It's a Stitch Up

I’m half way through making the first of many skirts from my own custom block. After drafting a block from my measurements, fitting and adjusting a toile, and copying the adjustments back onto paper, I have block which I can trace to give me custom-fitted patterns. My first skirt pattern is as simple as it [...]

Recently I hosted a pattern cutting workshop on drafting a basic skirt block from body measurements. The first time I did this was for the I made last summer. I found the hand-outs from the course I did at London College of Fashion badly written and confusing, so I’ve made a my own skirt block [...]

14 April I’m half way through the Custom Pattern Cutting course at LCF, Zoe asks me if I’d make her dress, I say of course yes. 11 May – 14 May Zoe has tried on some dresses and emails me photos of her faves, I start thinking about construction.

There were a lot of things I’d always wondered about the practical task of pattern cutting: How do you draw a smooth armhole curve? How do you make a straight hem? How do you add seam allowance? On a curve? It turns out that these things are a lot easier with the right tools.

The next phase of Zoe’s wedding dress was to take the and trace it as pattern pieces, add seam allowance, cut it in calico and sew it into a toile. Calico is used because of its firmness and lack of stretch. It’s very unforgiving, so if it looks right in calico, you know it will [...]

With the detailed set of measurements I took in day one of Custom Pattern Cutting and Fitting, day two was spent drafting a bodice block from those measurements.

A few months ago I did something I’d been meaning to do for a really long time; I took one of London College of Fashion‘s short courses, in Custom Pattern Cutting and Fitting. I’ve got to say it was excellent, well worth the money. What was it all about? Designing and fitting clothes based on [...]