Drafting and Sewing

Instead of doing quilting last week, I got sidetracked by a book I had gotten from the library.  Normally I've avoided all thoughts of drafting my own sewing patterns.  Actually, I long ago (after many tears and frustrations and even disliking most finished 4-H sewing projects) that I was better off just buying clothes for myself.  What changed my mind?  I'm not sure, but for whatever reason, this book caught by eye and actually looked approachable, unlike any other pattern drafting book I had picked up.

I recently read somewhere on the web that you should spend a large percentage of your garment sewing time 'fitting' a pattern to you, which I had never done all those years ago... was that why I almost never liked what I made? Or do I just have an inability to imagine what a picture of the article of clothing and the fabric into will look like and feel like on me?  In any case, though I hadn't made an article of clothing for me in at least 12 years, I decided to draft some patterns.

The book recommends going in order, so I drafted a skirt pattern, and then made a muslin of it out of some really 'nice' strawberry fabric inherited when my grandma died years ago.  No pictures of this. And I haven't gotten around to making one out of fabric I like, but I think this one might work (if I can figure out the invisible zipper...)

Next up was a basic T-shirt.  Here is my first attempt:



(well, my first attempt later modified to have a slightly larger neck opening). You're not seeing it on me because, well, I bought some knit fabrics to use for the T-shirt from the sale rack, and this one was thin and stretchy, with a really nice feel to it. It's white, with a really faint light green design. What I didn't notice in the store: thin and white = see through. Completely. Oh well, I'll just wear it as an undershirt when my building is freezing next fall.

There was also a weird thing with the shoulders - they felt a little too 'pointy,' but I thought I could fix that, so I modified the pattern and tried again:


I had bought this thinking I would try a tank-top version of a T-shirt, but after my sleeves were a little weird in the first shirt, I wanted to try again.  This time the pointy thing was fixed a bit more... but overall the top part of the sleeves are a little too tight.  It does fit okay, I'll wear it around the house, so mostly you're not seeing a picture of me in it because I'm lazy and a little bit shy to show it when it's not that great.  I think I know how to fix it, though I'm not sure.

So, that's my drafting story.  The skirt was good, the shirt... a little tougher.  Will I go on and make a dress or a button-down shirt that is next??? I don't know... I think I need to fix my T-shirt sleeve first.  I'm not completely hooked on drafting, but for some reason I like the idea of drafting my own pattern instead of buying one.  We'll see... but for the moment, this current sewing room obsession has been set aside to go on to other things (back to the quilt a long - I'm behind!)