Fitting, sewing, patterns, and useful stuff

Hello to all born after the Great Divide...

There are excellent books on how to draft patterns, sew clothing,
alter and fit same, etc. :

"How to Make Clothes that Fit and Flatter", Adele Margolis, Doubleday,
1969

"The Complete Book of Tailoring", Adele Margolis, Doubleday, 1964

"Make Your Own Patterns", Adele Margolis, Doubleday, 1985

These are excellent books that give all the details. I own all three
and there is a little repetition between them but all are EXTREMELY
useful and handy. Wild Ginger is fine for drafting for difficult
figures, but these books tell you how the software should work in
terms of how the pattern works and how the clothing goes together.

When I buy a pattern, I read the instructions, and then head over to
these books for the most sensible way to put something together.

There are even examples of mens garments (and you will get the info if
you read with a genderless mind).

The only other sewing reference that I use came from watching my
mother fit clothing on me (I was looking in the mirror). Fitting is
something that should ONLY be done by an observer who can see how the
front and back work together (and hopefully who knows how to fix
problems).

These books are available used through tomfolio.com (or other used
book source)

(how do I define the great divide? um...hm... family audience...)

Good luck with YOUR fitting--Irene

Fitting, sewing, patterns, and useful stuff

(Irene)
Hello to all born after the Great Divide...
There are excellent books on how to draft patterns, sew clothing, alter
and fit same, etc. :
snipped list of my favorites: Adele P Margolis' books
---
Welcome to the sewing circle, Irene. Great minds think alike, I
recommend the same books from time to time, with the added proviso that
they are out-of-print, but it is well worth scouring the secondhand
market for them.
Glad you're here, pull up a sewing chair.
Cea

"Make Your Own Patterns", Adele Margolis, Doubleday, 1985

This now out of print book used to be in our local library, but a lady I know
kept it out on loan ALL the time. I have no idea if it's still there, or if she
still has it, 12 years later! LOL

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Hi Cea, thanks for the welcome. Meanwhile back at the ranch Dwight is
still TRYING to find instructions, and I had even offered him a good
pattern for a coat that is identical except for a hood instead of a
collar.

Gee, maybe some men can't aim in the toilet bowl (discussion of a few
weeks ago) because they are still living with Stone Age brains: it has
to JUMP UP AND BLAST THEM IN THE FACE before they can track an object.

--Irene



There are excellent books on how to draft patterns, sew clothing, alter
and fit same, etc. :
snipped list of my favorites: Adele P Margolis' books
---
Welcome to the sewing circle, Irene. Great minds think alike, I
recommend the same books from time to time, with the added proviso that
they are out-of-print, but it is well worth scouring the secondhand
market for them.
\

"Irene" wrote in message
m...
Hi Cea, thanks for the welcome. Meanwhile back at the ranch Dwight is
still TRYING to find instructions, and I had even offered him a good
pattern for a coat that is identical except for a hood instead of a
collar.

From what I saw it was not what I wanted.


Gee, maybe some men can't aim in the toilet bowl (discussion of a few
weeks ago) because they are still living with Stone Age brains: it has

Gee, aren't you nice.

"duh who" wrote in message
...

"Irene" wrote in message
m...
Hi Cea, thanks for the welcome. Meanwhile back at the ranch Dwight is
still TRYING to find instructions, and I had even offered him a good
pattern for a coat that is identical except for a hood instead of a
collar.

From what I saw it was not what I wanted.


Gee, maybe some men can't aim in the toilet bowl (discussion of a few
weeks ago) because they are still living with Stone Age brains: it has

Gee, aren't you nice.

Here's our conversation that happened offline. Nothing worse than a woman
scorned, eh?

I couldn't resist the urge to answer your posting.

Now that I have had a chance to look, I found two patterns: a mens aloha
shirt in multiple sizes to XXXL, and a duffle coat. The aloha shirt has a
placket and a button band as options for the front. I prefer multiple size
patterns as you can do a lot of alterations before you cut. The duffle coat
is a mens medium size but it's a start.

So if you want these, please let me know where to mail them to.--Irene


I just found some duffle coats on line. Nah, that's not the style I'm
looking for. I'm looking for a mandarin style jacket, but can't find any
patterns. Dang nab it.

Thanks for your offer to help on this though. I appreciate it.

Dwight

Fitting, sewing, patterns, and useful stuff

(duh=A0who)
generous snipping
From what I saw it was not what I wanted.
---
Irene offers:
Now that I have had a chance to look, I found two patterns: a mens
aloha
snip
So if you want these, please let me know where to mail them to.--Irene
---
I just found some duffle coats on line. Nah, that's not the style
I'm looking for. I'm looking for a mandarin style jacket, but can't find
any patterns. Dang nab it. snip
Dwight
---
Ouch! (To snipped insults).
OK, here's my take:
#1) You prolly won't find exactly what you are looking for, Dwight.
#2) Never turn down a generous offer of free menswear patterns. You may
not need them now, but they might be have just the detail you need on
down your sewing road. Which leads to:
#3) To get the design and details you want, you'll often find you have
to cannibalize parts from other patterns. If you learn how to draft your
own patterns, you might still have occasions where you will want to
combine various pattern pieces. Until then, it helps to look at patterns
differently, as if they were a combination of often-interchangeable
parts.
Have I missed the part of this thread where you mentioned looking at
Burda and Quick Sew pattern books? I think Q.Sew has the most menswear
patterns of any of the books.
Along those lines, I went foraging through one of last years pattern
books (don't know if these patterns are still listed, but it's an
example, OK?) looking for a mandarin style collar.
Q. Sew: #2258 has a stand-up collar, which could be converted to a
taller mandarin style.
McCall: Palmer & Pletsch, #9579.
Costumes, the Bane of your sewing existence: Simplicity, # 7274, view
C--a Civil War uniform with a mandarin style collar. Front closure
would have to be adjusted, width added to jacket body.
S # 8363, view B front opening jacket with a mandarin style collar:
forget the fact that it is a costume. Go with me on this.
Squint at this one--imagine if the shaped bodice front pieces of the
pattern were taped together, thus eliminating the extra cutting/shaping
lines (called princess lines when they are on women's wear), then the
bodice was lengthened and widened, adding the width and ease that you
desire. Figure these amounts from a pattern you have already used, or a
fav. shirt. or adapt the collar to the coat pattern.
Putting disparate pattern pieces together is an adventure, and, I
think, a learning exercise, one which most of us have done at some time
in our sewing lives. HTH.
Cea

Thanks for your offer to help on this though. I appreciate it.

Dwight---
Ouch! (To snipped insults).
OK, here's my take:

#2) Never turn down a generous offer of free menswear patterns. You may
not need them now, but they might be have just the detail you need on
down your sewing road. Which leads to:

If it is not to my needs, I don't want the person to go to all that trouble
to send it to me, and then have someone else pop up who needed just what
they had, but its gone now.

So I express a lot of appreciation for the kind offer, but decline. The
pattern in question, or at least examples of it that I saw on the net, were
too far off from what I was trying to do.


#3) To get the design and details you want, you'll often find you have
to cannibalize parts from other patterns. If you learn how to draft your
own patterns, you might still have occasions where you will want to
combine various pattern pieces. Until then, it helps to look at patterns
differently, as if they were a combination of often-interchangeable
parts.
Have I missed the part of this thread where you mentioned looking at
Burda and Quick Sew pattern books? I think Q.Sew has the most menswear
patterns of any of the books.

KwikSew's online catalogue has been down for probably the last week that
I've been trying to get on there.


Along those lines, I went foraging through one of last years pattern
books (don't know if these patterns are still listed, but it's an
example, OK?) looking for a mandarin style collar.
Q. Sew: #2258 has a stand-up collar, which could be converted to a
taller mandarin style.
McCall: Palmer & Pletsch, #9579.
Costumes, the Bane of your sewing existence: Simplicity, # 7274, view
C--a Civil War uniform with a mandarin style collar. Front closure
would have to be adjusted, width added to jacket body.
S # 8363, view B front opening jacket with a mandarin style collar:
forget the fact that it is a costume. Go with me on this.
Squint at this one--imagine if the shaped bodice front pieces of the
pattern were taped together, thus eliminating the extra cutting/shaping
lines (called princess lines when they are on women's wear), then the
bodice was lengthened and widened, adding the width and ease that you
desire. Figure these amounts from a pattern you have already used, or a
fav. shirt. or adapt the collar to the coat pattern.
Putting disparate pattern pieces together is an adventure, and, I
think, a learning exercise, one which most of us have done at some time
in our sewing lives. HTH.

I don't have enough confidence or experience needed to do the type of
swapping you talk about. To me, I'd be afraid I'd end up getting the
equivalent of putting the wrong size sleeves to a different armscye. I know
we're not talking about sleeves here, but that kind of not so evident
mismatches that might not show up for me until I put the final product on.

I will save you post here, though, for future reference.

Dwight

"duh who" wrote:

KwikSew's online catalogue has been down for probably the last week that
I've been trying to get on there.

www.kwiksew.com works just fine for me. Don't try the thumbnail
viewer....it's not nearly as good as the 'original' version.

You could also use www.sewingpatterns.com to look at KwikSew patterns.

jenn
--
Jenn Ridley

"Jenn Ridley" wrote in message
...
"duh who" wrote:

KwikSew's online catalogue has been down for probably the last week that
I've been trying to get on there.

www.kwiksew.com works just fine for me. Don't try the thumbnail
viewer....it's not nearly as good as the 'original' version.

It is dead in the water for me. I'm not even getting the main page now.

Dwight