Dipping my tootsies...

Happy New Year everyone!

 I'm back in blogging land, after some time away to recharge the batteries... although this was meant to be the point of having a holiday, i did manage to continue to sew and create like a mad woman...

First blog for the year is me recognising that i had come to a  point in my sewing journey that i must take upon  the new adventure of pattern grading from a vintage pattern..... So i turned off the 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' marathon session i had glued my eyeballs too....

This was my first time... slight apprehensive, quite excited at the thought of not being trapped by store bought patterns and  being able to buy those mind blowing vintage patterns that aren't in my size that i scour Etsy for... So this was going to work not matter what!

I wont go into the whole saga of pattern grading, because it is quite an exhaustive ( boring) list of calculations and stuff, i will fill in the gaps about pattern grading as i go along in other upcoming posts.

Also there are heaps of awesome books out there for you to bury your nose in, in the meantime..... But i highly recommend starting with something quite basic to grade and learning to love your sticky tape!

So here's how my adventure went .....

I wanted to start out slow.. so i picked the below pattern.. a nice easy bateau neckline blouse.. easy right?



I began by tracing the original vintage pattern and sorted out the measurements i needed to grade the pattern up to my size.I had to grade the pattern up from Size 32inch bust  to a 36inch bust.... so I troddled off and collected all my pattern info books and began to fill my brain with how to go about this.... it looked simple.. from the pictures...

With the measurements in hand i began the  slash and spread method.... I went with cutting the bodice pattern, front and back onto 3 pieces.... each gap would go like this... 3/8, 1/4, 3/8 inches.....overall  making each bodice piece bigger by the require size i needed....

So the slash and spread method and i have become good friends..I guess cutting and pasting back in my younger kindergarten days, really paid off...

 

 

 

 

Below are my two bodice pieces, sticky taped together like a fortress and ready to go!

 

And TA - DA! below is a sneak peek at the top.... after all the sticky taping i was all tuckered out, i just couldn't be bothered putting on the top and taking a photo... so this will have to do.. and i will definitely upload a final photo for you all to see, later on!


I used some left over fabric i had in my stash, a nice light cotton with such a pretty floral design.

I can definately say that pattern grading is a new sewing skill that i have in little treasure bag, it is time consuming, and patience and focus is required, no short cuts here baby.. but in the end it is rewarding to be able to open up new horizons for yourself with patterns.



I also just wanted to say that i have a lot coming up this year, some very new exciting sewing business adventures that i cant wait to release into the world for all to enjoy, so keep your eye out for them, they are not to be missed!

 

Have a great 2013!

Abby

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