Sewing Challenges
I’m not talking about the kind of sewing challenges we know and love like Sew Frosting, Me Made May and so many more.
I’m talking about those garments you want to sew and you add them to your to-make list. BUT you keep putting them off because something about it is intimidating. You know those makes, right?!
For me, I’ve been eyeing off lots of gorgeous blouses and shirtwear, yet the placket is what kept them at bay for me. But you know what? it’s absolutely one of those things, that once you do it, it’s nowhere near as tricky as you’d think.
What I love even more than coming to this realisation, is that feeling you get when you give yourself a challenge and you conquer it!
So, that’s what I’m SO excited to do with you this Tuesday!! Let’s sew those plackets and make these fab shirts and dresses!!
Sew along time
As we start prepping for the Morningside dress and shirt sew along this Tuesday, the first thing we need to do is work out what size to sew.
This dress and shirt have some lovely ease built into the pattern so it makes determining your size a little easier than a super fitted garment.
I pulled together some inspiration for making a multitude of different looks with this pattern in my last post. You’ll also find a 25% DISCOUNT CODE there if you still need to pick up the pattern, then pop over and get the pattern here!
Knowing your size
In order to know how much fabric you need, you’ll have to work out what size you want to make.
Measure measure measure
The first thing you need to do is re-measure your bust, waist and hip measurements. You may know these off the top of your head but it doesn’t hurt to make sure your info is up to date!
Being able to make clothes to fit your body is one of the biggest benefits of sewing your own wardrobe! And if you’re going to spend precious time and fabric on this make, I think it’s really worth setting ourselves up for the best possible fit from the start.
Take your bust and hip measurements at the widest part and take your waist where it naturally creases as you bend to the side.
Check body measurements
Once you’ve got your own measurements written down, have a look at the size chart of the pattern listing or on page four of the pattern instructions. See what size your personal measurments fall under and note it next to each.
If your measurements all fall under one size then you don’t need to look much further! However, patterns are drafted off a particular block so they will very rarely match you exactly. It’s most common that you’ll span a number of sizes across your measurements.
No box will contain me!
You can see in the pic above that my bust and hip measurement came under L but my waist under XL. So the next step is to refer to the Finished Garment measurements.
Have a look at what sizes your measurements come under and see if there is one that still has the ease you want for the room to move, eat and play! But also, the amoutn of ease for the look you want – looser? More fitted?
If not, you can chose to go with different sizes and grade between them. Never fear if you haven’t done this before. I’ll break this down when we print our patterns!
For my measurements, I decided that there was enough ease at the waist that I could just sew a straight size L.
The long and short of things
Finally, look at the finished garment length for the size(s) you’ve chosen. This will help you deicde if you want to add or take away any length. I take my tape measure and line it up with my shoulder seam to visualise where the hem will fall.
Note that with the Morningside the beautiful curved hem sits higher at the front than the back and again another 8 – 9cm higher at the side. So take all of these into consideration. If you’re finding it hard to picture, I like to measure the length of a shirt or dress that I lalready own and like where it falls.
Don’t get too worried about it here. You just want to use these meausrements as a guide so you can leave enough material when you’re cutting your pattern out and you can always try on and adjust as you sew!
I would definitely advise making a muslin if you have the time and energy. That way you can make your best guess at your size via the measurements, see how it sews and make any adjustments before using your precious fabric! That said, I’m a recovering impatient sewist so I don’t always take my own advice in this regard!
So now you know how to work out your size, the supplies you need are straightforward. Your fabric, thread, 5 buttons, light weight fusible interfacing and you’re good to go!
Check back tomorrow for my next post with all my tips on selecting your fabric and working out just how much you need.
Drop any questions you may have in the comments below or send me a message and let me know if you’ll be joining in on the fun come Tuesday!
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See the other posts related to the Morningside Dress and Shirt Sew Along:
