News — The Week in Patterning Storyboard

Picking up where I left up in 'Bias Junkie Part I', it's often a better garment when cut on the bias.  Take McCall 9906, the 1938 Day or Dinner Dress: The skirt is arranged on the fabric with grain.  It's fabulous already, right?!  Yet, I saw in it an opportunity so many of us dressmakers want - the potential to MAKE our own fabric!  As you may have seen in my blog 6 years ago, I set out to create my own ribbon gown using this pattern as I was inspired by an extant gown I bought in an antique...

 This 1934 Simplicity tea dress style has what looks like a very slimming, cling-y skirt with geometric insets at each side. The reality is, the skirt is more of a boxy A-line style than what is depicted.  Check out this generic rendering of a 1930's A-line skirt.  I elongated the skirt length to parallel the example here.     Why is it this way?  Sometimes pattern art is more idealized than the actual outcome of the garment made from it.  Here, Simplicity instructs to cut the skirt pieces on the straight of grain as both skirt front and back are...

From extreme isolationism to a newly industrialized nation, Japan was quickly becoming a modern society and a rising world power by the early 1900’s.  Western taste in fashion reflected the traditional dress of this ‘new-come nation’ and Butterick offered this Japanese kimono style for the home sewer (circa 1923):  As shown at far right, an option is given implying more of a peignoir style of lounge wear, very popular of this time.  Also by Butterick, this is a peignoir style also referred to as a kimono (or Pullman Robe)! Although these are both single size, hand-drafted patterns, they have both been...

After a long time of not being happy with the options I had in making E-Patterns available, I have finally cracked it! Using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is key.  I wrote the recommendation of using it into the instructions accompanying each of my E-Patterns whether you go about printing yourself at home or having the pattern printing by a professional. You will find my E-Patterns from the 'Catalogue' pull down at the top bar of my site.  I have started out with some of the bigger sellers and am adding more nearly each day! By all means, if there is...

A little tour of this pattern as it is among the fist of my E-Pattern offerings (more on that next week as the collection grows!) and also just because it is fabulous!  I recently included a turban pattern to go with it so it went from being a 9-piece pattern to a 10-piece on that note! While this single-size pattern (for 38" bust) is hand-drafted for the dress or gown, the more recently added turban is digitally drafted and full instructions are included to create it within the dress construction details. A note about the dress, as shown it is...