#pattern-making

I wear a hi-viz vest 5 days a week for something like 4 months every year. They're mandatory for the entirety of the Bard on the Beach build and strike, which means I live in the thing through rainy early spring, hot late spring/early summer, and the rapid shift from warm and dry September to rainy and cold October.

My first Bard season, I had a cheap mesh one. It was cool on hot days, but otherwise sucked. The two pockets were as perforated as the rest of it and barely usable because any weight in them stretched the whole vest uncomfortably. When I left it in my cubby with a snack wrapper in the pocket and a mouse chewed right through the fabric, I didn't even bother patching the hole. It wasn't worth the effort.

This past season, I picked up a sturdier surveyor's vest with a ton of pockets.

I loved the general layout, and having a heavier garment that could handle carrying a good amount of snacks, tools, and other essentials without becoming uncomfortable was worth sacrificing ventilation. I was really happy for the first month, and still liked it well enough by late fall.

Minor annoyances piled up over the season: the velcro in the small chest pockets scraped my hands raw if I had to reach into them too often; the radio pocket's strap was bulky and loose; the pen pocket had poorly-sized slots and I dropped things every time I leaned forward; the cheap, sloppy construction failed to hold up to hundreds of hours of outdoor wear. It was clear that this vest was a decent facsimile of a well-designed, well-made work vest, but what I actually wanted was the real thing.

So I've started making my own. I'm using the almost-good-enough surveyor's vest as a starting point, redesigning the features that don't work, and building the whole thing out of much better materials, with better techniques.

This is my first time self-drafting a pattern. I'm glad I started with an incredibly simple garment and an existing shape I could copy. It's been challenging and fun just getting the patterning done.

I started by copying the surveyor's vest's two main shapes (rear panel and front panel) onto some kraft paper I'd saved from a parcel.

The weird tabs on the side and the extra rectangles on the bottom are fold-over lining segments I'd planned to use to reinforce high-wear areas of the interior with the heavier exterior fabric. I'm currently leaning towards cutting them off and sewing them to the lining before sandwiching the layers together, as I suspect the cleaner fold-over seams aren't worth all the extra work. We'll see how they make it into the final product.

For fabric, I grabbed:

Black bull denim for the exterior (this is a new-to-me weave that uses a heavier 3-to-1 twill weave than regular denim, and is dyed a uniform colour instead of having a dyed warp and white weft)

Blue linen for the lining (I splurged on a 100% flax handkerchief linen, since at least some of the lining will be sitting against bare skin on really hot days)

Fluorescent yellow waterproof nylon for the fluorescent component of the hi-viz stripes (I don't care about the waterproofing, but this type of nylon is what you get in work rain pants and jackets, and it's generally easy to keep clean and has good abrasion resistance)

2" wide Iron-on 3M reflective striping for the retroreflective component of the hi-viz stripes

This is also the first time I've had to follow federal safety regulations while designing a project. I'm using this guide to make sure I'm getting the hi-viz components right:

I'm also generally sticking to the design on the original surveyor's vest, since I know it conforms to the relevant standards.

While I was buying fabric, I found a bunch of gridded freezer paper in the sale bin for $1/dozen sheets. I grabbed it after a cursory google turned up a bunch of folks talking about how great it is for pattern-making.

I transferred my original rough patterns from the kraft paper to the freezer paper, using the grid to tidy things up and make them symmetrical.

The cool thing about freezer paper (and butcher paper, which I'm pretty sure is the same thing) is that it has a plastic coating on one side. You can draw on the other side, cut out a pattern, and then place it plastic-side-down on your fabric and iron over it. The heat melts the plastic just enough to have it stick gently to your fabric.

This makes it much easier to cut pattern pieces out of the fabric, because the pattern can't shift around and you don't get the distortion that can come with pinning. I switched to using a rotary cutter to cut out patttern shapes earlier this year (thanks, quilting!), and that plays very well with the freezer paper because my quilting ruler lays flat over it without being thrown off my pins.

I was able to measure and cut a clean and even seam allowance all around the pattern and then peel off the freezer paper without leaving any residue behind. It's reusable (I've already used the front panel piece twice), and honestly feels like a magic trick.

I'm now using it to pattern all of the pockets for the two front panels.

That's the next big chunk of the project, with a planned 4 pockets on the left side and 3 on the right. I'll be lining all of them for comfort and durability, and incorporating the fluorescent and reflective stripes directly into their construction.

Toddlers at Ivy World Play School, Jalandhar, explored pattern making with colourful pom-poms, enhancing observation, sequencing, and fine motor skills

Love the design, hate the quality: Copying ready-to-wear (Part 1)

One of the most attractive aspects of making some of my own clothes has always been the opportunity to copy fabulous couture pieces at a fraction of the cost. This was my thought when I embarked on the creation of my first Little French Jacket(LFJ). I loved being able to select some bouclé fabric and silk charmeuse lining, then create a reasonable facsimile of a Chanel-style jacket that cost so…

A New Pant Sloper: My new and unconventional method

Let’s get one thing straight up front: I wear pants almost every day of my life. I didn’t always. I, however, love the idea of wearing dresses. And I love to wear a dress to a cocktail party, a wedding (although I have been known to wear a beautiful ivory crepe pantsuit with a silk blouse), and on a hot summer day.

Ah, there’s nothing like getting dressed up for dinner on a cruise ship! But…

A pattern I have twice followed to the letter.

In my “other” life, I’ve spent a lot of my time writing, teaching and thinking about ethics. And the very notion of copying something that someone else created has never really sat well with me. Stealing intellectual property comes immediately to mind. That being said, most design these days, barring the most outrageous (and even some of them) is in some way derivative of something else. Sometimes it is simply reminiscent of another era, but often the designers seem to have a type of groupthink in a season where shapes and colours all seem to have come from a single mind. So, is there really anything that is truly original in fashion design these days?

I had that conversation with myself when I was thinking about a fairly practical issue. How could I get myself another version of a sleeveless T-shirt that I absolutely loved when the original producer was no longer making this design? The only answer would be to copy it.

Years ago, I bought a Landsend T-shirt that turned out to be one of my very favourites. You know the type of garment I’m talking about. It’s the one that you didn’t see coming. It’s the non-descript little piece that you find yourself turning to every time the weather/season/event begs for one. Yes, you have others in your closet, but this one feels terrific, fits well and just makes you feel good. You should have bought three, but who knew that you’d love it so much. So, the day comes when you look at it and think, “I can’t really be seen in public in this anymore. It’s too worn/old/holey…” Pick one, or in my case too faded. It was a black cotton jersey which, as we all know, fades miserably over time.

I doesn’t look like much now because of the faded black jersey, but it was a great T-shirt in its day. Trust me!

So, I went online to see if Landsend had them and of course, they no longer existed. So, the question was, could I recreate it and perhaps tweak the design a bit to make it even better. Well, as much as I hated the thought of cutting the thing apart, I knew I’d never wear it n public again, so I took out my trusty sheers and got to work.

My drawing with the tweaks and updates included. 

Making the pattern would be quite easy, I thought, but what would I actually make it out of? I knew I didn’t want a fade-prone black jersey again. And I know how much I love bamboo jersey. So, I wondered if I had enough of the black-striped grey that I’d used on another faux-wrap top. And I did! My newly updated faux-wrap sleeveless T design was coming together. Of course, the bamboo jersey has more stretch than the cotton jersey, so I figured that I’d probably have to tweak it a bit smaller – I was right.

Once I had all the pieces for the T cut apart, I trimmed them, pressed them and laid them out on pattern paper. I traced the pieces, added seam allowance and notches, trued the seams, decided where the shirring on the faux wrap should be (it had always been lower on the seam than I thought it should be), labeled everything and got ready to cut out the fabric.

The one thing I had to really think about was how I was going to finish the neckline and armholes. The original had binding. I wasn’t keen on that. I wanted a softer finish. So, I found that simply doing a double-turned and stitched hem was the answer.

The original neck binding.

I’m delighted at how it turned out.

The question is: is this really a copy or is it my own new design inspired by the original? The fabric choice is very different, so the T fits better. The designed was tweaked. Is it mine or is it theirs? In the end, does it matter? As far as I’m concerned, Coco Chanel can have the last word:

My custom-made silk jacket created for me by a Hong Kong tailor. 

Before I get to the current process, I just need to mention that my absence from my “atelier” is not because of any loss of interest in creating or writing, rather it’s because I’ve been to Asia. The trip was unimaginably fabulous! There were some style and fabric aspects (I had a custom silk jacket done for me to wear with my LBD and more), but mostly we just visited Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, The Great Wall of China, then Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo in Japan. But all of that’s for another blog space entirely. (FYI my husband and I blog about all things travel at www.thediscerningtravelers.com). Anyway, I’m back in the atelier and at the computer, designing, sewing, and writing blogs and books. So, the LBD.

I have decided in a fit of narcissism that I really liked my own design best, at least for the first dress. So, I have gone back to the muslin of LBD #4 to begin the process. Of course, this means that I actually have to create a pattern since it’s not a commercial one. The truth is a LOVE pattern-making.

My process begins with a final fitting to see where the pattern might need tweaking (my darn shoulder slope did need a bit of a tweak), then sitting at the cutting table to cut it apart. I remember the first time I cut apart a muslin (I was making my first Little French Jacket). It almost broke my heart – I had become quite fond of that ugly piece, because it fit me! Anyway, I’m a bit less emotional about the process at this stage of my design/sewing career, but I’m still just as careful. These pieces will be the foundation of my perfectly fitting LBD.

I then take those muslin pieces to the ironing board and go at them with both the iron and a lint brush. Then I’m ready to make the pattern.

I decide not to use couture techniques – rough butting directly from the muslin, thread-tracing seam lines etc. – mainly because of my fabric choice for this first dress. Did I mention the fabric choice dilemma?

I had thought I’d be using a high-end wool-blend fabric, underlining with silk organza and lining with silk charmeuse. However, I haven’t found that perfect fabric yet. I will, but in the meantime, I found a textured crepe knit that will provide me with a dress that can also travel well because, as you’ve probably figured out, I do a lot of that, too.

The fabric, as you can see, doesn’t actually beg for couture techniques. In fact, now that I’ve fallen in love with my serger (more about my former distaste for serged finishes in a future post), I’m going to use it for interior finishing. I know – I should be slapped. Bottom line: I’m making a paper pattern.

Since the last made-from-scratch pattern design I did, I’ve discovered a new gadget, a tool. I’m sure I’m late to the party but when I discovered the double tracing wheel, I thought: why haven’t I know about this? The truth is that I’ve seen them before on Amazon. You know when you buy something there they give you a list of related items others have bought? I had taken a passing look at it, but I just never figured out what I’d do with one – mainly because they show it flat in a package rather than in action with the wheels actually pointing in the direction they’re meant to go in. Anyway, I thought that this would be perfect for marking the cutting line outside my seam edges.

So, I trace my muslin seam lines onto paper and begin to use the double tracing wheel to mark cutting lines. The problem is that the tracing wheels themselves don’t have a serrated enough edge to transfer to the paper visibly. So, what to do? I pull out my large sheets of waxed tracing paper and mark the cutting line on the back of the pattern. Voila! I just cut the edges from the back-side markings and I have my pattern pieces ready! It has changed my life! No more going around the pattern with my ruler making little marks that I then join up to make a cutting line. Genius!

Now I just need to find a bit of time to cut the darn thing out, mark it and baste it together.

  How I got to this point:

The Project Begins

Option 1 (commercial pattern)

Option 2 (commercial pattern)

Option 3 (commercial pattern)

Option 4: My Own Design