I've been thinking some more about Michelle at Untidy Museum wanting someone to sew for her. And today I followed a link to this website. I could so make all those clothes. All of them! The sleeveless dresses look like an easy day's work and they're getting over a hundred dollars for each one. I have a couple of patterns that are just as cool as the coolest things in their collection (like a minidress with side cutouts, that I made for myself but haven't had the nerve to wear). I could do this!
The only thing that would be new for me is working in vinyl, but it can't be that hard. I bet all you need is a special needle and special thread. The most serious stumbling block for me is resizing patterns: I have no idea how to do it. And my pattern collection is all in my size (well, duh). I could be a great mod seamstress, but only for women who have the exact same measurements as I do. I wonder if there's a book available on pattern resizing?
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they have resources like that for knitting and i think it'd be even more common a concern in sewing . . . but wow, you're so cool that you can make nifty dresses like that!!
i'm more than happy to serve as a mannequin for women in my size. i wonder if simply having one of those adjustable dressmaker's mannequins would make all the difference, though.
i could swear i once found a 50's era book on how to tailor clothes to fit yourself which had some information like that in it. i'll ask my mom.
i think the 50's was a much more DIY era. people fixed their own cars, sewed their own clothes and canned their own vegetables. it's a shame these skills are being kinda lost, or reserved only for people who use them as job skills.
I guess the men's shirts would be a different story, if michelle wanted stuff like that. i did once sew shirts for my brothers with collar, cuffs, and button placket. and a pocket. they turned out, but MAN that was hands down my hardest sewing project ever. took forever.
There are tons of books on basic pattern alteration (i.e. what to do if you have unusually broad shoulders, narrow hips, or whatever), and I have one of those, but I haven't seen one on sizing patterns up or down. In briefly searching the web I found some software that does it, but it's $300 (that's the educational discount!) so a DIY technique would be better.
I bet a dressmakers mannequin would help. I wonder if you can just pin blank tissue to the mannequin, then pin the pattern pieces over that and trace the new shape? I know someone with a mannequin, I might ask if I can borrow it. If it works and I end up doing this for money, it would probably be worth buying one.
And Lisa, I would love to use you as a sizing guinea pig -- resizing one of my patterns to your size and seeing if I can make a garment that looks good on you. That would be a good test :)
OOoh oooh! Me too!
Actually I have a 50's pattern that *is* my size (ostensibly at any rate) that I'd love to make, but yowsa. Scared.
Also, we should get together and make clothes forms (do you have one for you already? I need one, but am incapable of taping up myself, obviously...)
Will email you re: schedule. :)
A breakthrough! Resizing patterns is called "pattern grading" and there are books on it. Next step: to find out which are the best books.
hey guys i'm felicity and i'm a dressmaker and if you have any questions on any sewing don't hesitate to ask me i've done the diploma of textiles, clothing and footwear! :) i also know about grading...
Hey Felicity,
I am looking for a dressmakers mannequin. Any idea where to find one?
Hi Lisa, Felicity hasn't been back here since February so I'm afraid she probably isn't going to see your question.
But for what it's worth, I hear they sell dressmakers dummies at Hancock and Joanns. And the Threads magazine website has instructions for making one out of an old T-shirt and packing tape. It turns out slightly bigger than yourself, but good for fitting clothing that isn't fitted too close to the body.
If only it were easy - www.dadadress.com make very high quality stuff and the fit is unbelievable seeing as they never get to measure you personally. Yeah you can make your own stuff from a patter for sure - but they never fit and look substandard. After you've gone to all the trouble I think 100 dollars is way reasonable for a tailored dress... and stitching vinyl is the ultimate nightmare, believe me, I've tried...
Good luck with that!
Hi Daisy, you're right that there's a lot to making clothes for others, but I beg to differ that clothes made from patterns never fit and always look substandard. I make most of my clothes and if I do say so myself, they fit. People often ask me where I buy my clothes, which suggests that they don't look thrown together.
In the 2 years since writing this post I've given up the idea of selling handmade clothes, but it's mainly a time issue: I have plenty of work that I enjoy already, so I don't really need to learn a whole new career.
I got the supplies for sewing vinyl, but I never got around to it. I was going to make a cute little short raincoat but then I found a vintage raincoat that I love. Someday maybe I'll have killer abs (ha ha) and then I'll make one of those cutout dresses a la Rudy Gerneich.
I think we're in agreement actually - yeah you can get patterns to fit you well but they take reworking and ***time***! Otherwise everyone would make all their own clothes :) I've seen so many www.dadadress.com wannabes come and go when they hit that hard truth that to sell a dress for 50 bucks they have to be OK with earning $8 or less an hour!
I guess all I'm trying to say is I've tried and it is not easy, far from it, if you want it done well. (Though of course copying a design save time!!) I've tried and given up though, I bow to the professionals. But maybe I'm not sufficiently talented, that of course is possible, but like you said later on it takes soooo loooong! I'd just rather pay the 100 bucks and be done with it :)
I enjoy your blogs! Keep up the good doodling :)
I'm totally with you on the obscenely low profit per hour of any kind of craft/sewing work. At one point I made some costumes for a friend's pet rats as a gift, and thought about maybe making more and selling them. Until I realized that I could never charge enough to make it worth my time. There's one person online selling rat costumes ... for $12 each! How can she do that? If I sold my costumes for $50 I would be giving them away.
I think I'll stick to making things for myself and the occasional gift, so there's no pressure & I can take as long as I want with each project. Without feeling like taking the time to do it right is money out my pocket.
Rat costumes?? Whatever next, lingerie for chinchillas???
hee! One of the rat costumes won a contest, and the rat owner posted photos:
http://nellorat.livejournal.com/111403.html