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Making Alterations on the Pattern for Hourglass Figure

Lesson 5 from: Tailored to Fit: The Palmer/Pletsch Tissue Fitting Method

Pati Palmer, Marta Alto

Making Alterations on the Pattern for Hourglass Figure

Lesson 5 from: Tailored to Fit: The Palmer/Pletsch Tissue Fitting Method

Pati Palmer, Marta Alto

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Lesson Info

5. Making Alterations on the Pattern for Hourglass Figure

Next Lesson: Working with Darts

Lesson Info

Making Alterations on the Pattern for Hourglass Figure

So we're going to put on a pin version and you can see that it's pinned with the seams sticking outward and the darts sticking outward just put that they're easy to handle generally we pin with the right side as the base occasionally somebody left side is bigger, then we would fit the left side so the first thing I do is fifth back and kind of has a little necklace that you can't see it very well but it's there on her neck and I'm going to put it where actually needs toe sit there that's really the base of your neck there and you can see that the length is pretty much correct. How tall are you? Five, one five, one and at the side seam is where we check bodice length because that's a straight bit um sometimes you have a rounded back and that absorb some of the back length or a sway back and that ad's length down here so we don't use the back length as a guide for body length. We use the side seam as a guide and she's pretty much right on five eighths at the side, we find that more women...

are short than petite ah petite would shorten an inch here and possibly some here, but as you can see, this is the correct length so your short in the legs not in the upper body it also means if you buy petite ready to wear the inn and has a waistline the waistline is going to be up here so seam allowance on the bodice too and it's coming down so that where it's marked for one, eh? One inch is at the bottom of the elastic the waist is at the bottom of the elastic so cannons back is pretty good not too many issues here so let's look at the front whoops. Okay, raise your arms up now put it down. What happens when you put the tissue on the arm collects the excuse to shoot at the side so when I raised when she raised her arm and put it down I can put it down then at this point right here if the correct size because this patterns for a b cup and she's more busty this is not working, so we have to add to it. So I'm gonna measure and it looks like about an inch and five eighths needs to be added. What we want to do also is we've found that sometimes we need to alter up in this area so we have this new technique called the y dart and so I'm going to fold the tissue at the under armed point and put at center front of her center front and this is the arm hole and we could use another five eighths actually get to the arm hole what? We found it and you're yung's who she doesn't have a lot of fluff here but you do want the seam line to come to your arm home cole you don't want left hanging out but it doesn't really have a problem but you know someday so now we're going to alter the pattern, stand and watch if you would like so the first step is unpaid ing all of this a lot of unbending and repainting but it's worth it fit is a process it takes time but it's time well spent when you're learning it takes longer we're not altering the back so I'm just going to set that aside now since this is a palmer pledge pattern from a calls witness over you can see that the lines are actually marked on the pattern so there's a line going through here which you wouldn't know what to do with unless you I had a class with this pattern or followed the directions in the pattern there's a line here on a line through the middle of the dark we call these lines line one because it's the first step line two because it's the second step and we have down here line three because it's the third step so they're numbered for a reason we're not doing the back of the pattern but on the back there's a line for broad back there's a line for high round on a line for low round so there's lines to guide you to your alterations makes it very easy to do so I'm going to anchor the pattern on my board and the grid on the board is really important I um I find it very consistent when you're accurate, some pinning the pattern down to the board and then putting the pins in different directions so it stays in place put another pin up here at the top and the first step is the cut line one and way are going to make use of the wide art, so we're going to cut line one all the way to the shoulder I folded right there and that's where I want my half inch so anchor again then we're going to cut line one to the arm hole and this is where we want the whole incheon five eighths anchor those parts and now you can see that this is swinging out here, so what we're going to do is cut on line two I have not mastered cutting backwards personally because I have to do this on camera all the time if I had to walk around there to cut from here then it would you know I'd hide this beautiful move now this comes down straight and we make it an even incheon five eighths till there we go and what we wanted to make sure everything is smooth and flat, you want to do all of your anchoring, the more anchors, the better before you put any tissue in its good there and that's, good. Now you can see that it's uneven here, because if you need more with, you need more length, so this is dropped down to give the length. We just need to cut on line three here and bring it down, so I want the dot to be in the same place on each side, so the dog happens to be on a grid line, but you want to make sure it's straight here and that's, why I use the grid lines so that the center front is still a straight line, and now you slip tissue. And in the book and in the guide sheet, we also talk about the order of pinning because you don't, you want a anchor, things that are going to stay stable, and then as you cut, move things than you anchor those, and you cut something else than you anchor those, and it just to serve a logical sequence, so that may help you, and there is a why best download we wrote complete instructions, they're very thorough about how to figure out where you're going to add, to cover up the fluff over here and how much you gonna add at that point so that you can add the rest for the total with down the load the two areas will add up to the total you need so if you have the class print out those downloads so she was an inch and five a five eights full best so I will mark that on kenna's shed full bust one and pie and then we used the wide we did the y so righted the white area I'll just put it right here he added a half an inch I'll just make a few notes on her sheet again you want to make sure that tissue doesn't jump up and grab the tape it doesn't have to be taped solid separating the buster because you're going pull on that a little bit is that the spencer dol do I need to switch it so it's easier it's about the tape is it ok working they get dull they do have several joel but then how long like out on thirty years so kenneth every year you can try on your altered basic and see if you've changed this will be a great road back because you're pretty young and I didn't change until I was forty and I had my daughter and I never went back well wow well marta is doing that can you tell us again for people that this tissue fitting method is new to what was the alternative be that what that you would do that wouldn't end up being right? Well, most a lot of people take a lot of measurements and then they try to major the pattern and maybe add where they think they're going need it but the issue without that we have found cause we did that our first painless sewing book had a whole thing nancy has the book did you bring it? Come show the chart that you filled out nancy when you find it, you can take it off if you want teo that she gets more, but nancy has one of the early payment sewing and this is how we talked we said, measure your body and I don't know you see this and she's filled out a chart completely she was a young, dutiful palmer pledge fan and we don't do this anymore because it really didn't work I mean, it gave you a starting point and that's all we knew, but you then tried toe, add and subtract the pattern, but the difference is we are three dimensional, we're not flashed. And so tissue fitting accounts for that three dimension ality where flat measuring doesn't and we've had design students in our class and they're saying we don't use patterns and design school and you teach patterns why am I here? What we said, well, why don't you just take one of our other students and measure them and draft a pattern for them and let's see how it fits. Well, usually I needed a lot of tweaking because, again, it was from measuring so that's sort of convinced us that even if you know how to draft patterns, that's a great thing to know, but usually design students have to fit on the model to and then they fit muslims. So the alternative is measuring and muslin or one measurement and tissue fitting and altering. One of the problems with measuring is I can take kenan's measurements, and nancy can come and take tennis measurements. We'll get two separate sets of measurements I can measure it ten in the morning, and you're different than it five o'clock in the afternoon. So I always say, if you're going to be making a garment for a special occasion that's evening you wanted to you're fitting in the evening, so can do so a little bit, but you're doing costumes, right? Or you're in that business. Tell us what you do. I do some costumes, and I I do a lot of, um, sort of make shift alterations on close that already exist, so I don't do as much sewing from patterns that's pretty new to me. But all of my patterns sewing in the past I think has been you know without this and then I put it on and I'm like this is a weird piece here and it doesn't fit over there I don't really know what I'm doing and I tend to get frustrated and just rush through it so I don't have a lot of experience with that sort of translation of flat into three dimensional um they usually work with things that are already three dimensional and then make them fit me or somebody else in a different way so that's a little different from that we'll always that we hope you continue so yeah I do this and I'm already going yeah this is going to make it a lot easier I think to make things fit me and other people so candid do you know that marta's early background was costuming yeah yeah it is really exciting I want that and I think it's made marta more take risks more than me you know ice cream was trying to do it by the book and she'll say oh patti to smush that little dart out you don't need it s so we've it's been we've been a really good team you know, with her cost and costume experiences great yeah you get that on the actor by opening night so you fit it no matter what you want to go ahead and do this you want it go ahead your thing I usually do the bottoms but you know they will come back and do it close by why didn't tumble yesterday so I'm being very cautious with people help you fold this skirt what we want to do is we start first with the one inch line this marked at the bottom of the elastic we're now going older the elastic when we're fitting other people it just seems smoother and nicer but when you're fighting yourself you may have to put it under the elastic there was going to wait for tips on yourself after to the end but it well ok so you can see that it it doesn't come to the center front and it cut edge comes the center back with the same business come in the center back okay so that's turn around to the front again she's also dancer she promised us she wouldn't fall off the box can you see it the bottoms of the darts there it's just like they're pointing to nowhere she's very flat across the front so I'm gonna take out these pins on now the front really hangs quite smooth here there isn't a need for the darts that lets out the waist a little bit okay let's look at the back again back starts looked like they're doing their job so we're not gonna know you raise the back darts they're good and we're now pretty close to the scene hanging pretty straight down the back let's look at the front again it's swinging a little bit in the front this is just some over so it's just bring it up a little bit too mrs that levelling from the waistline even the skirt him at the waist that looked better the one inside seam will allow for a heavy wool well but I like what I say I'm just a little bit not quite quite to the centre back that's better and she's a little sway back but if she's not needing less length there so this is where you can have a rule oh your sway back lifted in the centre back or take a tuck in the bodice that center back I had sway back part of the night but not all the time data draft of pattern the style in this particular case we have a waistline scene so in the fabric which will also be fitting in the fabric weaken uh just the waistline seem appropriately not writing things down about your skirt. Okay, so what did we do so now lord the waste in the front. Like I said, we did do some pre work for this particular workshop so I have the skirt pattern with some lead out at the side seems ready to go so we let out the front darts with outside seem a little bit and that was it take this and a little bit here people don't need front darts and if you I was sort of felt badly when I saw the pattern photographs because the in one of the photographs more than this one the darts are really puckering on this woman but she's totally flat in the front but what mccall's has to do is they have to make everything they make exactly according to the way the patterns drafted and marked and that's the reality so they wouldn't fit in and take out the darts because then the consumer buying the pattern would say, well oh there's starts it didn't look like it on the picture, so I'm going like, oh no, it looks like it doesn't fit, cry, cry but then I thought, ok, just because we're having these darts no, most of the audience don't know it ok? So we're swinging this up a little this looks good now let's try on the fitted the altered bodice did you have a smooth must be its with the fabric do you get it? Yeah it's with the fabric back on that table actually, we're fine short okay, so in the bodice the side seam length is good you see this dart here is a little puffy what we decided is that we dispense it as it is and chances are in fabric will lengthen the dark because it can come up to her shoulder blade. But that's something that could be done in fabric very easily. Okay, get the front. Okay. Raise your arm underneath my arm and that's the altered bust that gorgeous and the sleeve. She just didn't have any need toe all her the sleeve. We we will show you how to alter the sleeve if necessary. So this particular design has an elbow dart in the dark on her elbow. So that's good sleep has room for ease and now we have the fabric to put on. But we want to talk a little bit about cutting and marking before we put on the fabric. All right, well, thank you, marta and patty, you're now done. You've shown us so much from how to start by the starting place in the starting size by taking that high bust measurement, find your starting size and then fit that two hour hourglass figure. And when we come back in our next lesson, we're going to learn how to start pinning the fabric to that. So everyone stay tuned for that. We'll see in the next lesson.

Class Materials

Free Downloads

Class Resources
How to Buy the Right Size Pattern
Sheath Dress Press Release

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Body Map Pattern Alteration Worksheet
Fitting Order For Tops
Size Education
Tailored to Fit Y Bust Tips

Ratings and Reviews

user-7c3291
 

This is one of the best courses I have taken online; I just wish you had the ability to make notes or tabs so you could refer back to certain sections more easily. I have met and followed Pati Palmer for many years but this was my first experience listening to Marta Alto and I see why they work so well together. Thank you both for sharing your many years of experience. It was interesting to hear Pati's history on many things and I really loved Marta's sense of humour it makes watching so much more fun!

Leslie coduti
 

I sew very well, imagine the disappointment when what I have sewn just does not fit well. Everyone who sews and wants what they have sewn to really be a joy to wear should take this course. It is like being there in the actual workshop. I am only half way through in the viewing and am anxious to apply what I have seen to my own sewing. It has been presented so well and in such detail that one comes away with confidence that they too can do this. I am also impatient, making a muslin takes time. Time is so precious and time to sew is really hard to come by. I have tissue fit pants in a workshop in Michigan and used a Palmer-Pletch pattern for a princess line dress I made in silk on my own. Both items fit my mature figure beautifully, and I did not have to make a muslin first for either one! When you hear, "What you see is what you get" believe it. Take this class, it will improve your fitting ability immensely and you won't believe how easy it is.

Rose Mellor
 

Love this program! Being able to watch the lessons multiple times is like taking the class over and over. For those of us who have a hard time learning something new this is sensational. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Rose Mellor

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