Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I've come full circle on sewing with patterns

There was a time, about 18 years ago, in fits of frustration, I was convinced that I would rather drape and draft my own patterns than sew with a commercial pattern at all. Frustrated by huge Amazonian shoulders, gaping necklines, having to rearrange the proportions of absolutely every pattern to fit my frame and design aesthetic, I decided that it just wasn't worth the trouble.

I have since changed my mind. Finally, after years of sewing, I now know enough about patternmaking and fitting a body, that I can take a quality commercial pattern and "fix" it, both visually, and mathematically, to get the right result.

Years ago, I would have needed to make muslins of everything to be so sure something would fit. Nowadays, the questions I have to tackle have to do with whether I will actually like it once made. My mistakes have more to do with fabric choices and th vision not agreeing with reality. As much as I would love for my mind's eye to be able to see exactly what the result will be, I'm not so sure that's possible... And, after watching "The Last Emperor" last week, I can see that even the best designers are making educated guesses until they "find" the end result they desire.

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2 comments:

  1. Summerset5:59 AM

    I think that the more experience you get the less trial and error you have between creative vision and reality. That doesn't mean there won't be any, just less of it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Faye Lewis9:55 AM

    I agree, what's in my find's eye doesn't always add up to reality either. Thank God for the times that it does.

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