It's a Stitch Up

There were a lot of things I’d always wondered about the practical task of pattern cutting: How do you draw a smooth armhole curve? How do you make a straight hem? How do you add seam allowance? On a curve? It turns out that these things are a lot easier with the right tools. A [...]

The next phase of Zoe’s wedding dress was to take the and trace it as pattern pieces, add seam allowance, cut it in calico and sew it into a toile. Calico is used because of its firmness and lack of stretch. It’s very unforgiving, so if it looks right in calico, you know it will [...]

I’m not one to go in for expensive knitting accessories when cheap, home-made alternatives are perfectly good. When it comes to stitch markers, loops of left-over yarn in a contrasting shade normally suite me perfectly well – unlike the plastic variety they stay put, and unlike fancy ones they have no awkward bits to get [...]

I’ve almost forgotten the anguish of now that the sweater-dress is finished and worn. Once I’d found the motivation, it didn’t take too long to re-knit the sleeves and finish it off. I made a number of mods; added length at the bottom and at the waist, lengthened the sleeves, added sleeve shaping and deceased [...]

With the detailed set of measurements I took in day one of Custom Pattern Cutting and Fitting, day two was spent drafting a bodice block from those measurements. The block is a representation of the shape of the body on paper, which is traced to make patterns. This starts life drawn on paper as a [...]