Do You Want To Learn To Sew

Posted Jan 27th, 2011

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.

Our 1st Birthday Celebration!

Posted Jan 23rd, 2011

It feel like just yesterday when I started to help ladies with their fitting troubles. I can’t believe we have been fitting and having fun for a full year already!
Time really fly when you have fun!

I can’t believe we already have 355 members, enjoying all the benefits and help this site offer with their fitting troubles. In the past year we have fit quite a few items. Some of our ladies finished their projects in no time and some of them work on it when ever they had time, because at PFS you don’t have a deadline, or completetion date. We all sew because we love and enjoy the journey.

If you have used any of our fitting video’s or if you have signed up for some of our fitting “classes” I would love for your to celebrate with us by leaving a comment.

I’m working on our next video, and should have it up in this coming week. Thanks again for a great year, I honestly love our group of ladies I think you all are great, and yes we did become friends, and we are a very close group. I look forward to our fitting journey in 2011, I have quite a few things planned and I hope to add a bit more fitting video’s this year.

Have a wonderful and Blessed 2011 may all your sewing adventurers turned-out exactly as planned

Your fitting buddy and friend
Patricia Schoeman.

PS: Here is a link to our forum where other members are posting to our 1st Brithday Celebration boad

What Will You Sew In 2011

Posted Jan 16th, 2011

Good Morning Ladies.

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season. I know here in Florida the schools are back in session, and this may mean that you have a few extra hours to do what you love to do. And for me that is time in my sewing room ( I do have a day time job, but any free time is spend here in my little “Oasis” of fabric and patterns.

I have created a new fitting board for 2011. This fitting board will only be accessable to our paid members (Elite Perfect Sew And Fit Members). I created this board for those of you who may have a fitting or technique question, No matter what you fit, or what your question maybe, just click on new topic and post away. I look forward to share in your new fitting adventurers.

I have looked at the video’ available to all our Elite members, and I’m sure these video’s are valuable and useful. If you did not have a chance to look at all of the video’s we have available for you just look at the list below. I will be adding a few more video’s in 2011. There is always something new we could learn. Or something old we could improve.

I will also start with some extra private classes this year. I will keep these classes very small, so I could give each student the attention they deserve.

I’m working on a new video for our Elite members as we speak. I’m very excited about this new addition that will be added to the PFS Video Collection. I will let you all know when it is up and ready .

Have a great day
And happy sewing

Patricia

PS: Here’s a list of video’s that we have available for your sewing success in the video tutorial board, we also have some free video’s which I did not include in this list: (To become a Elite Member and gain access to these video’s simply visit the forum and sign up. After you have signed-up you will be able to visit the Perfect Sew & Fit Elite Club Sign-Up Center

Shoulder seam adjustment – For Narrow shoulder
How to insert an invisible zipper
FBA For A DDD Bust & Beyond
How To Do A FBA For a C or D cup
McCalls Fitting Shell – Understand Your Fitting Needs
How To Pin Fit Your Pants
Pants Tissue Fitting
How to sew a Dart in a skirt/pants
How to press side seams
How to fit & sew A Pencil Skirt
Learn to fit a Yoked Skirt
Fit A Shoulder Seam Princess Blouse
M4079 Classic Blouse with a Yoke
M5433 Classic Blouse Pin Fit & Sew Video
Maxi dress, wrap dress, etc
How to fit M5752
How to fit M5974
Sew A Easy And Flattering Tunic
M5433 Classic Blouse Tissue Fitting Video
How to do a broad back alteration
How To Do A High Round Alteration
Broadback for M5433
Taking the right busy measurements.
Full Bust Adjustment With No Bust Dart
Full Bust Adjustment for a C – D cup
Full Bust Alteration for a D cup +
Compare The Waist Of The Pattern To Yours

Winners of sewing room contest

Posted Jan 12th, 2011

Congratulations:
Ashford,
SueB and
Lorraine
You have each won a $25.00 gift card from Amazon.com I hope you will spoil yourself.

I look forward to our sewing adventurers in 2011, I have a lot of things planned, and I hope we will be able to get to all of them. As I have promised last year we will sew a lined Vest, and I’m sure you would love the technique we will use, it is super easy, and it look really professional. My goal with the vest is not only to show you how to sew a super cute lined vest. But how to get rid of gapping at the armhole, and heaven knows most of us have that little gap right at the center front of the armhole. After you have done the vest you will never have any gapping in any sleeveless top, because you could use the
same technique in most sleeveless tops, blouses and or dresses.

The next thing would be a Denim Jacket. And you know you we all need a cute denim jacket. My goal for the denim jacket would be to concentrate on the shoulders. I have found that most of our ladies/members have a hard time to fit the shoulders, and as always I have searched high and low to find a way to make it just a bit easier for all of us. And I bet, you will LOVE this new way of fitting your tops, blouses, jackets, and everything else with a shoulder seam.

We have a lot to look forward to. My family will return to South Africa tomorrow morning. I still need to work at the office. But my goal is to have the Vest video’s up and ready ASAP within the next two weeks or so.

Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any fitting questions. Let’s make 2011 the year that we will kick our sewing and fitting skills up a notch or two.

I look forward to read all your comments and posts on the forum. Don’t forget to share your project photo’s with us.

Vote for Your Favorite sewing room

Posted Dec 4th, 2010

Here are the participants for our sewing room contest. Please vote for your favorite room/sewing space. The name of the contestant is in BLUE. When we started this contestant we would have had 2 groups the messiest sewing room and then the tidiest sewing room. But in the end we only had sewing rooms where our ladies love to spend time. So please vote for your favorite room.
Voting will close on 12/19/2010

PS: The Voting Box is to the right of this post Just click at the name you liked best.

Fall Skirt Sew Along

Posted Nov 18th, 2010

Well Ladies it’s time for yet another fun event here at Perfect Sew And Fit

We have had great success with the Princess Blouse, Empire Blouse and our “Favorite” M5433, and now it’s time to sew a beautiful skirt to go with our blouses.

I want this to be a sew along, for all the Perfect Sew And Fit members. (Click here to become a member it is free)

If you have never done any tissue fitting, or you have tried it but feel it didn’t work, or it is hard to fit yourself. Please give this sew along a chance. I do have a few tricks up my sleeve to get you to the fitting part a bit faster, and it’s not just by starting with the right size pattern even though that is a very important part. (I don’t share this tip in the video’s I will only share it with the ladies participating in the sew along)

I’m not very much of a talker, and I don’t use fancy words but I can read wrinkles and I can help you to get a good fit. If you are sick and tierd of going from one sewing workshop to the next, still having a difficult time sewing for yourself. You owe it to yourself, to come and join this sew along.

The starting date for this sew along is: 11/29/2010
To join the sew along simply sign up as a member and join us here
Skirt sew along

Sewers Feel Proud, You Are Amazing

Posted Oct 26th, 2010

You press and you rip, and you may even pull a hair or two out of pure frustration. But have you ever asked yourself:

What is the difference between the clothes you sew for yourself and the clothes you buy at a department store?

All tops, skirts, pants etc, started of as an idea and a rough sketch. After the designer is happy with the sketch or draft
the journey to create a beautiful wearable piece starts. The pattern was drafted, and care was taken to chooose just the right
kind of fabric to achieve the feel and look the designer had in mind.

The designer may change his/her mind several times before satsified with the results.

The consumer never see this journey, it takes them 5 minutes to decide if they would like to own a piece of clothing or not.
The amount of effort and hours of labor that went into the original design never cross their mind.

I do believe even though the stores are filled with beautiful designs, the consumer are satisfied with ill fitting
clothes because they do not have any other choice. Some consumers will gladly pay a tailor to adjust their ill fitting clothes.
But for the regular consumer this is too expesive. So most consumers settle for something that they feel is at least half way desend,
even if the neck is gapping and the bust darts on most tops are way to high or way too low, and in some cases there is
not enough room over the bust, waist or hip area.

You often will see ladies wearing blouses that is too big in the shoulder and neck area,
This is also true when you are fuller in the upper body or hip and waist area. They will also wear tops that rides to the back,
or it fall off their shoulders, pants are baggy in the back, and skirts are pulling over the thigh area.

The consumer is not educated about good fitting clothes so they settle for second best, or the best they could find.
Which would be to buy one size bigger because that will fit the areas that are too tight, even though they may have another
fitting problem, they are not aware of it.

You as a sewer have a enormous advantage. Most of the design work has already been done by the designer and the pattern company,
they also give you fabric choices that would make your new addision to your wardrobe a success,
The only thing the sewist needs to do is to find a style that will fit their body type, wardrobe and life style.

The most important skill the sewer will need is how to fit the pattern to her body perfectly. If we have lived
in a perfect world we all would have been a perfect 5f.6″ and a B cup just the size the pattern comapnies are all using
for there designs.

But because we are all so different and unique in shape and size it is crucial to know how to make the necessary adjustments to your
pattern and how to determine which adjustments you may need.

We all have tried to measure our bodies and then to measure our pattern. This do not work. Why? Because the pattern was
designed for a model with a B-cup size and therefor you may need more tissue in front if you are a DD or may be a
DDDD, It is impossible to take a circumference measurement when you have a bigger bust measurement because you won’t
have any success in dividing your measurement evenly between your back and front as they suggest you should do.

The best way to concor this is to understand how to adjust the pattern and how to fit the tissue pattern to your body.
By fitting the pattern to your body you have the power to make important decisions before you cut into your fabric.
Some of the decisions you make may be that you don’t really like the pattern and you will not spend the time and effort sewing it up.
If your tissue fit well you know you are on your way to have a great fitting top, dress, skirt or pants.

The next thing you need to look at is, your construction methods. Most of the pattern companies suggest to use a
5/8″ seam allowance in the hem of blouses but when you look at ready to wear you will see that the hem lines in classic
blouses are much narrower. When you decide on a pattern you would like to sew for yourself, find a similar piece you already own,
look at the fabric content that was used, and if you love the fabric find something similar. Then look at the inside of
the blouse and do your upmost best to copy the construction methods. Look at the size of the hem, the side seams,
feel the collar at the seams to feel if the collar was graded to eliminate any bulk.

How did they sew the button holes, did they top stitch around the whole collar or did they only understitch the collar.

By looking at something you already own, you will have a true guideline of how your finished piece will look more like
ready to wear and less homemade.

You may feel the fit is not 100% perfect, or you may feel that you did not sew as straight as you were suppose to.
And these little things are okay. You will get better with each project you sew.

Just remember, Any blouse, skirt or pants, that you have fitted and sewed for yourself will look 99% better than anything you would find in the store,
do not be too hard on yourself. I do find mostly that ladies try to use a cheap cotton fabric and they expext wonderful results.

Fabrics are all different, If you take a shirt and you sew it out of Cotton your shirt will be more fitted because cotton do not have a
lot of give, if you take the same shirt and sew it out of a Rayon your shirt will be more loose fitting because of the give you have
in the fabric. Some fabrics have a tendency to grow through the day and others do not – just think about your favorite pair of jeans,
they maybe a bit tight around the waist just after a wash, but after a few hours they “grow” and become the comfortable jeans you love to wear.
This is true for most fabrics, and this is why it is so important for you to learn which fabrics you like to wear, and then
learn to sew beautiful blouses, dresses, skirts and pants with your favorite fabrics.

The most important thing after you have decided on your pattern and you have checked the fit in tissue is to pin fit your blouse
right sides out and then to fit as you sew. It is a process and a journey that you should enjoy. Remember when we sew for ourselfs we are
designing something unique and beautiful. You would most likely never see anyone else with the same blouse in the same style and color fabric,
Because it is unique to your taste and style. Using the correct pattern size and good fabric will give you fabulous results.

How To Make A Dressform

Posted Sep 11th, 2010

A dress form do make sewing for yourself a bit easier, especially when you need a fitting buddy, who will never complain.

I used the method in the video below to make my body form. I didn’t add a stand to my body form, instead I have build a “table” for my dress form to stand om, this will make it easy to pack my body form when traveling.

Things my husband and I did differently: we bought a box fan to blow me dry on the opposite side(if he was taping in front the back was getting dry – this cut the process in half – good thing because my legs did start to hurt after the first hour.) We made sure there is something good to watch on TV, and this time I was in control of the remote – YEAH Finally , no flicking through the channels every five minutes. The best thing was when he taped around my waist and under the bust area, he kept on saying excuse me, as if he wanted to walk around me or something, I told him he can’t say excuse me, because I can’t go anywhere, he explained that he needed to get into small places and it was hard to see exactly where the folds were, and were the tape was suppose to go. We had some good laughs. I used regular polyfill to stuff the body form. I did not like the brown paper, and I added some pages from my favorite magazine using the paper mache method. I then added M2718 ontop of my paper mache, and now I know exactly where to fit my center and my neck, I knew there had to be a good use for the fitting shell.

The most important thing you could do for yourself is to measure your bust, waist and hip area, as well as the upper bust before you start to tape.After the body form is cut of your body, measure your body form compare it to your previous measurements and adjust it were necessary. I use a piece of string to tie it down to the right size, and then my Husband added some tape to seal the form again. I almost forgot – I used a tupperware bowl for my neck, just make sure it is the same circumference when you are done I had to clip my dried bowl all around and then I folded it to make a smaller circle at the bottom. If you have questions about making the dress form please feel free to post it here on the forum.
dressform front dressform-side

Here is the video I used to make the dressform

M4079 Cool and Elegant in White

Posted Sep 7th, 2010

I love this shirt. The fabric made me think of a wonderful vacation somewhere on a beautiful Island in the Carribean.
I believe “Quiltress” will get a lot compliments and miles out of this shirt.

Here is her journey in her own words:
“…I have learned much about fabric from this shirt, and not all good! The bolt said 100% cotton solid gauze. I can not believe how stretchy it is. Fortunately. my sewing machine is being very nice to me as I’m sewing.

I added the collar using the method you showed in M5433 and I think it turned out great! It is also comfortable. I will be able to button it up if I want and not feel like I’m being strangled.

I’ve re-pinned my sleeves. I automatically lined the seam up with the side seam, not paying attention to my marks. I read the directions in with the pattern and that was an eye opener.

As for working with the gauze, I used an 80/12 universal needle, but I did lengthen the stitch, sewed slower than usual and used a stilito (I actually use a very large stitch ripper) to guide the fabric under the foot at times when it appeared not to be moving thru smoothly. When pressing seams, be sure just to press and not iron.

One other tip, I changed the presser foot pressure to increase pressure. (I have to laugh here because I checked in my manual so I would explain it to you correctly and I find I was doing just the opposite. It said to reduce the pressure for that kind of fabric, but the way I did it worked) I wouldn’t think you would have any problems sewing it. The biggest thing with me was I wasn’t expecting it.

With Patricia’s wonderful help at every step, I was finally able to add buttonholes and buttons today and finish my shirt.
I did a small, high round adjustment, A 3/4″ FBA and added a dart, did a swayback adjustment, and added an extra pleat in the back on each side.

I have made a buttonhole further down on the shirt, but didn’t slit it open (I marked with photo with a red spot). I repositioned the buttonholes as suggested in the pattern instructions so not to have gaposis and may have one too many. Wondered if you thought I should use it or remove the stitches.

If I were to use this pattern again, I think I would shorten the shirt. It feels very comfortable and will be cool. With the exception of the drop shoulders I do like the way it turned out.

I’m looking forward to making the princess style. I have my pieces pinned together and took photos

M4079 front M4079 Back

M6076 A Shoulder Seam Princess

Posted Aug 29th, 2010

We are about to kick-off our Shoulder Seam Princess Sew-along. I think the princes seam is one of the most flattering styles you would find for most body types. You will find this style in wedding dress designs as well as evening and cocktail wear.

The princess style pattern is not the easiest pattern to adjust for your fitting needs, but it sure is a very rewarding project when you achieved success and all the seams are were they should be “In the center of the bust”.

I have completed my Shoulder Seam Blouse, and I’m very pleased with outcome.
M6076 M6076