Weekend Review: How to Make Clothes that Fit and Flatter

 

How to Make Clothes that Fit and Flatter:
Step-by-Step instructions for women who like to sew
by Adele Margolis
Garden City: Doubleday, c1969
296 p.

This week's review is another vintage sewing book but this one's a bit different. Rather than an overall guide to sewing, this book talks about fit and fit alterations. The title kinds of gives away the angle of the book, though -- that old question of "flattering", which in this case does indeed mean how to make yourself look thinner and taller, 

However, the fit information and the illustrations are top notch, and even if you aren't too keen on the obsession with thinness, you can use the techniques simply for fit purposes. The book opens with the statement that "fifty years ago, the fashionable American woman was size 16 going on size 18. Today she is size 12 going on size 10". Hmm. Fifty years after this book's publication we've returned to the 16 going on 18 normality, and completely reversed her maxim in this opening chapter that says "it is better to fit the clothes that you would like to wear than to make the clothes fit what you are". Today we know that sewing is the superpower that indeed allows us to make our clothes fit what we are today, and to love it! 

There are nine chapters, all focused on an area of size and fitting. The first chapter, as noted, is a bit egregious in its insistence that you must fit the youthful ideal, but it does include useful information on grading patterns. 

The second chapter deals with the visual -- colour, textures, design lines, proportion -- and is fairly useful as an investigation of how those elements affect the final garment. The third chapter is about flat pattern shaping; darts and control seams and how to manipulate them. The fourth examines how to take measurements and make basic adjustments to the pattern, truing it, where to add to it and so on. 

Chapter Five is the meat of things, a lengthy look at ease, draglines, seam and dart control changes, necklines and gaping, how to change a basic pattern to extend its use, allowing for fluctuating weight and so forth. Lots of information and delightful line drawings to illustrate it all (most of very thin women of course).

Chapter Six goes over how to make a basic pattern (or sloper) and how to create a dress form for yourself using this sloper; the seventh chapter is all about construction and how that plays a role in fitting a pattern to yourself.  Basting, underlinings, steaming, pressing, tailoring, trimming, blocking -- it all plays a role. 

In the eighth chapter, size appears again, since the topic is choosing patterns with an eye to fit. However, it also gives tons of examples of different kinds of style lines and what kind of fitting can be done with each. So you know if you choose a set in sleeve or a raglan sleeve, the fitting adjustments will be tackled differently. From sleeves to yokes, necklines to ease, each particular area of a pattern is looked at in terms of the way fitting techniques interact with the design lines.

The final chapter goes over the muslining process as well as adding in any general fitting tips that weren't covered earlier. 

So as you can see, this is full of useful information on fitting, from a very particular viewpoint. I really like Adele Margolis' detailed technical books but of course it is very 60s. The illustrations of the various styles are charmingly retro if you don't mind a very limited set of silhouettes. But there are also plentiful drawings of pattern pieces and alteration lines which are really helpful. Of course, modern fitting books have tons of photos which might suit you better in this area. But I enjoyed the sketches of the designs and the simplicity of the lines. 

Because this book is older, there are some design concepts that I haven't seen explained in newer books -- styles that are no longer en vogue, but are still intriguing to look at. If you can look past the 60s focus on youth and skinniness, this is an interesting read. 

Weekend Review: Sewing Shirts with a Perfect Fit

Sewing Shirts with a Perfect Fit / David Page Coffin
Beverly MA: Quarto, c2019
144 p.

Is there anyone more identified with sewing shirts than David Page Coffin? I'm not sure about that -- unless it's Peter Lappin!

I picked up this book at a sale site a while ago and still haven't fully explored all the potential in it. It is packed with information, tutorials and technique, plus projects. It's broken up into two primary sections. It starts with Fit: an overview of types of shirt fit, the concept of draping and then how to drape a loose fit, fitted, or tight shirt. Then it moves on to 4 basic projects, including two shirts, a shirt jacket and a shirtdress.

The concept of fit in this book is not flat pattern manipulation or adjustments, at all. The whole idea is to drape a shirt to get the fit to be just what you want it. This would be fantastic if you were sewing for others, or, if you had a perfect dress form that is exactly your shape. Sewing for yourself using this technique would otherwise be impossible (which he acknowledges in the intro).

Although, in the project section, he describes making a body clone for this purpose, using tinfoil, muslin and foam. So you could give it a go if you wanted to! Other than that caveat, the book itself is so full of information, great illustrations and small tips that will make a big difference in your projects.

There is extra online information too, and it's important to check the publisher's online resources for this book -- along with the full construction details for all the projects, downloadable patterns, and technique tips, there is also an errata noting errors in the printed pattern tools included with the book. Be sure to check this page before using the paper inserts.

The paper pattern tools are tucked into an envelope inside the front cover; there are two sheets which provide armhole and sleeve cap curves to use in your shirt fitting work. (as noted, check the website for an updated pdf with the correct armhole curves on it).

Each style of shirt has a full section on proper fit, how to adjust for a soft or crisp fabric, construction order and technique, along with many full colour illustrations. The photos often have each piece -- ie, back, yoke and sleeve -- in contrasting fabrics so that you can clearly see the pieces and seams he is referring to. I found this very useful. And there are instructions on how to turn your draping into a paper pattern, and a section on fine finishing details.

This is another excellent resource by David Page Coffin, and it may inspire me to try this technique to see if I can manage to get a good result with something so new to me. There is so much detail on all aspects of the shirtmaking process that I'm sure reading this book thoroughly would help even if you were just using a commercial pattern and tweaking it. Definitely recommended!

New Look 6519: a rare muslin

I bought a bunch of new patterns earlier this year as part of my win from the PR Match Your Shoes contest. I really wanted to use them all right away! I decided to start with what looked like the easiest one, New Look 6519. 

I don't know what it was about this very easy pattern that made me think twice, but I decided to make a muslin of it first to check the fit -- perhaps because straight fit dresses often don't fit me quite right. So I used a batch of narrow striped cotton that a friend had given me, a fabric I wasn't too likely to use because it reminded me of mattresses or prison outfits. And lo and behold, this dress does indeed look like a prison uniform in this fabric ;) Good thing it's only a test.

I first altered the pattern in length, folding out some length both between the shoulder and bust and above the waist. I then lengthened the hem by about 4" as it would have been very short on me -- a short person to begin with! The dress view is more of a tunic length than a dress length, in my opinion.

I then cut it as I thought I'd need to, starting at 14 at the shoulders and grading out to close to 20 at the hips. But when I tried it on, I found it still pulled across the backside. Because of the way the ties pull the sides of the dress to the front, the extra width at the sides found by grading didn't really help that much.

I returned to the pattern, and cut and altered it for a full derriere. This is what the pattern looked like by the time I was done.

Thankfully I had more of the fabric, and since I'd just basted the dress together, I pulled it apart again and recut a new back. When I sewed it back up again, it fit! I was so pleased that this worked. However, I was a little put off by the whole thing and still haven't made it in a real fabric.

There are a few problems with this pattern for me, aside from all the adjustments. I wonder if it wouldn't look better on a taller, more evenly shaped figure. Perhaps in a lighter, drapier real fabric it will look a little nicer. In that case, though, I would also alter the waist ties. They are double layer, and tucked up right under the bust (at least on me after my bodice shortening) They end up being quite heavy, and pulling on the dress. If I do make it as an actual wearable dress, I'll be narrowing the tie width by at least an inch, and may change them to one layer if the fabric is suitable, and use a rolled hem for tidiness.

Do you ever find that you have trouble with "easy" patterns? What kind of instinct do you have to tell you to test something out when that's not your usual habit? And do you generally continue on when you have to make so many alterations? I don't usually, but was pleased that I got this to fit, even if I'm not sure I really like the style in the end.