Printing sewing patterns

forget me not helmi blouse. I printed size 40 in med bust and am just about to prep for a wearable toile, peter pan collar and slit neck. I am 4`10 with normal length torso (short legs) and southerly facing bust, rounded shoulders, all typical for age 75. PDF makes some alterations easier as A4 joins are good markers

move the whole dart down by 1". Cut rectangle and fill in the top 1" space left. Smooth sides with a pencil

1/2" added to high back, just under neckline. Pivot with a slit each side of seamline reinforced dot (scotch tape

Add 1/4" to back shoulder (arm edge) to bring it forward a tad. Take away 1/4" from front shoulder to compensate

That is it, all the adjustments and they are very easy to do and to be accurate

It is a lovely pattern with several variations, getting this first fit right will make it a tnt pattern

karmalady I'm going to make the Sinclair Iris raglan top and haven't sewn raglan before. I usually have to adjust my right shoulder seam & armhole as that shoulder is lower than the other. Do you think I will have to make adjustments for a raglan sleeve too?

You don`t have a shoulder seam as such with raglan, so having a lower shoulder should not affect the garment on you. The neck will be where it should be and the sleeves will look fine in my opinion. If in doubt then use a fabric that you don`t really love and make a wearable toile

Thanks karmalady I'm planning to make it as a top first with a view to make a dress if I'm happy with it

yes good Eddiecat, that is what I would do.

Just another few words on fabrics, I have already mentioned the top notch suppliers of very good fabric, always is very good from them.

I had some packages these two days, 3 lengths from higgs and higgs. Very good quality fabrics, nicely folded too and a very reasonable price to not break the bank. They also provide good info eg the gsm (the higher= the heavier) and washing instructions. I had their breton stripes in the past, lovely fabric and I made anotherstylearc maddison top. This package was all linens and they are all beautiful

The real bargain basement for decent fabrics is rainbow fabrics. I had 5 lengths delivered, all with some linen and most with viscose. I bought 3m lengths and all were between £20 and £30. They are beautiful, you have to look beyond the creases etc. Really outstanding value and I will be using them all. Drape for linen/viscose is wonderful. It seems that will be me sorted for the next 12 months

I have serged the cut ends and have started the pre-washing, will put two out later today, the lightest ones which will dry in a jiffy. The rest tomorrow. Yes different weights and quality to drapers daughter and merchant and mills but perfection for summer dresses and floaty tops with bishop sleeves

Also they were at roll end for one and gave me 3.70m, same price

I am going to make myself a bag, my first ever cross body bag and it will be nice to have a new challenge. I will buy the first fabric but I can see me making more for presents as I already have some heavy twills and canvas in various colours

I am researching the pattern right now, factotum

Thanks for the tip off about Rainbow Fabrics - haven't heard of them before. We went to Higgs and Higgs on Saturday - lovely to be able to actually feel fabric rather than buying online. I came away with 3 lengths of jersey and had a reduction on one as there was a slight flaw near the selvedge

I would love to live close to higgs and higgs

I just had an e mail from cashmerette. They are working on a fabulous sheath dress called the emley dress. I love it but it is part of a new book called sewing the curve, not yet released. I will have a good look at what is in the book and may/may not buy. So far I see good trousers and tops, three patterns would be value for money for me, as well as all the tips and tricks and info. I have the book called ahead of the curve, just took it off my bookshelf, to read this afternoon, while sheltering from the heat, in my cave

Maybe 12c at the bust and 14 at the hip, pattern provided also pdf

copied from an e mail

Like the other five patterns included in “Sewing the Curve,” the Elmley Dress comes in sizes 12-32 and cup sizes C-H and is available in a printed packet at the back of the book as well as a digital PDF download that you can print at home or send to a copyshop

I like Higgs & Higgs but I can’t say I was that impressed with Rainbow. I like Croft Mill but they have become expensive compared to when I first bought from them. For cheap and cheerful Pound Fabrics are good and reliable.

I’ve just had an email from Higgs & Higgs re a discount on their quilted jersey so I’m about to order some for winter tops.

I have pre-washed all my new fabrics and even put them, one at a time, in my tumbler drier on delicate after being outside. To get max shrinkage.

I must say that my rainbow fabrics, all five, have turned out beautiful. It depends on the fabric composition. All mine had some linen in them, I am so pleased with what I bought. The lavender modal linen is very drapey and will be perfect for a swishy cool summer top with bishop sleeves. Even a cool summer nightie

Bargain as well as lovely

Feature friday from love notions, saltwater dress and top. It has 4 sleeve options. I really like everything about it

$5 or £4.19

I have just prepped my bought AO printout of forget me not helmi blouse. This is for my final make using a nice drapey viscose. For the toile I used pdf A4 stuck together, printed in size 40. I recommend either asking for a definite size in AO or it would be easier to cut the pdf A4. AO has 15 sizes and it is difficult to go around the curves or darts when it is a jumble of sizes

I can see this blouse as a tnt in future, today I am doing the stand collar with ties, +/- neck frill and 3/4 sleeves. Original toile fabric was not nice, sticky to me, thin but did the job. I am shortening the body by 1.5" and am not dropping the bust dart. Toile was good practice, worth doing

I am going to make myself a bag, my first ever cross body bag and it will be nice to have a new challenge.

karmalady I fell in love recently with a denim cross over bag I saw someone make on Youtube. It was made from strips of denim from old jeans which were woven together to give a piece of checkered denim in different colours and the bag was made from that. Being denim it would be nice and strong too. That will be my cold Winter evening project I think after we finish the garden project. Although I'm beginning to wonder if that will ever happen 😁

Arewethereyet, what a very good idea re the denim strips. I like a challenging project for mid winter

Re helmi, I got into a mess, due entirely to me not noticing that I had made a cutting error on new AO pattern. Accidental +3" on front was the result and I had a very precise stand collar to fit on. I spent hours juggling, stretching, snipping, not realising my error and dealing with very slippery viscose. Top is unwearable

I looked at the vlog on youtube by lifting pins and needles (so much good teaching from her) about how to handle viscose. I learnt so many tips, the best was the tearing to find the grain

Now for attempt number 3

I found 3.5m of pretty autumn season viscose crepe in my stash, long white line down the centre but I followed the tips, tore, folded, pinned. Now the blouse is almost finished and with the correct skinny rouleaux in place and stand collar fitted to neck perfectly

I will have a beautiful winter blouse in a warm drapey fabric and there is enough fabric left to cut out an assembly line cuff top, which is a good stash buster

Cost for each blouse £6, yes £6. The whole length cost me £12. The learning curve was steep, liftingpinsandneedles, Karina did a very good video on sewing a stand collar too. I don`t like sewing those, all too easy to trim bulk in the wrong place on the corners and then left with pokey-out bits

I am in pattern altering mode and find myself turning more and more to the pattern designers that provide patterns that I know I can easily adjust, if needed

I have just gone through some items in my wardrobe, megan nielsen darling ranges dress, yes looks lovely on the model and I wore mine for a couple of hours this morning, checked the standard cup sizing and as I thought, a B cup. No wonder it felt tight across the back and the v is far too low, in spite of me raising it by an inch. No more MN patterns for me. Unfortunately I have a couple more of her `fitted` top dress patterns, I will see if my dil wants them. Jarrah top is fine, loose fitting. MN curve is D cup and either way I would have to mess with cup sizing.

Back to the old TNT favourites and I am going through patterns and adjusting ready to toile and TNT after testing. M and M with rubbish pattern photos but sublime patterns to make and wear. Every one of them has a wow for me, I have made a toile of camber top yesterday and a big wow so today added the dress to my tnt pack. Style arc is another definite, I wore adeline toile today for a while, only in a quilting poplin but perfect fit, so I have taken armidale out of the cupboard, already altered, gathered below bust and no dart.

I need to slow my sewing and am in process of making a winter sewing list of patterns that I don`t need to `mess` with. Armidale is on there, also camber dress and another M and M trapeze, I had to alter that substantially but it ended up easy to do. Size 12 fits nice but 14 bust down would be better. Size 12 at neck is staying and the forward shoulder and rounded back made all the difference to my final toile. I made three attempts, third is lovely. Pattern is now altered finally, 12 graded downwards to 14, grading started 1 1/2" below shoulder

Next is ITS, I have not made a bad garment via ITS. Cup sizing is wonderful, wore celeste dress today to the shops, lovely pull-on. Will be adding that to my winter make list. I am going to keep a style arc list for their special offer times, the trinnie extension for starters, dress is in pdf on my laptop already

Back to my wardrobe and am having a big toile throwout, including charlie kaftans, added that to TNT for next summer, in a better fabric. I wore these for two summers

Btw I will be getting trinnie and extension printed via patternsy, my armidale is via patternsy and is nice to use

I little bit of fiddling to find the layers symbol this time but they are there, as long as you open with adobe acrobat. I printed off 12 and 14 so I unticked all the other sizes. The top has some negative ease and I tapered from 12 at the waist to 14 at the hip, easy with a good eye or a french curve

My pattern is now ready to use, I added the usual 1/2 inch to back and took 2" off the sleeves, nothing else. I even found the right fabric in my stash so I will cut out after lunch. A nice and unexpected project for me on a dull and rainy day today. This fabric is a nice pink with small white flowers and is 95% cotton and 5 elastane. It has good stretch and recovery. Cost me £30 eons ago, no idea where from but very nice quality and I have 3m and will be using half

I hope I like it made up as I really would like a couple more in plain fabrics. The pattern is very cheap

Blow me I did put the link in a post, seems to have vanished

Itch to stitch
Brasov wrap top
£4.21 via the shop on ITS. Automatic on checkout and one day only

I finished the Sinclair Iris top yesterday. I'm pleased with it but there were some errors on the pattern which meant it took longer than it should have. For starters - the "test square" was small and the only way I could correct it was to scale to 102% rather than 100. I've never had that issue before and was glad I checked because the top would have been too tight if I hadn't.

I always set print to `actual size` it has always been accurate. I never use the %

Eddiecat, I am glad that you are pleased with iris. The free harper cardi print arrived this morning from foldline, on the back burner for a bit as I have other projects stacking up

I have different mojos, one for alterating and cutting patterns, one for cutting fabric and one for sewing. They don`t last forever so I am making the most of them

Karmalady I started off just using "actual size" but that was about 1/8" inch out so then I had to start playing around with percentages.
I've made the Harper cardi and like it except the front band is quite wide which means it is high at the back of my neck. I wore it last week while I had my haircut and the hairdresser had to keep tucking it out of the way. The sleeves are quite slim fitting which you may need to bear in mind depending what you are likely to wear under it

Thanks Eddiecat, good info from you and I won`t be making harper. I already have the HC blackwood, it is nice, easy but does not close. I have a marlo pattern but the toile was massive and I have two hand knitted cardis that are perfect. I have enough

I feel my mojo slipping and feel that I am going into hibernation mode soon and am prepping for that. I will still be sewing but only the sewing and non of the prep, not even cutting out. It seems that I do this most years, I use large stacking see-through shoe boxes and each one holds a `kit` of mine ie cut fabric and pattern, each cut piece has the cut paper attached, I even interfaced when needed. I have 6 boxes so far and one bag, I have one more `kit` to get ready and that will be another M and M, the brand new sanda short jacket, which looks like a warm shirt.

The transition towards knitting will happen for me soon, for the dark cold days.

I have been making a sidney boxy sweatshirt, from an AO printed pattern and have had to alter the sleeves several times. That is when A4 comes in useful, I can look at the layout and just print the specific pattern pages for the sleeve, I may do this ready to finally file, as the original paper is now so messed up

I am really enjoying that pattern, beyond simple and have now got a lovely easy-wear top. I am now in process of making it in a thick quilted fabric, which is tricky sewing due to the fabric

I have re-filled my stash, whoops but not one to miss out on end of season bargains. Very cheap clearance fabrics, more to overlock and wash, then catalogue and stash away for next spring

I have also succumbed to a couple of bargain pdfs, special offer prices. Stored now on my laptop in files but I need to make an effort and back up on memory sticks. I catalogue all my patterns with a brief description and drawing, on business cards, stored in small folders holding 300 cards each. eg one for dresses, easy then to compare styles and what fabric is needed

Mojo is still here, thankfully

Has anyone tried the very cheap online peppermint magazine patterns? I have downloaded a skirt pattern from them, I found very good reviews about that pattern. Cost me £1.10 and even that was only a charitable donation

It is a full slightly A line skirt with elasticated waistband and nice pockets. I sent the pdf file to the foldline to be printed, skirts have too many A4 pages for me. Peppermint work with various pattern designers, this one is with paper theory and the instructions are very easy to follow

I am still in my mojo, I thought it would be gone by now