-waisted. Well, I kinda knew that already based on my work to adjust Simplicity 7924 early last month. If the measurements are right, my front waistline is shorter than my back.



2. I am asymmetrical. And here I thought MeToo was hanging askew. My left shoulder is higher than my right, my back lengths and shoulder slopes are different. The back upper bodice seems the most noticeable by measurement: my left and right sides are almost 1" different in that spot.



3. Except for the waist length and hip width measurements, I need to add between 1" and 3" to every body point.

I think it's really good that I'm working on this sloper. I should be able to customize any pattern after finishing this project.
Next up on the sloper front, I'm going to cut the clingwrap off MeToo and flatten the pieces out.

Working Toward a Dress Sloper, Take 1

After all the hours I spent to get my first successful FBA right, I starting looking for a way to get fit right in a more systematic way. That's where sloper work comes in. I have wanted a fitted dress sloper for about 4 years. My own fitting work was initially frustrating and unsuccessful. I went so far as to put the call out for a local seamstress to help me make one. That was unsuccessful too.

Now that most of my clothing is gone, it's time for a new wardrobe –time for a dress sloper! The boyfriend wrapped me in duct tape earlier this year which yielded MeToo. She has been helpful for fitting but not necessarily for a sloper. Yet. I have Butterick's fitting shell pattern (the new number is B5627) and was doing some online research about its effectiveness, when I came across this review by Liana (hey, that's my the Little Miss's name, too!). Some folks have used clingwrap to make slopers.

I have clingwrap and I have MeToo. Sooo, I wrapped MeToo in clingwrap while sitting with the kids at bedtime on Tuesday. Wednesday night I used painter's tape, a Sharpie marker, and plumb lines (for center front and back) to mark out main fitting and cutting lines.

After taking this photo and before I went to sleep last night, I added shoulder seam lines. The painter's tape didn't want to stick to the clingwrap, so I put clear mailing tape on top of each line when I was satisfied with its position.

I still need to add side seam markings and would like to add the following measurement lines based on the 1986 edition of Fitting & Pattern Alteration: A Multi-Method Approach I got for 19.95 on half.com.

I hope to get good results from this exercise that I can then use with Lynda Maynard's e-book. (I bought that right after taking the PatternReview FBA course.)

A Recap of Self-Stitched September '11

I'm proud of myself for doing SSS '11 and proud of myself for finishing the month even after my mom's death. I had a lot of repeats, but was happy to see how many me-made items I could wear.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I wore the three necklaces OUT! I like the brown linen dress from vintage Butterick 4125 and my grey Butterick 5260 tunic, but my favorite item from SSS '11 are the shoes! Ok, and maybe the harem pants I've had since high school. The harem pants are on their third waist elastic! Who am I kidding, I like all the me-made items and refashions I wore last month.

I'm very self-conscious about having my photo taken so last month's pictorial was an ordeal for me. I have to say that I knew I was busty, but dang! And my face is pretty fat in these pictures...But all in all, I'm glad I got to participate.

Vogue's 2-Day Sale

Vogue's having a $4.99 pattern sale today and tomorrow. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the added expenses I've incurred (I'm taking over my mom's mortgage and condo fees until everything clears probate). I don't think I can swing even $4.99 per pattern right now. But these two are just calling my name...

Vogue 8765

& Vogue 8633.

The lines for both dresses are pretty similar. I like how both have the sheath and flared skirt options as well. Maybe I can find something close to those in what's left of my pattern stash. The flood took out a number of my patterns. Thank goodness I stored most of my stash in the Stash Storage Sheets I made - even the few patterns I still had stored in sheet protectors were toast. My entire pattern collection could have been wiped out without the Stash Storage Sheets.

I hope to have my SSS '11 outfits posted here tonight too...