yhlee: Alto clef and whole note (middle C). (Default)
[personal profile] yhlee posting in [community profile] sewing101
I got back from my first Pattern 101 lesson with Andrea Eastin of Fair Fit Studio (local to me)! It was in fact very 101, which was what I needed. :D Cut for length.

Andrea customizes her lessons, which are one-on-one sessions, based on what you need to learn and what you want to do. She has been teaching for a long time so she has a good sense of Things That Confuse N00bs as well as a lot of ways to explain them.

Anyway, I had extremely vague memories from being, like, six years old while my mother explained sewing and patterns to me, but (a) I was six, (b) all the geometry/math stuff went over my head (for example, this was before I learned FRACTIONS...), (c) I was wayyyy more interested in things like jumping in puddles and/or the beautifully raked piles of leaves. (My parents are saints. They would repeatedly rake the leaves until I got bored and went away.)

My mom is legitimately a sewing expert and very good at sewing! But I've only retained bits and fragments.

I showed Andrea my attempt at a curved seam, and she told me that the puckering was not my fault as such but due to the material qualities of the FABRIC being so tightly woven, which meant the needle had to "push" through the fabric, which caused puckering/warping. I'm sure there are ways to deal with this, but not as a "this is baby's first curved seam" exercise. :p

I showed Andrea the three patterns that seemed like they were probably Easy Mode and she agreed they were easy mode-ish, especially the kimono. I mean, it's a bunch of rectangles!!

For the curious, the patterns are:
- Cosplay by McCall's M2081 - kimono/undershirt/obi, which reassuringly even SAYS "easy" on the envelope"
- McCall's M7120 (I picked this up in 2020? for a beginner video sewing course that I never did because I'm the dumbass who couldn't figure out how to thread my machine, lol) - mostly a bunch of flowy sundresses with very little structure
- Butterick B6965, jacket/skirt/pants - the toughest of the lot bu the jackets are pretty unstructured as jackets go.

I'd looked at the rest of my aspirational stash and was like, Well, that one has a whole bunch of darts so I doubt that's for beginners, or this one looks super-fitted and has a ton of details/attachments/thingies so I doubt that's for beginners either. Basically I was looking for the Closest To A Bunch Of Rectangles patterns.

(I'm sure you can do weird differential topology things with a bunch of rectangles. God help me if there's some bizarro garment that's actually an interpretation of the projective plane.)

First she took my measurements and told me that the three core ones to focus on as a beginner are bust, waist, hip. (I'm AFAB.) Also that for more fitted garments/looks there are more measurements but start here. (I have DISTINCT memories of being tortured as a small, fidgety child with like a DOZEN measurements while my mom pinned things on me. :p )

bust/chest: 41"
waist: 38"
hips: 44.5"

Then she showed me how to read the measurements on the pattern envelope to figure out the right size, how to logic your way through "well, my bust/waist/hips don't match up into a single size on this pattern because humans fail to be cookie cutters, what do???" and look at, Well, this garment looks like it's kinda going to be loose at the waist anyway, so that can safely size down, etc.

I was most interested in the jacket, but the random-ass discount $3/yard fabric I'd brought was a 44" bolt of plain/solid white 65%/35% polyester/cotton blend that did not match the jacket fabric suggestions (and if I'd been thinking, I'd realized that it was the wrong kind of material, which is why I'm taking classes). So we determined to start with Easy Mode Sundress instead. The one thing I did do right was vastly overprepare by buying 8 yards, so we had plenty. She told me I could use it for my muslins in future. XD

I had also totally not known to look for the NOTIONS (I realize this is obvious, but I am super not visual and charts with bunches of small print confuse me) so now I know to check that! She advised me just to pick up a yard each of light, medium, and heavy interfacing to have on hand because it'll always be useful. I had a vague memory of my mom telling me about interfacing but it had not occurred to me to buy some, nor tailor's chalk, nor bring paper-cutting scissors to cut the pattern. (I'd brought my fabric scissors.)

The other cool thing I hadn't known/remembered was that you can iron the pattern paper to straighten it out instead of having to deal with all the folds from being stuffed in the little envelope!

She then showed me some organizational tips like highlighting the column of measurements, using the highlighter to mark the patterns pieces for the variation you're making, and using the highlighter to wholesale "trace" the particular lines for the size of your pieces so you don't get confused. I love this because I'm not good at organizational hacks and I'm also bad at visuals, but "highlight so you know what you're doing and then cut the highlighted line" is in fact something I can probably do now that I've been taught it. :D

She explained more VERY IMPORTANT pattern 101 stuff like "cut on edge" vs. "cut on bias" and checking HOW MANY of each piece to cut (I would totally have been the dumbass with, like, one sleeve). Also basic principles of laying out pieces, like start with the big cut on edge pieces first because they take up the most fabric, fit in the rest, etc. (She does not have a high opinion of most pattern layout guides, haha.)

Her hack for pattern pieces is, instead of pinning pieces (what I remember my mom doing), go to the hardware store and get a bunch of big (hand-sized) washers, and use them to weight down the pattern paper. We were running short on time so rather than have me cut, she explained how to use a rotary cutter properly and VERY QUICKLY used her rotary cutter to cut the rest of the sundress pieces. I now COVET a rotary cutter and a cutting mat so I may be looking into one of those next??

(What do I have for a cutting surface? Uh, we have a ping pong table that in practice is used for board games or craft projects, like the smol letterpress I need to finish assembling. But once the letterpress is done, that's a pretty good surface?)

My homework is to READ all three patterns and highlight any questions, then take what I learned to figure out the other two patterns and cut the pieces on those, then I can book another lesson to figure out Okay I have All These Pieces, What Do. :D (Her philosophy is that she wants you to become independently able to do this stuff. :D )

I had a terrific time and I'm so excited! I do think it would be motivational to have something slightly nicer than bland solid cotton for the kimono, and now I know why sewists end up with gigantic fabric stashes. XD
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