Back in the day when I started sewing, the dressmaker’s tracing paper available to home sewers was waxy, similar to professional waxed tracing paper. It made good marks, but they were permanent. The wax-free tracing paper commonly available to home…
Blog Archives
Measuring Body Width
Body width measurements aren’t commonly used when altering sewing patterns or patternmaking, but they do come up occasionally. I’ve used body width when drafting pants and locating princess seams. The problem is, how do you accurately measure body width? I…
Posted in Patternmaking
Speed Draping and the Dangers of Wearable Muslins
The Amazon product links in this post are affiliate links. If you click on these links and purchase something, I will earn a small commission. My husband has been asking me to make him a white shirt. This fall decided…
Posted in Patternmaking, Sewing
Adventures in Bra-making Part 2: Epic Underwire
I finally did it! I made myself some bras! For the first time in my life, I have bras that ACTUALLY FIT! They provide good support and they are pretty comfortable. Ready-to-wear underwire bras are not an option for me…
Adventures in Bra-making Part 1: Lounge Bra
My mother sent me her favorite bra that she wanted me to try to clone. She completely wore it out, and of course these bras aren’t made any more. I guess you’d call this a lounge bra – I don’t…
A Little Tip for Trueing up Darts
If you’ve made pattern alterations near a dart, rotated a dart, or made your own pattern, you’ll need to true up the edges of the pattern at the darts so the dart excess lines up properly when the darts are…
Posted in Patternmaking
Seam Allowance Marking Templates
I use little circles that my pencil goes through to mark seam allowances along curved seams, and a while back I created a tutorial for making these seam allowance guides by hand. Recently I dropped the little box that I…
Posted in Patternmaking, Sewing
Cloning My Daughter in Calico
I tend to get a bit obsessed with custom dress forms. Sometimes I’ll spend more time making them than using them for sewing. But I guess that’s OK – it’s a craft project, and if I enjoy it just for…
Posted in Patternmaking, Sewing
Blue Summer Dress – Balancing the Stripes
Now that there’s not much summer left, I finally got around to making a summer dress! I’ve had this beautiful fabric in my stash for years. I bought it planning on making a summer dress, but I couldn’t find a…
Posted in Patternmaking, Sewing
Mini Stuffed Dress Form Pattern
I’ve made yet another pattern for DIY mini dress forms. This one has a very nice shape and is my favorite. These tiny dress forms are so cute! My goal was to make a sewn and stuffed mini dress form…
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