Contents:
Tools of the Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 1: Customize Any Pattern to Fit Your Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Step 1 – Take Your Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Measurement Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Step 2 – Choose a Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Step 3 – Determine Your Ease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Ease Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Step 4 – Find the Amount of Ease Built Into the Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Step 5 – Prepare the Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Step 6 – Measure and Mark the Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Step 7 – Cut, Baste, Fit, and Transfer Changes to the Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Review the Pattern Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 2: Make a Pattern from Your Favorite
Pair of Pants (Without Taking Them Apart!) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Step 1 – Check the Fit of the Pants You Are Copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Step 2 – Press Your Pants for Marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Step 3 – Mark the Center Front and Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Step 4 – Mark Horizontal Grid Lines on Your Pants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Step 5 – Mark the Pattern Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Step 6 – Measure the Pants and Draw the Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Step 7 – Allow for the Darts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Step 8 – Troubleshoot Funny Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Step 9 – Add Seam Allowances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Step 10 – Match the Front and Back Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Step 11 – Cut, Mark, and Baste Your Trial Pants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Step 12 – Fit the Trial Pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Step 13 – Check the Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Step 14 – Solve Fit Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Step 15 – Make Your First Pair of Pants from the New Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Step 16 – Change the Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Step 17 – Things to Remember When Making Your First Pair
of Pants from Your New Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Chapter 3: Master the Art of Pant Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Step 1 – Prepare the Fabric and Cut Out the Pants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Step 2 – Set the Pleats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Step 3 – Make the Pockets (Slash, Welt, or Faux Welt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Step 4 – Set in the Front Fly Zipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Step 5 – Mark and Partially Sew the Pants Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Step 6 – Attach the Front and Back Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Step 7 – Interface and Sew the Waistband Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Step 8 – Check the Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Step 9 – Attach the Waistband . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Step 10 – Finish the Center Back Seam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Step 11 – Attach the Belt Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Step 12 – Set the Pleats and Hem the Pants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Chapter 4: Sew Easy Lined Vests, Camisoles &
Sleeveless Tops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Step 1 – Prepare the Fabric and Cut Out the Garment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Step 2 – Interface and Stabilize the Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Step 3 – Make the Front Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Step 4 – Connect the Back and Back Lining to the Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Step 5 – Finish the Garment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chapter 5: Create Beautiful Tailored Shirts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Step 1 – Prepare the Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Step 2 – Cut Out the Shirt and Interfacing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Step 3 – Sew the Front Bands and Pockets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Step 4 – Sew the Back Yoke and Shoulder Seam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Step 5 – Adjust the Collar Band Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Step 6 – Sew the Collar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Step 7 – Attach the Collar to the Collar Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Step 8 – Attach the Collar Band to the Neckline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Step 9 – Set In the Sleeve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Step 10 – Fit the Sleeve Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Step 11 – Add the Cuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Step 12 – Add the Sleeve Vent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Step 13 – Attach the Cuff to the Sleeve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Step 14 – Position the Buttons and Buttonholes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Step 15 – Hem the Shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Western Shirt Variation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Step 1 – Prepare the Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Step 2 – Change the Yoke Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Step 3 – Make and Attach the Piping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Step 4 – Attach the Yokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Step 5 – Pipe the Cuffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter 6: Tailor a Couture Fused Jacket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Step 1 – Select the Interfacings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Step 2 – Prepare the Pattern Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Step 3 – Define the Roll Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Step 4 – Make Pattern Pieces for the Interfacing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Step 5 – Interface the Jacket Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Step 6 – Create Bound Buttonholes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Step 7 – Sew the Front Pockets, Seams, and Darts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Step 8 – Tape the Front Edge and Shoulder Seam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Step 9 – Sew the Body of the Jacket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Step 10 – Fuse the Jacket Hem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Step 11 – Attach the Under Collar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Step 12 – Prepare the Front Facing, Upper Collar, and Lining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Step 13 – Attach the Upper Collar and Facing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Step 14 – Set In the Sleeve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Step 15 – Hem the Sleeve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Step 16 – Attach the Lining to the Jacket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Step 17 – The Grand Finale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Introduction:
During the 25 years I have spent sewing – mostly alone in my studio – I never dreamed that the funny little ways I had of doing things would be of value to anyone but me. I am happy to be able to share my methods with you and hope they are helpful and will increase your joy of sewing beautiful garments in less time and with less frustration.
The satisfaction and sense of achievement you experience when you finish and wear a garment you’ve made for yourself (or someone else) is indescribable. I realize that sewing garments has taken a back seat to embroidery and quilting and I believe part of the reason is that fitting can be difficult and ready-to-wear clothes are more affordable these days. However, ready-to-wear can’t match the detail, quality, and fit of a custom-made garment.
This book addresses the aspects of garment sewing that often cause difficulty for student sewers in my classes. I offer commonsense techniques for pattern fitting, construction, and tailoring. It has taken me many years to develop these methods. Once I had a good background in traditional tailoring methods, and after years of altering designer ready-to-wear and manufacturing my own line of designer western shirts, I was able to develop my own methods of couture sewing.
The methods presented in this book evolved from my need to sew garments for clients in an expedient and professional manner, and to be able to easily alter the pieces when my client’s measurements changed. Had I not developed these methods, I wouldn’t have been able to make a living doing couture sewing.
You will learn how to take your measurements and use them to tailor any pattern as well as how to copy your favorite pair of pants. I don’t instruct you to do a lot of basting but if you feel the need to baste any areas, please baste. I don’t tell you when to use a press cloth, but you should use a press cloth when necessary. I don’t always cut out the points of notches, I sometimes make 1/4″ clips. If clipping makes you nervous, please cut the notches however you like.
You will find construction methods for six garments – a pair of pants, a shirt, a western shirt, a lined vest, a camisole, and a tailored jacket. If you want to improvise on any of these methods, just know that there is more than one way to skin a cat. If another way works for you, please use it. You will be able to duplicate and apply the methods to any style of garment that has the same parts.
My general philosophy is to get it done, put it on, and wear it out! I hope you agree!