fitting – Damselfly's Delights

I wasn’t especially happy with the fit of my first Closet Core Kalle, the cropped version that I showed in the last post. I decided more work was necessary at the shoulders as well as going up one size in the upper chest area front and back for just a wee bit more wiggle room. It was quite an involved process since I was combining several adjustments at the same time: sloped shoulder, forward shoulder and high round back. All this changed the shape of the back yoke quite a lot and also took a large wedge out of the front shoulder seam. I took a little more from the back armhole by nibbling another wedge out of the back bodice at the armhole edge. In order to counteract some of the narrowing that all this caused on the sleeve, I lowered the underarm where it curves from the sleeve into the body of the garment. All this in turn necessitated remeasuring the cuff pieces. I had to add to the back cuff and take a little bit away from the front one. Whew! In the end though, the fit is a whole lot better.

This time I decided to make the dress version of the pattern with the pop-over button placket, collar and inverted pleat. I used the narrower band collar piece for the collar stand and shaved 3/8″ off the collar to match because I thought the original collar was a bit too oversized. I also added 2 pockets instead of one because otherwise this dress has no pockets. Should have put inseam pockets in, shouldn’t I? Next time for sure. The fabric is a narrow handwoven, tie-dyed and batiked cotton from deepest stash. Must have been lurking there for at least 25 years! Bright and cheerful enough for you? Even though the patterning is completely funky and there was no matching anything anyhow, the fabric was quite lovely to work with and pressed and sewed like a champ. The buttons were little turquoise plastic ones salvaged off something ages ago and they matched very nicely.

The fit on this second Kalle is very much improved! As well as the shoulder changes, it grades from a size 12 at the neck to a 14 at the bust, 16 at the waist and 18 at the hip. Four sizes is quite a large range, eh? Also this is the dress pattern as drafted for 5’6″ and I’m only 5’3-1/2″ and it’s still quite short, although I suspect some of the extreme hi-lo hem curve has been removed since the pattern photos. Anyhow, all my adjustments worked like a dream even though they had me scratching my head whether or not I did it all correctly. Yay! Now I have another good pattern to add to my collection. I may succumb to a tunic version yet! I wouldn’t mind experimenting with long sleeves as well but don’t think I’ll be buying the expansion pack that Closet Core has available. A simple sleeve, tower placket and cuff shouldn’t be hard to draft myself and save the cost (which comes to over $9 CAD) to put towards something else. I’d still have to adjust the upper edge for my revised sleeve opening and shorten the length as usual for my T-rex arms anyway plus I already have a tower placket pattern so why not DIY?

So then there were about 2 yards left of the fabric so I decided to make another wearable muslin, this time for Thom. I tried out the Wardrobe By Me Tropical Shirt. The only fit adjustment that I made was to straighten out the waist curve because he’s pretty much the same measurement at chest, waist and hip. (Unlike me!) I did debate with Christina from WBM about her pattern sizing for men which I have found rather confusing but haven’t really gotten a satisfactory answer apart from “European sizing is different” and “Euro men are smaller”. Uh-huh. Thom’s 40″ chest which is a size M practically everywhere else is an XL in WBM sizing. The largest size offered, 3XL, is only a 45″ chest which seems a rather limited range to me, at least on the top end, whatever you label it. Anyway the finished measurements were what he expected so that’s what I made. And was just able to squeeze it out of the remnant piece.

There was no way to choose where the patterns ended up since there was so little fabric to work with. My friend Melanie says he has owl eyes! Hah. Now you can’t unsee that, can you? Instead of the pocket pattern I used a spare one that I’d cut out for the Kalle and decided that it wasn’t looking right there. It works fine here. There’s only tiny fabric scraps left, which is what you want, right? Thom is quite happy with his new shirt and it’s now dubbed the Aloha Shirt. He says he will wear it while holidaying in Las Livingroom and Puerta Backyarda! There will be more, especially as his collection of short-sleeved summer shirts start to wear out. Some are upwards of 15-20 years old now and the best ones are linen, ramie or a linen/cotton blend. He wears them all the time when it’s warmer, preferring them over t-shirts because not only are shirts cooler, he can keep his glasses in the pocket.

One change I might make to this pattern in future is to add to the 1cm (3/8″) seam allowances at the side-seams and the top of the sleeve so I can sew flat-fell seams instead of having to overlock them. So much nicer inside and more durable for shirts. I used flat-fells on my Kalle which was easy because it started with 5/8″ seam allowances. On the dress the seam finish was even flexible enough to accommodate the curve under the arm where the body morphs into the sleeve but I did have to clip a little into the seam allowances underneath the top of the folded layer before stitching it down to get it to lie flat.

So what’s next? I seem to be on a bit of a sewing roll! I suddenly decided to use my lac-dyed linen/rayon for a longer version of the Peppermint/In The Folds Button-Up Dress. More on this one soon. I’ve made a few changes to it since I made the first version (which does look suspiciously like a copy of the pattern photo). I wear it a lot but it’s short and I hate the facings. I hate ALL facings! They never cooperate and lie flat or stay put. Give me bias binding over facings any day. There will be bias. Okay, I’m done!

Take good care, everyone! Wash your hands, stay 6 feet/2 metres apart and wear your damn mask! It’s the least we can do.

Or maybe that should be Mistaken Pattern Thoughts? Last post ended with me assembling the Closet Case Sienna Maker Jacket. I was completely off base thinking that I could frankenpattern the regular and extended (I was incorrect to call them “curvy”) sizes together to get something that would fit me. Wrong! The two size ranges are drafted on completely different blocks and they didn’t correspond well enough to combine parts of them together. So it became a DIY project of massive proportions! In the end there wasn’t much left of the original pattern except the collar, hems, pockets and centre front and back seams.

Yes, my body is not a “standard” shape! I have a small frame but carry a lot of extra fat around the middle of me from bust to upper thigh. Unlike most people who have fat distributed more evenly on their bodies, my arms and legs (at least from just above the knee down) are relatively thin. My shoulders are also narrow and quite sloped. I’m short but not petite since my shortness is all in my legs (and arms) not my torso. All this means some pretty complex fitting changes have to be made before I’m happy with any garment’s fit.

So much work but I learned long ago that just going with baggy oversized layers makes me look like I’m wearing my big sister’s clothes. (And I don’t have a big sister.) I hate that! The proportions are completely wrong for me and I feel swamped. I need the upper bust and arms to actually fit me and then widen from the bust to hip to at least skim breezily past the fat parts. With enough ease because I also don’t like feeling squished in the middle.

In the above photo of the front of the Sienna (size 14 in the extended range), you can see I needed the shoulder sloped and narrowed, the underarm raised, the bust narrowed slightly and the waist curve removed and widened down towards the hem (not shown). I also shortened the body at the lengthen/shorten line by an inch which probably isn’t enough to bring the lower pocket markings up to where my short arms can reach properly. I’ll check that when I get there in the sewing steps.

And then I did a similar fix to the back pattern piece.

I don’t need to slope the back shoulder as much as the front to accommodate my forward shoulder. I left a little extra width in the shoulder seam to be eased into the front which fits my round shoulder much nicer. Another option would be a dart but this is only 1/4″ so easing is better. The upper back width is also not narrowed as much as the front. I left the back curve shaping intact. (Interestingly the “regular” pattern sizes have a straight back seam. And no bust dart.) This jacket is not meant to fit too closely but to be a layer that one wears over one’s regular clothing to protect it from dirt or wear: a work jacket, chore coat, or lab coat. Or to at least look like you were planning to do some work.

So of course after all that fiddling I had to make the sleeve pattern fit the new armhole. And me, hopefully.

The Sienna sleeve is a two-piece like a suit jacket. This is a little harder for me to adjust than a simple one-piece sleeve but I figured it out eventually. I had to take some height off the cap, add some to the underarm, narrow the whole sleeve and shorten it. Yikes! So much work. But if there’s anything I cannot abide it’s sleeves that are too large for me. I lived with that issue in the past but no longer. I can make them better. So I can bend my arms comfortably but not dip my cuffs in the soup.

The only other adjustments I had to make were to the shoulder seams on the facings so they would match the slope. Collar and pockets and belt are untouched. Remind me why I keep buying patterns? Seems pointless when I have to do so much to make them fit that it feels like it would be far easier to draft one from scratch! I keep saying I’m quitting buying anything new now that I have a whole suite of basic pattern blocks that I can use. At least for the simpler things. Let’s see how long I can maintain a pattern-buying moratorium. You heard it here first! Counting from NOW……

One comment about Closet Case: Heather Lou has decided to rebrand as Closet Core Patterns. It seems a better fit and less of a subtle unintended slur than “Closet Case”. All her marketing and social media redirect to Closet Core now. However, even though the timing is good I think it’s going to take awhile before it completely catches on. Especially when the original name is all over the patterns that I already own. Maybe I’ll get out the markers and correct them! Heh.

Anyway, I hope you aren’t holding your breath waiting for me to actually cut out and sew the Sienna right away. I’ve been working on a number of sewing ideas and absolutely nothing is getting finished yet! Unfortunately I get just as much pleasure out of planning as I do actually accomplishing. Okay, maybe “unfortunately” is the wrong word. I’m just going along with what works for me right now: preparing patterns, matching them with fabrics, stacking them up, wash, rinse, repeat. Once I eventually get over this phase I will definitely start chopping out garment pieces. After I have at least half-a-dozen ready to go, then I’ll start sewing them together. I know that’s not how most people sew but just working on one project at a time doesn’t make me happy. After all it’s not a contest, is it? I don’t really need anything new. I have plenty of clothes to wear already. It has to be fun or I won’t do it. And right now all I want to do is play with pieces of paper. So I am.

But just so you know, there is fabric for the Sienna.

The colour only showed up properly in the sunshine.

It’s a heavy reddish-brown brushed bull denim that’s been in my stash so long I have no idea where it came from. And I even have the D-rings in the right size for the belt. Progress!

Moving right along. I get to go to the dentist tomorrow for a teeth cleaning and check-up. I adore my hygienist but I don’t relish all the new rules for taking my temperature, distancing, masks, hand sanitizer etc. thanks to The Evil Pandemic. I can’t even wait in the office but have to be called in by phone and then leave before it’s Thom’s turn right after me. Ugh. I know they are just being careful and protecting both themselves and me. It’s important to do so. And I’m sure it’s just as much of a PITA to them too. Anyway to cheer myself up I made a new mask to wear. Obviously I can’t wear it in the chair though! Fun times, people. Fun times.

Tag: fitting

Kalle Take Two

More Pattern Thoughts