For this project my inspiration was a dress by Claudia Strater.

A lovely summer dress in a nice print. Upon studying the details on their site I saw a horizontal seam in the waist. At least, that’s what I think, as it’s not very clear. That was at least also very helpful from a drafting point of view, I used the horizontal seam in both the front and back center pattern pieces.

My version is made from a knit fabric that has two tones of thread in it, in the salmon there is a bit of red as well. It’s not perfect and I would have liked the v neck a bit deeper. It’s more fitting than what I usually do in knits and I should be very aware of what I wear underneath. A cup seam is very clearly to be seen.
Apart from the that the main drafting issue is in the backarmhole. I made a quick muslin of the upper part and then again a quick muslin of the sleeve in this dress. I changed the sleeve a bit but it’s not good yet.
I guess the issue has to do with the armhole on the back pattern piece. I’ve posted the question on the Craftsy platform and am waiting for a reply.




Still I think it’s a nice summer dress, it will go with me to the south of France and Italy (soon!).

Summer top

What lovely comments on my new set from last post, I’ve tried to answer the questions in the comments there.

I’m having a blast with drafting patterns. This is what I tried this weekend, a cowl neck top. The basic draft is from the moulage class, the cowl neck from the dart manipulation class. I had some extra work in the waist/hip area and used my experience to deal with that issue.

Wearing it today and had sat at my desk for a while before the photos were taken, resulting in a few wearing wrinkles. What I like in this method is there is no extra fabric below the bust area, which was the case in a method I used before. The ease you see here is my wearing ease as I generally prefer not to have my garments too tight in the waist. Waist definition is fine, but not too much with my figure.

  

The cowl is a bit too low for everyday use and I think my shoulder seam should be a bit more to the front. Little alterations for next time.

Book (sort of) review

In a comment on yesterday’s post on the moulage Lyndle asked for information on the drafting book by Suzy Furrer. As it might interest more people I thought I’d answer it in a separate post.

I ordered the book from Apparel Arts directly. This is the school founded by Suzy Furrer where you can take all sorts of courses on drafting, draping etc. As for most of you, taking courses there is impossible for me.

On their site there is a link to their store where you can buy the book. Clicking on the book option immediately brought me a Paypal window to pay. To me that was a bit “direct”. It would be nicer to get some information first on the contents of the book, show shipping details perhaps instead of directly waving the invoice to you. It’s probably meant for their on-site students to buy the book easily and need it for their classes anyhow. On Amazon you can find a preview of the table of contents. But don’t buy it there! Right now it’s only offered at a price about 4 (four!) times the price you pay at Apparel arts directly.

The price of the book is $55, which is reasonable for this kind of book in my opinion. Shipping to Europe was another $24 and it was shipped the same day I ordered it and arrived within 10 days. The last is obviously depending on postal services and time to get through customs.

The reason I bought the book was to have the instructions in a written format too. The videos are wonderful and Suzy will give the little extra tips and tricks in the Craftsy courses, but once you know about a technique I don’t want to watch a whole video again doing it step by step, clicking through it just to find the thing you are looking for. And: in a book you can add (sticky) notes for things you want to try or remember. That’’s me, I love books (the real paper ones!). I know about Craftsy’s possibilties on making notes while you are watching. It’s not the same as taking your book, browsing, finding your notes, ideas.

Apart from the logistics of getting the book it’s of course interesting to know what the content is like. It has a good table of contents and a useless index. Most of the course material that is covered in the Craftsy courses is in it (as far as I can see, I don’t have the skirts and trousers class and not watched all courses to the end yet) and there’s a bit extra on some topics. Drafting a raglan sleeve, decorative sleeves, special shaped sleeve, drafting pockets, combining pricess seam and darts are a few examples.

The style of writing is very much as the Craftsy courses are: concise and to the point. To give you an idea of the way the instructions are written (clear as mud without the context and the line drawing, I don’t want to infringe on copyright):

This sort of instructions might look intimidating, but really are not that difficult and can be followed easily. If you want to have a go at pattern drafting (and I know that’s not everyones cup of tea) consider this book or the Craftsy class.

Moulage

In a previous post I mentioned I did not have the moulage/sloper class by Suzy Furrer because I already had a sloper. Watching the other courses I got intrigued though and when a good sale was offered I did take the moulage class too to see what her take on it was in the strong conviction I would always learn something from it. Again I was not disappointed. I heartily recommend Suzy Furrer’s classes on Craftsy. In the past months I have bought 5 of her classes and her book as well. If you are new to pattern drafting you might consider starting with the skirt sloper (one of the classes I did not take) because all pattern drafting classes in general start with the skirt, as it’s easier and therefor a good place to start to become familiar with the concept.
One of the things I have never done before is making a moulage. That is a “precise fabric blueprint of the upper body”. Very close fitting with no ease. Based on the moulage you make the sloper. That is the basic draft with ease from which you then make your patterns for a blouse, dress, jacket or a coat. Suzy explains very well (in the sleeves class) how to adapt the basic sloper to a sloper for a jacket or a coat. I’m not there yet, it all takes time but I did make the moulage. The bust point is a little too high so I will change that in the draft.

For comparison the photos of the moulage before my (small) alterations. I had too much space at the shoulder point and the waist was too wide. I also made the front armhole a very tiny bit wider at the bottom. In the photo above you can see the difference. The left armhole is changed, the right one unchanged.

You might wonder whether this is easy to do. The answer is yes, it’s not that difficult but good measurments are crucial. Most measurements needed were the same as in the other pattern drafting system I learned but a few were different and I had my daughter take my measurements. One of them was off so my first draft ended up strange as the side seam length was too long. With new measurements it went much, much better but then I made a small mistake in converting an imperial measurement to centimeters. I was not a lot off, but enought to re-draw that particular area of the bodice.
It made me decide to make an Excel sheet with all the measurements needed with conversion to centimeters and with front and back measurements in two columns instead of one as on the Craftsy information. I’m convinced that will make it easier for me.
My head is spinning with ideas, my closet well stocked with fabrics after a lovely weekend with a meetup with sewing friends at the Utrecht fabric market and a visit to the textile museum so I hope to do quite a bit of sewing in the next weeks. About 4 projects to finish or alter first, I’ll start with that first to clear the table.
Can you tell I’m enjoying my sewing again?