One of our PFS Elite members were fitting a beautiful Shoulder Princess blouse,the tissue fitting was as good as at it could be but here is her experience in her own words – as well as my response and the end result:

I have done something else in this time. I cut a pattern of a top many weeks ago, I took from my magazine and I did the tissue fitting alone. All seamed nice so I took a big piece of old fabric and sewed it.

Well, something funny is going on after I have sewed the front parts together. The seam of the side part is a bit longer then the front part, (the curve at the bust, I think), so I gathered the “too much” of the side piece, at the bust, for around 9 inches. Look at the bubbles on the side part. What did I wrong? The same thing happens on my daughter’s blouse, after I did a big FBA for her.

I will take some photos of the top on me later. I don’t know how women can take photos themselves in front of the mirror. I tried, but they are all unusable.

I didn’t change my pattern at all, as there is a lot of ease at the bust for me. I measured it comparing my measurements to those of the pattern.

Should I do a pleat on the side piece of my tissue paper at the bust, a sort of triangle, to take away the excess or should I gather for a much longer amount then 9 inches?
Did you ever have such an issue?

I would be very happy to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much.

I could feel her frustration and desperation but the fix was easy:
I think this is a great pattern you are working with – it may be that the fabric is a bit different and it grew while you worked with it – I know Rayon do this as well.

My response:
No problem it is easy to fix

And here is the end result – all those extra wrinkles are gone and she her daughter had beautiful new blouse

I love this little top. It was easy to sew, I do believe that this a great op for any beginner. With two bust darts and the side seam – how can you ever go wrong.

I also love the fabric I used, I had this in my stash forever. But when I saw this little top I new this fabric was just the one for this little top.

I used Butterick 5170 size small I also added some length to the waist because I’m long waisted and I need that tad bit extra. This is something I see some ladies ignore from time to time. But when I prepare my pattern it is the first thing I adjust.

I do want to sew the pants as well in one of the colors in this top. I did not wear any pants with elastic before but I guess it maybe a good idea for something casual for a day at the beach.

A forum update: We have started our first sew along for this year on the forum, our goal this year is to sew a complete wardrobe, this sew along is open to all PFS Elite Members, and I hope to meet some of our new members. If you need fitting assistance during this wardrobe sew along all you need to do is to post your photo’s and we will work on adjusting your pattern. If you want to become a PFS Elite Member and join the sew along please click here:

I really enjoyed working on this pattern. I took a chance and sewed the top according to my bust measurement with 1″ seam allowances. I was afraid that the neck maybe to big, but the pattern was drafted with negative ease, so I thought it maybe a chance worth taking. In the end I did not need a high round or a broad back adjustment like I do when I work with a woven.

I used a Matte Jersey for the top from Joann’s I really like the colors in this fabric.

The wide legged pants was also easy to fit and sew – the waist is desighned to sit below the natural waist line without a waistband. I used a linen fabric, it is so comfortable but it wrinkle like nobodies bodies – I used a 5/8″ satin ribbon to sew at the waist, and it worked beautifully I will also use this mehtod on skirts in the future.

I was wondering how many ladies have used the video’s here on Perfect Sew And Fit?
Please tell us if you have watched the video’s and if you have used any of the fitting rooms on the forum. And what do you think about Perfect Sew And Fit?
If you have any questions about Perfect Sew And Fit – Please let us know. I love to work with the ladies in the forum, we are having great success and a lot fun learning how to fit our own bodies.

Do you have a flickr account? Now you can join the Perfect Sew And Fit Group on flickr – I look forward to see what you will post, anyone can visit and leave comments for the members who already posted their photo’s.

Here are a few of the Perfect Fit and Sew Ladies who completed their fitting proejcts.

Just a short post tonight.

I was going through all the video’s I have made sofar, and I realized that most of the video’s are for ladies who already know how to sew.

Is there anyone who visit this blog or our forum who are new to sewing? If there is please leave a comment and tell us what you would like to sew
I will make sure to create some video’s and step by step tutorials to help you in your sewing adventure.

It is fun to sew for yourself, but there is nothing more frustrating when you don’t know how to sew or read a pattern instruction sheet.

I look forward to hear from you. Please post below.

Sewing pants is really easy!  The difficult part is to get a good fit.
To achieve the best fit possible I always start with the pattern, I buy
the pattern according to my hip measurement, because this is where my pants will be anchored
on my body. All pants hang from the hips unless it is a gathered pants or a pants with a lot of pleats.

After I found the right size pattern, I will cut and prepare my patern for tissue fitting.  I always
tissue fit my patterns.

After I have tissue fit my pattern and I have made the necessary adjustments it is time to cut my pants
in fabric and to pin fit my pants.  During the pin fitting process I will move a few pins to
tweak the fit where I see it is not perfectly smooth or straight.

After this it is easy to sew my pants together, because all the errors has been taken care of, and all I have to
do is to sew on the markings I made when I pin fitted the pants.

This is the easiest way to sew your pants, and to get a beautiful fit guaranteed.

I do have a free tissue  fitting  video available for you to watch, simply send me an email to request access to the private video site.  If you are in the process of sewing or fitting pants and you need help you could post it here and I will do my best to assist and advice you.

Learn to sew a knit top – quick and easy – I love this little top from Pati Palmer. I used a Slinky Knit for this pattern – It sewed up in about 60 minutes which include the time to fabric fit as I sew. I will most definitely sew this top again.

Here is the first video on preparing the bodice for fit – It is very important that you use scotch magic tape when you tape around the armholes and neck, making sure that the tape overlap each other – you don’t want your tissue to tear when you fit it on. Any other tape will turn hard when you iron you pattern.

What you will learn in this video:

How to use a multi-size pattern
How to prepare the pattern for fitting – the most important step of all

How to Fit the Back

After preparing your tissue paper it is time to fit the back.
You always start to fit the back first, not just for tops, but in everything else as well.

In this video we will:

Fit the armhole – you want the armhole to sit smooth with no gapping – you also want to check the size of your armhole, most of the times I don’t have a problem with my armholes, but some ladies have to change the size of theirs.

We also check to see if the neckline is where it’s suppose to be, we also want to make sure we have enough fabric for our back, and that our center back and the pattern center back come together.

You will learn how to check your neckline, always read the pattern for this measurement.

You will also learn how to add tissue for a a broad back alteration.

How to do a High Round Back Adjustment

The easiest way to fit your neckline is to wear a light or thin necklace – do not wear something with a pendant as this will cause the chain the sit higher than it should. -

How do you know if you need a High Round Back Adjustment – the center of the pattern will not reach the chain (remember this is for shirt like pattern – some necklines are lower).

The other pointer will be if your tops/dresses pull toward the back of your shoulders, and the neckline in front will be too high.

In this video you will learn:

how to make a High Round Back Adjustment

How to make a FBA – Full Bust Adjustment

Because you will buy the pattern according to your high bust measurement – the changes are 10 to 1 that you would use this alteration.

This video will show you why you have a “gap” in your armhole, and how a FBA could fix it.

See how I fit the bodice as well as the skirt

The completed top

Cutting your pattern out of fabric is nothing to sweat about.  But there are two things that is VERY important .  If you get any one of these two steps wrong you are heading for a major disappointment – that will be the grain line of the fabric and the markings on the pattern which need to be transferred to your fabric. – Take your time with these two steps and you will have pleasing results and a much more enjoyable time sewing up your garment.

You can achieve professional looking darts by making sure you end your darts with a stitch length of 1.5 and stitch right up the edge of the dart catching  just a few strands of the fabric at the end of  the dart – If you sew a dart with 2 points You  will start to sew  in the the middle of the dart sewing down to the point, and then repeat for the other half of the dart. Always start you stitching on top of your previous stitches – this guarantee  no bubble in the middle of your dart.

The second step in creating a professional dart is by pressing it. Make sure to set you iron to the right setting for your fabric – if you don’t know if your fabric will shine if you iron on the right side of  it – use a press cloth – rather be  save than sorry.

Remember: you could always move the darts on the pattern – sometimes we don’t have our curves exactly where the pattern company thought we should have them – so you just move it to where it will look most flattering for your body type – sometimes you could eliminate the front darts all together especially in front – I have notice that in some ladies with a more mature figure – you could eliminate the front darts in a skirt or pant all together – you will simply ease the extra fabric for the dart into the waist band – giving you the “room” you would need over the tummy area.

By taking the time to Press your seams you avoid the homemade look. By following these simple pressing techniques.