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| Sewing Places – Blog Sewing Nuggets 9th September, 2009 Topic: Sew Basic – 34 Essential Skills For Sewing With Confidence – “Tissue- And Pin-Fitting” Tissue- And Pin-Fitting No matter how expensive, clothing off the rack can’t compare with custom-fit garments. To give you a great fit in clothes you sew, here are two professional techniques, tissue-fitting and pin-fitting. Both are good investments – whatever time and energy you spend on fitting will pay off in great sewing results! First, Tissue-Fit In a nutshell, tissue-fitting involves pinning or taping the pressed pattern pieces together trying on the paper half-garment, noting areas that need correcting, making fitting adjustments to the pattern, and then repeating the process until you’re happy with it. If your body is fairly symmetrical, you can work with the half-pattern and adjust only one side (you’ll cut both sides the same), but if your’re noticeably different on each side, copy the pattern pieces so you have a full paper garment, and tissue-fit the sides individually. Step 1 Check the amount of ease. First, decide how much ease you want in your garment. It helps to compare the pattern with an old, trusted pattern or garment. Check the shoulder width, neckline, armhole depth, bustline, waist, hip, and length. If you know your figure irregularities, you can begin to adjust for them before you tissue –fit. Step 2 Prepare the pattern. Patterns without seam allowances, like Neue Mode and older Burda patterns, are easy to tape together and tissue-fit and will give very accurate results. For patterns with seam allowances, it’s easiest to fold back one seam allowance (clipping the edge, if needed) and lap it over the second one, matching seamlines. (Then reinforce the clipped area with tape or fusible interfacing when you’re ready to cut out the garment.) Join pattern pieces as follows, using removable (blue label) Scotch tape, which can be positioned over and over – pins work also. Step 3 To assemble the “pattern garment,” attach the bodice front and back at the sides and shoulders. If your pattern has a skirt, attach it to the bodice, matching seamlines. Pin the sleeve together, and attach the cuff, if any; don’t attach the sleeve to the garment. Pin up the hemlines, then pin a length of seam tape or ribbon around the waistline of the pattern. On a close-fitting garment, put the ribbon on the outside; on a loose-fitting garment, pin the ribbon loosely to the inside to hold it at the waistline. If you plan to use a shoulder pad, pin it in places now. Step 4 Try on the tissue –it’s great to have a helper to pin or tape the back, but you can still get good results working alone. Wearing the underwear and any clothing you’ll were beneath the finished garment, slip the tissue on your body and tie the ribbon around your waist. Pin or tape the pattern to your clothing at the neckline, bust, waist, and hip, in front and back. Slip the sleeve on and pin to the bodice at match points in the front armhole and shoulder. A weighted drapery cord (available at shops selling drapery fabric) positioned around the neck helps establish a flattering and comfortable neckline, and you can pin through it. Step 5 Take a look! Evaluate your pattern in front of a full-length mirror, using a hand mirror to see the back. Since a pattern hangs from the shoulders, begin at the top and check the following points. a. The shoulder seam should lie on the top of the shoulder and end at the shoulder joint, so adjust as needed. But darts should point to the bust and end before its fullest point. Check to make sure the pattern tissue reaches the center from and center back. If it doesn’t, let out the side seam. b. Vertical seams should hang perpendicular to the floor. If they don’t, adjust them at the shoulders or waist. c. The sleeve should fit comfortably around the arm; check to be sure that any elbow shaping actually occurs at the elbow. Bend your arm to check the length – you can raise the cap of the sleeve, and many times raise the sleeve/bodice underarm seam to increase mobility. If there is too much cap, or if the underarm is too high, it’s very easy to cut off the excess during assembly. d. The seam tape or ribbon around the waist makes it easy to check the bodice length. Lifting your shoulders without tearing the tissue ensures a comfortable amount of blousing. Final Fine Points Take the paper pattern off and make any necessary adjustments to it, then try the tissue on again and check the fit. When you’re finally happy with the pattern, you’re ready to cut the fabric, but be sure to leave generous seam allowances in the fitting seams (shoulder, side, waistline, and sleeve) for any additional adjustments you make as you sew. Fine-time With Pin-Fitting · As you sew your garment, pin-fit to customize the fit. Your choice of fabric influences the fit, and one alteration may affect or correct another. · As soon as you assemble the main pieces of the garment, try it on right side out and check the fit. Don’t overfit – too close a fit will accent any figure irregularity. Your garment should allow you to move comfortably. · Some fine-tuning suggestions: You may want to curve the shoulder seams and bust and hip darts so that they fit the contours of your body. Check the ease in the bustline and the fit across the back and at the waistline. · Check the hang of the sleeve and the fit of the cap area. For set-in-sleeves, pin the sleeve into the garment before sewing, placing the top of the sleeve so the cross-grain line is parallel to the floor. Check to see that the sleeve hangs gracefully, and make sure that you can move your arms to the front and back comfortably. Alter As You Pin-Fit Since pin-fitting is done on the right side of the garment, you’ll need to transfer changes accurately to the wrong side in order to incorporate them into your construction and blend the new seamline with the original one. A fast method of stitching a pin-fitted seamline is to slip-baste the seam as shown above, then flip the fabric layers so the seam allowance extends, and machine-stitch on the basted line. The drawback is that it’s difficult to transfer changes to the other side of the garment or to the pattern. For a marking method that’s easy to transfer to the other side, use pins or thread tracing to mark both sides of the corrected seam, where the two fabrics layers touch. After marking, remove the pins and mark adjustment on the other side of the garment and on the tissue. Stitch the seams on the new seamlines. Sewing Nugget:- “Tissue- And Pin-Fitting” is an excerpt from “Sew Basic – 34 Essential Skills For Sewing With Confidence” From the Editors of Threads Magazine. . “Sew Basic – 34 Essential Skills For Sewing With Confidence” is sold exclusively at Amazon. For further details or to purchase please click on the respective names below: Book Sew Basic – 34 Essential Skills For Sewing With Confidence Other books by Threads Magazine Quick To Make – Stylish Gifts To Craft In A Day Magazine Subscription to Threads Magazine |
