What You Might Learn

Yesterday I decided that I needed to watch one of the online sewing courses I have acquired. You may or may not have come across this relatively new phenom.  I first heard about it from my quilting teacher in Japan.  She enthused about being able to watch whenever and repeat if necessary.  I remember looking at what they had to offer and deciding that there wasn't anything there I wanted.  Over time though they have added a lot of different classes on a multitude of crafting genres.

So, in the last year, when they have put some classes I had some interest in and they had a really good sale, I have purchased access. There was one I got that was about fitting garments to plus size  figures. So, as I am looking at making some new clothes I decided I should see what I could learn.  I watched about 6 lessons, one right after the other.

The most revolutionary thing I learned was that in America today, wearing as I do a Women's 18 in skirts and trousers and a 1X or 2X in RTW tops and a C cup bra, I am not even really considered a Plus Size. I'm still not sure who's fooling whom here.

Another thing that these lessons crystallized for me was that in the world of making your own clothes, and caring how they look, and wanting a bit of style and detail, there are several schools of thought about how to make flat pieces of fabric fit onto our multi-sized, curved figures.  One is comparing your actual measurements to the pattern and making adjustments, then fitting the paper to your body. Another is to make some general adjustments to the pattern paper, making sure it's bigger than you are and then fitting the fabric to your body or a dress form that has been adjusted to your shape.

I have never worked with a dress form.  I have no desire to make a dress form with paper tape and an old t-shirt that ends up looking like a naked me. Just not on my list of wanna dos.

So it's back to Sewing With Nancy and her Fitting Finesse that's been in my library for years.