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Friday 6 August 2010

D'oh alterations

I've been sewing and wearing my own knit tops for some time now, wearing them in cheerful oblivion of how poor the fit really was.
At the recent London Sewing Weekend it became apparent that the shoulder seams on my tops just don't sit at the shoulder becuase I have forward shoulders, forward head and a very round back. D'oh!
I came back and could not bear to sew anything more knowing how terrible the fit was.

Jenni helped me find the right sections in Fit for Real people but I was rather intimidated by the whole thing and have not managed to pysche myself up yet to actually alter any of my patterns. The shoulder alterations make the armhole smaller as well, so I will also have to do a fat arm alteration also (I think they call it full bicep but who are we kidding?).

Anyway hopefully tomorrow I will be able to find the mental energy to start messing about with altering one of my supposed TNTs to be better fitting.
I am a bit down about it all to be honest, but that may just be a pretty tough day at work, and a long week speaking.

Probably the most useful thing to do at this point is to have a really good tidy up in the sewing room so I have some space to start fresh in the morning, plus an early night.

8 comments:

Sharon said...

Ruthie please don't be hard on yourself, it is hard to see what we need to do by ourselves and as sewers we want to have a better fit than RTW (which if you sew a pattern with no adjustments is essentially what you get).

I have been doing forward shoulders and high round back for years, yes I had a sewing teacher show me these, and recently the large bicep came into play after work outs at the gym.

These adjustments will come as second nature once you get used to them, and we ALL have to do them if we want a better fit than RTW.

I show how these ajdustments look on my blog here http://petiteandsewing.blogspot.com/2009/03/vogue-8151-grey-knit-top.html.

sheila said...

If I'm honest, I need to do the same. I don't, as knit fabrics are so forgiving, and as Sharon says, the fit, without adaptation,is similar to RTW - except I still think it's better somehow.
I will follow your trials with bated breath :-)

sdBev said...

Oh Ruthie, please don't be hard on yourself. It's actually a natural progression. When you first start sewing, everything you make fits so much better than what you buy that you don't even realize that you still have fitting issues. Then there is the whole wardrobe conceptualization where you sort out what's appropriate for your life and your body shape. Then you come back to whoops, I have some fitting issues. This is all very natural and VERY good.

The good news is, you have plenty of clothes to wear. There is no hurry. You can now take the time to finesse the look and fit of your self-sewn garments.

I will be looking forward to your progress.

Linda T said...

One way to look at it is "sewing and fitting is a forever journey as we all continue to change over time." Enjoy the journey!

a little sewing said...

Ruthie, in all the pictures I have seen, you look lovely in your creations. So you have plenty of success.
I have to agree that I feel the same way about making pattern adjustments. It can be overwhelming. I spent several hours doing that very thing this morning and I did not enjoy it.
But, in the end I did like the muslin. I bet you will get that satisfaction from your efforts, too.

Jen said...

Ruthie all you garments are wonderful. With the new alterations under your belt all the future garments will out shine the current ones. Good luck on the fitting journey.

Allison said...

Ruthie, I agree that you shouldn't be discouraged. I think that the more we sew, the more we realize that we can refine the fit of our clothes and expand our skills. Also, our bodies chnage over time and a sewists, we are usually very particualr about fir. So, what may have fit you before might not be quite right now.

Of course, its a pain to have to alter patterns but once you get the hang of it, it will be a snap. I always have to alter every single pattern I use but I have found that there are certain alterations I just automatically do to a pattern right off the top. You will probably find this, too.

Don't be discouraged. You have made so many beautiful things and will continue to do so.

Allison said...

Ps Its a darned good thing that I sew better than I type!