dress forms | Sewing with Scooby Snacks

Ok I recently bought a ~~shit load~~ boat load of faux suede fabric. I have a coat pattern that I am going to use it for. So I pulled out the pattern and I am a size large as per the pattern measurements bust 36, waist 30, hip 40

So I cut out the pattern pieces and decided to check the fit on my dress form. Lets stop for a minute and discuss dress forms. If you are thinking of getting one I highly recommend it! It is sooooo much easier adjusting a fit for yourself on a dress form. DO NOT waste your money on an adjustable form like they sell at Joann Fabrics because it is not pin-able and expands so that you lose your midline reference point.

I bought my dress form on amazon.com for a pretty reasonable price. Now because hardly anyone has a body like a mannequin I also bought the padding to add to my dress form to replicate my exact body dimensions. This system is called Fabulous Fit and is also sold on Amazon.com

Alright that all said I took my pattern pieces and pinned it to the dress form on my seam lines to see how it would fit.

I AM SO GLAD I DID THIS!! Check out how awful the fit was:

Check how much ease I have at the hip (way to much) and the shoulder seam is way to long!

So I basically took 1 inch off my side seams and 1 inch off the arm hole and sleeve. I remade my pattern out of tracing paper.

I then rechecked the fit with new pattern pieces on the dress form making sure I match up midline points and the vertical and horizontal markings line up properly. This will give you confidence that the pattern will work without having to make a muslin or worse cut into your expensive fabric only to find out it fits like a garbage bag!

Now I will say that making a muslin is well worth your time and effort when constructing something that is more close-fitting (less ease). Since this was a jacket, I was confident that just trying my pattern tracings on my dress form would suffice.

So I cut out all the pieces of my jacket and started on construction:

Remember to check your nap!! I almost cut out my pieces on the wrong nap and this pocket is easy to also flip and not have the nap the same.

See the nap here matches.

Ok so here are a few more pics of my progress:

OH NOOOOO!!!!!!! LOOK AT WHAT A DUMB ASS I AM!!!!

Do you see the darker spots here! I burned my coat with the #@#* iron. I was using an ironing cloth all the way through this project and got distracted for a second and forgot to use the cloth! Darn it, no fixing this I guess I have to live with it. 😦

August 1st 2013

Nicole Wrote:

We stopped at San Luis Obispo to eat and sleep.

Well let me tell you this town has some very old fashion charm. It is one of the oldest towns in California. This craft and fabric store is HUMONGOUS !!!!! I had to wipe the drool off my chin many times!! Lol ok my gosh we should do a girls trip over a weekend to come here its awesome!!

I’m going back to the store tomorrow to buy stuff!! I’m psyched!!

I will take more pictures of the store tomorrow !!

PS: This is not the only fabric store in this little town. Shut the front door right?!!

Love ya
Nicole

Jen Responded:

Shut the front door is right!! AH! We must make a girl’s trip there indeed, and I might have to drive up there, break into the store, and fall asleep on that big delicious pile of heaven. Unbelievable.

I hope you’re both having an awesome, relaxing time. Do email pictures tomorrow of the treasures you get….can you see how green I am over your phone?!

Nicole Wrote:

Ok every Thursday in this cute town they have a farmers market, all sorts of goodies!!

We went into a restaurant and around 9:30 when we were leaving there were a TON of crazy bicyclists hooting and hollering down the road half-naked or dressed all crazy not sure what the hell is going on but after a few drinks I’m digging the vibe of this town!

Lol Peter wants to move here FYI ! I told him no way I have great friends and I don’t want to move.

PS: We met an Italian soprano that sang for the pope in 11 different languages!!

Lol seriously I’m not making this stuff up!! Crazy night.

Love Nicole

Jen Responded:

It sounds like an alternate or parallel universe! No way are you allowed to move, but hmmmm….if you did, I’d go too.

Peter and Ingmar could go crazy nuts on their bikes and we would be wading through sewing projects with butt loads of awesome fabrics. Sign me up!

Here are the fabrics I bought at the fabric store:

This print is adorable and I love the mustard yellow color of the tape fabric, it brings out that same color in the sewing machines. I am in desperate need of a cover for my sewing machine and serger. This is what I am going to make 🙂

I love to cook!! Isn’t this the cutest apron. My second favorite thing about this apron are the polka dots! I LOVE POLKA DOTS!! I am going to line this apron with the red polka dot material.

These panels are so pretty I love vintage things. The dress forms are adorable. As soon as I saw this I knew I was going to use them for something other than sewing. I bought some stretched canvas’ and I am going to do a multi media wall hanging, I will add texture, and other fabrics. I think it will be super cool.

Here is the matching culinary print for the apron. I bought tea towels and will put the strip of cook books on the end of the tea towels for an accent to match my placemats which I am going to back with POLKA DOTS of course.