“I need to know how to help MYSELF when I don’t have someone around who can pin me and let me out of my muslin time and again. I’d like to be able to drape a bodice… and actually get it to fit ME! I am so frustrated about making skirts that fit spot on, and I cannot seem to get a bodice even close, [without] 14 different mock-ups. It TOTALLY takes the joy out of sewing for me. I am thiiiiiis close to just giving up and just buying something out of a thrift store and to heck with fit. Any pearls of wisdom for us lone seamstresses?” ~L.V.
The first point you must take to heart is Don’t Give Up!! Truly! That means you are close to a break-through. Those that press on are the ones who survive the creative whirlwind and come out shining on the other side.
I am a lone seamstress too and completely feel your pain. The grand costuming ideas rumble through my head, searching for the outlet. I step into my sewing room and sigh when my new striped cotton catches my eye… the recently received pattern sitting on the table ready to become reality….
Then the second sigh comes and I woefully walk away. The thought of all that work and those many hours ahead is sometimes too much. So my decision at the time seems the best… or easiest….
Well, really it’s the worst. Not doing ANYTHING, even reviewing pattern notes, is a sure sign I’m failing at the project. Taking action is the only way to relieve the lack of joy when facing *another* mockup.
Even when I know I’ll have to twist myself to pin the dang mockup closed – sometimes with the few occasional pinning helps from my husband. But as time goes on, I end up doing it all myself as he really can’t pin closed a center back properly.
Dear me… being alone in my sewing room over the years has taught me many tricks. My favorite fitting tips have been developed from one too many sessions where I get everything pinned but don’t have a chance to come back to the project for a couple weeks. Taking notes is the only way I remember!
And I don’t re-invent the wheel either. Why bother? Once I have a bodice fitted well, I’ll use it again for the next one. Tweak some more then use again. Over and over and over.
Why make sewing so difficult and start a new project with another pattern? By fine tuning one pattern block you’ll slowly start to learn the tweaks specific to your body shape (hump back, short waist, low bust, etc., etc.). You’ll get there, but it always takes time.
But honestly, the best wisdom I’ve been taught is to not expect perfection. It simply doesn’t exist.
I’ll spend time fitting (read: hours pattern drafting) a bodice to look like my inspiration photo. I’ll sew a mockup and tweak. Then I move on. Because I usually start with an already fitted bodice, I’ll only do one mockup… two if I’ve really changed things or it’s a new pattern.
But I know that the bodice won’t turn out exactly like my dream, the vision in my head. And you know what? I don’t get caught up in it either.
My goal is to create. To produce delightful visions of the past. And who’s going to notice if my sleeve head is too wide? I know it is… and I’m going to fix it with the next dress.
If I spend too much time trying to make the dress a “perfect” fit, my motivation stalls in moving forward. I don’t want to spend days or weeks making eight mockups for one bodice. In that time I could have made two completely finished bodices and be wearing them to events.
Besides… the next project is always the current favorite. 🙂
Excellent article. I am a lone seamstress too. Facebook does help, as does forums like this, but it is still hard being a lone seamstress. I agree – just take some action. Sometimes I photograph each step, partly to keep reminding myself I am getting somewhere (as well as for other reasons). Sometimes projects can be so big too. I often get very stressed near the end, ‘cos so many hours have gone into them and I don’t want to blunder at that stage, but I too don’t aim for perfection. You can only do your best with what you have (including time and energy). Best wishes everyone.
My only suggestion for a lone seamstress is that a proper sized dressform is your BFF. I have a foam one that had a completely mastectomy as those were only my husband’s fantasy. I’m able to corset it with both my Victorian and Edwardian corsets, but not Regency. It helps so much getting the fit *pretty* close, then do the final fittings on myself. The shoulders are broad tho and I’m not, so there’s that. But at least you can stand back and look at it, and take photos which seem to show up boo boos better than my eyes sometimes.
Val
I have a dress form. She was cheap, on sale and not nearly big enough on any mearement. She’s now padded out to my measurements and, thanks to sheet foam and a shell I had fitted by the alterations lady 40 miles away, she squishes appropriately. I put the proper foundation garments on her, whether modern or historical and go from there. It’s usually close.
But, I have to agree. A trained husband is a Wonder. Of course most of the events we attend are related to his hobby, so helping me is kind of his “bribe” to get me to go sit in the heat. I hate heat, and bugs…..grass, trees, wind, the outdoors. Gah, hand me my allergy meds, parasol and fan.
I made myself a paper ‘dress form’ with a little help from a friend (she made mine and I’ll make hers in exchange). And its making fitting so much easier, and hemming less of a…hit n miss event. Oh, those wonkey hems. *shakes head*
I’m happy if the fit is comfy…rather than ‘fitted’ to the nth degree.
I’m lucky in that I have a DH who has learned to fit bodices on me. However, if he was busy, I would always fit with a centre front seam, whether or not the design called for it. I have often fitted customers that way too. A mirror is a lovesome thing, and if you are fitting someone else, face them to the mirror, then look over their shoulder – you see what they see! (I use a long mirror BTW.)
Have received the Regency Tips for which thanks. Could you do an illustrated version at some time in the future, please? The advice about busts, seams and shoulder straps would be much easier to understand with simple line drawings. Otherwise, it’s great and I shall read until over and over before I begin!
Thanks for the feedback!
I am 54 and determined to start sewing a Regency dress. I have never had a sewing lesson in my life and my friends are being most discouraging. I like your upbeat approach; you make me feel that, by being patient and taking online advice, I just might manage. Thank you.
I also have a large bust – 34FF in UK size – so I don’t know what style will suit or accommodate me! I look forward to receiving your book of tips and any other advice which you can offer!
Annabel from Malta
What a wonderful article. Perfect inspiration for that skirt that’s been “just not right yet” for too long. 🙂
I agree–notes, patience, and self-forgiveness (to sum up not so eloquently 🙂 are the keys to self-fitting. To be honest, I do 1 mockup, calculate how much needs to be taken in or let out, divide the final measurement by each piece, then divide each one of those by two (two sides to each piece) then just DO IT. It’s the best I can do on my own. If I know my sewing friend is coming into town or I’m going to visit her, I save the mockup and have her double check what I’ve done. Aside from joining something like the SCA, whatareyagonnado?! Husbands (or “significant others”) are helpful, but only so much. Do what you can do then let it go. I still wear my stuff with pride, regardless of imperfections.
One little trick I learned, when trying to fit a back fastening bodice, is to work from back to front. So I will then put on the bodice with the back fastened, but leave the front open…so much easier to pin!
makes sense. so if you have a flat,non seamed front and you pin the back closed, I guess you must skinny in thru one side seam? i have a fitting dummy ,but when I try it on ,I may as well have used a 55 gallon drum, never seems to come even close to fitting.
I’m a newbie on this site — very helpful! And I have to say anything that makes me fall off my office chair laughing here at work gets my vote as a great blog! 55 gallon drum! Yep, that would DEFINITELY cover the fitting expertise I’ve managed to master, working on my ancient mannequin. (She might have been appropriate for me, had I EVER had a real bosom, and if I could possibly attain my post-pubescent rear end…)
Thanks, guys!
Nancy
Welcome to our joyful community Nancy! So glad you are laughing ’cause we love to have fun here! 🙂
I agree with Jennifer — don’t give up! Fitting a female bodice is one of the most difficult things you’ll do when creating a historical piece or modern item. If you don’t have someone who can help you with fitting I can recommend a great site for you — the Stitcher’s Guild forum. This site deals mainly in modern dress but it is a great community and the people are incredibly generous with advice. There is a section called “Critiques” and if you post photos of yourself in your toille or mock-up and explain where you are having a problem members will examine the photos and give you advice on how to fix it. You could have a low or high bust, sloping shoulders, a sway back, a forward neck, prominent shoulder blades — any number of things that a purchased pattern will not take into account! There are many, many books out there on fitting and I believe Threads magazine has some articles on their website — if memory serves me correctly Kenneth King did an article last year explaining how to identify bodice fitting problems. Don’t give up LV — there is lots of help out there.
Robin