I hate Fashion Police.

[powerboy]

I dress preppy. Why, because I would rather look nice. I wear jeans that are a little baggy, but they are comfortable to me. Now, I do not dress to impress others. But I do want to look respectable at the same time

[IDrinkaRum]

Seshat - at the website you linked to (www.oldpaterns.com) I found they have patterns for larger women from the 1960s and 1970s - that's the era I like to dress in anyways. I'm checking them out now as I speak.

I look good in A-line skirts, and not too low-cut blouses - though no Dolly Parton outfits.

And RK - I'll remember to remove all copies/originals of me in my "underthings" LOL.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I'm always on the lookout for those awesome sundresses with the wide circle skirts and fitted bodices. They are probably the most flattering style on me. I could probably find a pattern for something like that in these links.

You mean like this skirt, or maybe this dress?

I got some velvet from a thrift shop for a great price, and am planning to make some shirts from it. I'm using this pattern (lower right version) for the purple velvet. Not sure what to do with the dark red, wheter to make a modern outfit or SCA garb with it (did they have velvet in that era?)

Yes, velvet was popular among the wealthy in the middle ages and renaissance. That pattern looks very comfy, great for a winter day here in Oregon.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I would look like a goddess in that dress. Want!

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. the narrow waist and wide skirt gives me a curvier waist than I actually have. I'm slim, but my hips are narrow and there isn't much curve there. The straps crossing in the back give me slightly broader shoulders, which balance out my bustline-to shoulder width ratio.

Can you imagine something like this some funky espadrilles and an updo? Wow.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Well, RK...


if you're interested, The website is called Decades of Style.

They specialize in updating vintage patterns to make them easier for us modern gals to use, with familiar modern pattern markings and detailed instructions and such.

The pattern is $20.


Everybody's figure is a little different. I have an hourglass figure but I'm really thin so I don't have a whole lot in the way of bust or rear, and I have a teensy little waist (18 inches). I have to wear outfits that have definied waists, otherwise I look like an underdeveloped kid playing dress up, so I wear a lot of dresses with little belts or princess seams. I look hilarious in A lines, I'm jealous of IDrinkaRum that she can look so good in them. 60's and 70's clothes look awful on me.

I recently scored this pattern on clearance at my local Jo-Ann's. $2, baby!

[AFPheonix]

Heh. You'd think Portland girls would be used to seeing more unusual dressers. It's not like we're not a hippy town, and it's not like there's not a ton of vintage clothing shops down in the Pearl.
They're probably recent transplants from Texas or something.

[IDrinkaRum]

Thank you TPG for making me blush.

A-lines look good on me 'cos they hide my (non-existent) knees. Let's put it this way: My legs look like my 5-month-old niece's legs, but on her they look adorable, and on me, they look gross.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, RK...


if you're interested, The website is called Decades of Style.

They specialize in updating vintage patterns to make them easier for us modern gals to use, with familiar modern pattern markings and detailed instructions and such.

The pattern is $20.




I recently scored this pattern on clearance at my local Jo-Ann's. $2, baby!

Thanks for the link! There is some awesome stuff on here!

[Seshat]

Those of you who are inspired to learn to sew because of this thread: it's not that hard.

Start out simple. Make simple tops and skirts with very few seams, and look for patterns which are labelled 'easy'.

Make your first version of EVERY pattern in a cheap fabric: I use calico for weaves, and a cheap and rather nasty t-shirt knit for the knitted fabrics. Old sheets work great, too.

Start by looking at the measurement table. There's one in most modern patterns. Take your measurements, and cross-reference to see which size you are. Mark your sizes - all of them - on the table. For example, I'm often 2 sizes larger in the bust than in the underbust.

Now lay out your patterns. I like to trace them onto a stronger paper - so I can keep the original patterns in case my body changes, or to use for someone else, and also so the paper I'll be using lasts.
Most patterns are multi-size. We'll be making use of that!

Identify where on the pattern each measurement is important. The bust measurement is important around the bust and the upper back, for example. The bicep measurement across the sleeve. Go back to your measurements/sizes table, and find the pattern size for each particular bit of your body.

Lay out your tracing paper, and use weights (soup cans!) or pins or whatever to keep it flat on top of the pattern and keep it from shifting. Other than lengthening or shortening beyond what the multi-size pattern can do, don't move the paper while you're working on the same piece. (Where 'a piece' is a sleeve, or a bodice front, or suchlike.)

Trace the appropriate sized pattern segment onto your tracing paper. Do this for every measurement in the table. If you need to lengthen or shorten a pattern piece (such as a bodice, or a sleeve), there's usually a guide showing you where to fold or cut-and-spread the pattern.

You'll now have a bunch of partial-patterns traced onto your tracing paper. Notice how the lines between each segment are drawn in the pattern. If they're curves, you'll want to draw curves to match your partial-patterns up. If they're straight lines, you'll want to draw straight lines. Go ahead and draw them. It doesn't matter how weird your pattern looks in paper (my pants patterns look RIDICULOUS in paper), it'll look better on your body than anything else you've ever worn.

Now cut out your traced-and-put-together pattern, and then follow the instructions in the pattern about cutting and sewing the outfit. Use your cheap fabric, and use a contrasting thread and a long stitch length. The contrast thread and the long stitch length are to make it easy to unpick seams.

Put on your cheap-fabric attempt. Everywhere it pulls too tightly, you need more fabric. Everywhere it hangs loose and miserable, you need less fabric. Open the seams where it needs more fabric, and measure how much gap it leaves. Pin the looseness up where it needs less fabric.

Now change the pattern to match the changes you've made in your cheap-fabric version. If you're confident with those changes, you can sew in your good fabric now. Otherwise, unpick your cheap-fabric version as much as you need to, modify or replace the faulty piece, and try it on again.

Remember: once you have this pattern right, you can use it over and over and over again. Make it with lots of different fabrics, or make it with different sleeves or a different neckline. Make one with a lace motif above the left breast. Make one with a cheeky lace cut-out in the decolletage.

It's worth the work to get one really good general skirt pattern, one really good general pants pattern, and a couple of really good top patterns.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

In fashion design terminology, those patterns are known as slopers. And I agree with you, it takes a bit of work to get a sloper just right for your body, but once you do, they have a million and one uses.

My slopers are made out of flexible, cuttable plastic sheets, and I used black sharpie for all the markings on them so they will show up through tracing paper. I like to lay vintage pattern pieces over my slopers to see where they differ and then correct them for my size.

Slopers make adjusting and cutting out patterns so much simpler.

[Seshat]

Two more things: don't buy your patterns based on what store-bought size you are. Due to the fashion industry and vanity sizing changing store-bought sizes, pattern sizes and store-bought sizes are WAY different nowadays.

Buy top patterns based on your underbust measurement (women) or chest measurement (men). Buy skirt or pants patterns based on your hip measurement.

Phone Goddess may suggest different measurements - shoulder and waist are also good ones to buy based on. I think it depends on the individual body: if I use underbust and hip, I have fewer changes to make than if I use bust and waist. Someone a different shape may find that different measurements work better for them.


The second thing is this: if you find that with one modern Butterick Misses pattern, you need to add five centimetres to the hip; you'll probably need to make the exact same change to all modern Butterick Misses patterns. The same with the other companies.

The key is that the companies use the same basic underlying body shape. (I think this is the sloper - I've done a lot of reinventing the wheel with my sewing, unfortunately, and I don't know the terminologies as well as TPG does.)

Patterns are simply variations on the basic shape. A different neckline here, some extra fabric to bell around the sleeve there, cutting the legs tightly to the base body shape (sloper?) or widely around it.

So what you're looking for is how your body varies from the company's base body shape for each pattern line. Once you know your variation from their base body shape, you can simply adjust each pattern in that line the exact same way, and you should get the right results each time.

(Note that the 'young adult women' line usually uses a different body shape from their 'mature adult women' line, and their 'plus-sized women' line will use yet another one. You can adjust any pattern to suit you, just be aware that you can't use the adjustment for their 'young adult women' line on a 'mature adult women' pattern and get the right results.)

Find a fabric and patterns store near you that has lots of staff who wear clothing that fits them perfectly. That's the one you want to shop at, because those are the people who have the expertise to help you. They're used to altering patterns to fit their own bodies. Even if their tastes in clothing are wildly different from yours, they have the knowledge you need. And most are perfectly happy to share it.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Hee hee Seshat, we're doggedly trying to win converts. Death to Haute Couture! Down with Pret-A-Porter! Rise up, you poorly fitted masses! Throw off your designer shackles!


Slopers are the basic pattern pieces that you've made to your measurements. They are the pattern pieces themselves, not the shape of the body or anything. A good sloper can be used thousands of times to draw patterns in every sort of style which will fit you perfectly each and everytime. In ready-to-wear, the slopers used are what the company considers their standard sizes. Of course, since there is no longer any basic guidelines, companies can define the sizes however they want. Drives me batty, but that's another rant for a different thread.


If you're a real beginner to sewing, you don't even need to buy patterns. You can find them all over the net.


Here is a basic pattern for curtains; my sister also sews, but she's a housewife and Mother, so she makes lots of stuff for her house, including curtains, pillows, table covers, placemats, doggie beds, etc

And here is a simple pattern for a tote bag, the kind you can buy to pack your groceries in.

And if you are interested in Ren Faire clothing, here are some awesome basic instructions for making a chemise, which was the basic foundation garment for European women's clothing for centuries. Be warned, it's not hard but it does take a little bit of sewing knowledge.

And finally, here is a simple pattern for making an old fashioned cloak.

[Lace Neil Singer]

What a pair of idiots those girls were. Just laugh at them next time and walk off; they deserve it.

Here's a story about something that happened to me once. I was in town, wearing a pair of black platform sandles, a short black velvet skirt and a gothic style black top with long trailing sleeves. As I passed a couple of chavettes, one sneered, "Look at the state of that." I turned round to give her a piece of my mind... only to see that she had her skirt tucked into the back of her knickers, with her wobbly butt and thong on display. So I said nothing, thinking that firstly I wasn't the one flashing passersby, and second I have friends who'd never let me walk around like that.

[DesignFox]

That's awesome Lace! That girls "friends" must not think highly of her if they let her walk around with her ass hanging out.