Pinning the hem for maxi dress #1
In the last couple of weeks, I have read two amazing books on patternmaking. I went into reading these books thinking I could improve my understanding of darts and seams for shaping — but I’ve learned more than I could have ever imagined!
The first book I read was Make Your Own Dress Patterns by Adele Margolis, a really simple and easy book on how to do anything you want to do with cloth. If you’ve any idea how a clothing pattern works, this book will teach you wonders! The only thing lacking from this book is an explaination of how to make a sloper.
A sloper (in case you didn’t know :P) is the fitted base pattern that correctly fits the model for which you’re sewing (in my case, myself). A sloper is the base pattern you work with to create new patterns for literally anything. Adele’s book has you start with pre-made generalized slopers before modifying the patterns, which I was unsatisfied with.
Luckily, I had on hand How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald McCunn (who also has some vaguely helpful videos on YouTube), and THIS book really taught me the last bits of patternmaking that I had never understood before… that is, how to make clothing from scratch. YES!
So now I know how to make slopers for my body for ANYTHING! I am so thrilled! I’m slowly working my way through my wardrobe now, altering and fixing and creating new things. I’m still in the altering phase, but I should be done in a week or two, at which point I’ll begin creating drastically new clothing from older garments that I never wear anymore :D
Today I altered two of my older maxi dresses. I used to be a fan of these long dresses when I was heavier, but now I think they make me look too blob-like — I needed definition at the waist and a shorter skirt to show off my legs :) I shortened both dresses by 16-20” and took extra care to match seam lines, grain, and to make new darts and gathers where necessary. I’m so proud!
New dress, 20'' shorter and with a new waist sash :)
