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So who do you call when you want to do 6 weeks worth of work in 1 day???
The Bradford class that's who!!!! Yesterday was a humdinger to say the least! This amazing group of ladies did the impossible, I pushed them to their limits and they do not disappoint. The topic was skirts, pencil, A-line, tapered, gored, bias, circle (both semi and full circle) with the added bonus of the volants!!! Whew! In the morning we started with the basic pencil skirt using generic measurements then did the same using personal measurements AND created a mock up to fit the body! Continued with the A-line and tapered skirts all before lunch! In the afternoon we did the rest of the work and finished early even!!! I tell you it was an amazing day of learning, fun and work, work, work. The homework is the following:
Have a great winter.
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We had a class with Amanda who is almost finished the first book! This young woman has excelled in pattern drafting taking all her classes on Skype! Who said overcoming distances is hard? She lets me know when she is ready for the next class and we plan accordingly. All that is left to do to complete the first book is the collars and two piece sleeve!
This is quite an achievement especially for the pants fitting, it was a bit tricky but it was done. Amanda had a couple of fit models she used making mock ups, taking pix, sending them to me and I would look at them, critique them and send them back, puts a whole new twist on correspondence classes! This week we focused on the man's vest pattern, I did a demo and then Amanda drafted one on her end while I watched to make sure she understood the method, which she did very well. There is homework; draft the vest on page 89 (bottom graphic) using boyfriends’ measurements and mock up, draft top vest using the same measurements. For next class get ready a sheath pattern using personal measurements as shown on page 95, we will be adding the collar in class and creating the facings etc. Have a good week! Hello all I hope the Holidays were happy, spent with family and friends and of course a lot of food! I haven't posted in a while because of the Holidays, still trying to catch up with the to-do list, still working on chapter one, may give up on it and start chapter 2!
I will be taking a vacation this year for a change so I'm actually trying to finish a bunch of work, I have 7 garments to finish by January 20; 5 are done and then I ran out of fabric for the remaining 2 so this project is on a holding pattern for the time being. While I wait for the fabric I have a suit, jacket and pants, to finish before leaving. Today I completed the pad-stitching that was started yesterday, put the pockets in, put the jacket together ready for the sleeves; the suit was cut way before Christmas... The grandkids were up for a couple of days, they were supposed to return home today but the impending inclement weather scared everyone into getting them home early leaving me with a full day to work today. Before Christmas I completed the men's jacket with the bufant roses that turned out so beautiful if I do say so myself! The client came to pick it up a few days ago and his comment was that it looks like a work of art! This made me very happy! Now it's back to class on Thursday with a full day in Bradford focusing on the skirts and volants. It will be nice to see the class again! Have a good week! Today's class was great once again! The drive to and from Bradford no so much... It was snowing on the way down and traffic on the way home, a fact of life when living in the snow belt area of Ontario. No matter how bad the drive these students always lift one's spirits with their optimistic outlook, hard work and being generally good people! Today we covered the cap sleeve, tried on cowl neck mock ups and then I did some demos on sewing techniques.
I wish all the students a great Christmas and an even better New Year together with their respective families may they all be blessed with good health and happiness. In the end that is what's important... We will have a full day class in January to complete the skirts section in one day! They will do it after all they survived this semester that was full of new material and we marched on to complete the section with minimal time and much effort! All the students got approval for their design to use in the exam garment due at the beginning of the first class in March, date to be determined. Fabric is to suit the garment with no stretch, it must be a woven fabric, points will be deducted for any stretch in the fabric or a mark of 0 will be given if the design is converted to suit a knit fabric. The best way to learn how to fit the body is with absolutely no stretch in the fabric. Don't say you weren't warned! Some have really challenged themselves which is great, I agreed to their designs because I felt they could execute the task without a problem. I have much faith in this group!!! Alas there is still homework!!! Homework is this:
Next class is January 16, 2020 at 9 am for the skirts drafting section starting with the basic skirt block on page 21, from the block we will be varying the hemline. Next we will add pleats/wrap to the front only followed by the godet skirt. The gored skirt will also be covered along with the circle skirt and volant. The only fabric required will be for the volant which will be the width of the forearm plus enough for a couple of pleat variations in miniature. 2 metres of fabric will suffice. Have a great Holiday Season Everyone!! See you in 2020!!! Last night we had a class with Amanda on the Raglan sleeve, did you know the raglan sleeve was invented for the Earl of Raglan in England in the middle ages? The story goes that he lost his arm in a battle so the tailors of the time had to figure out a way of fitting him with something that hid his battle wounds. The came up with a sleeve that was a part of the bodice, no shaping, no armhole (there was no arm) and it is very easy to assemble! I am not a fan of Raglan sleeves even though I have numerous tops, a dress with shaping (book 2) and an overcoat I can wear on it's own or over a jacket. Amanda said to me "it seems you actually like a raglan sleeve LOL!". Perhaps waaayyyy down deep there must be a very little part of me that does, I will vehemently deny this with every breath I take!! Perhaps I am in denial or delusional, jury's out, but I don't like to draft raglan sleeves regardless.
Having said that, I will teach the raglan method because it's necessary to know how to draft and sew it, that means new clothes I have to make as examples and will wear if for no other reason than I hate to waste anything.... Amanda was actually very pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of the draft, when I was finished my demo all she could say was "that's it?" I'm sorry I couldn't make it more difficult, like 55 easy steps to the raglan sleeve LOL! It's a very fluid pattern, mostly visual to make sure the lines are the right curve etc. this is what throws most people off, the lack of structure, in the end the pattern fits very well and is very comfortable. I guess that's what matters... Amanda did a great job on her draft but there is homework! Trace pattern pieces complete with markings, grainlines etc. cut a mock and sew it together in order of
Have a great day! The importance of proper patterns was evident today at a model fitting for production, the mock ups were exactly how the principles envisioned them! Thanks to the Le Grand Chic method of pattern drafting I was able to bring their vision to life in a way they did not imagine was possible! I listened to what they had to say, took copious notes and got to work with THEIR vision not mine. I'm just the general contractor "respecting the clients' wishes is the most important part of the job description" is what I tell my students. One will have clients for life especially if one delivers on time and on budget.
There are minimal adjustments/fine tuning to a few of the mock ups, the others were perfect! All I have to do now is finish the garments in linen for a photo shoot in at the end of January... A few pics were taken today and even though the mock ups were done in drapery fabric, the styles looked amazing. This makes me very happy, didn't mind driving through a couple of snow storms on the way home LOL! Anyone who is interested in taking courses don't put it off any longer, the satisfaction is so worth the expense and effort. Imagine having creative freedom to make your own clothes PLUS the ability to make them a perfect fitting reality! There is no greater feeling of accomplishment and you will love to wear your clothes because they FIT!! Conversely, making clothes for clients is just as satisfying and one can get paid too! Don't hesitate to contact me like a person from California who is calling me on Friday for classes :) Enjoy your day! Hard to believe this was the second last class of this semester! Where does the time go?
Yesterday everyone was a bit giddy I think, the giggles and laughter in the class was contagious! I merely asked a question on the cowl neck; what are the benefits of this style? Well it turned out to be a loaded question! Some of the answers were, um, different that I expected leading to much laughter and more interesting answers... This class is so much fun, I love teaching! We covered the cowl neck style, how to transfer the fullness from the base dart to create the drape at the centre front in two different ways, some did it with less drape, some did it with more drape just to keep things interesting. So far everyone has had different measurements to work with, they have passed the measurements charts around until they are going to get their own measurements back during the last class! Took a bit of planning but it worked very well because once the numbers change, everything changes, the body issues are different making the drafting more challenging. The added bonus is that the students learned more about the basic drafts that maybe they were doing incorrectly because they were so comfortable using the same measurements all the time. In any case all the mock ups so far have fit very, very well every time! Very proud of this class! Now for.... Homework
Today I had the pleasure of teaching Amanda! It's always a treat to spend time with this wonderful young woman, she is soooo humble, intelligent and just an all around good person. She works mainly from home for designers drafting their patterns, I asked how many clients she has and the answer was too many to remember! How great is that! Congrats Amanda! Not many people can say that...
Today's lesson was to go over the drafts she did for homework, the Dolman sleeve in a couple of different applications plus the cowl neck draft. I gave Amanda the choice of trying them on her own then have the feedback as a lesson or do them as separate lessons. She chose to do them on her own. The drafts are always executed very well, very neat, clear work so I was not surprised when there was not much to correct! We did spend the time fine tuning and clarifying the drafts, all 4 of them! Plus going over the pants once again! All in all we covered a lot of ground today, by the end we were both pretty saturated with information so we called it a day. Homework
So I'm not sure why but the time FLIES by in Bradford! It seems that we get to class and 5 minutes later we have to leave! This class covers a lot of material during the 5 minutes we are there LOL!
Today they tried on their mock ups that fit all of them very well, it was a very quick critique, there were some very minor adjustments with the mock ups if any at all. These ladies really grasped the concept of fitting the body, taking the cues from the measurements they created Empire cut dresses that fit their models very well indeed! Continuing in the vein of different measurements, they once again switched measurements so that they would have a whole new set to draft an asymmetrical top with one shoulder. The students managed to draft the whole thing in class during the last hour. Asymmetry really tests the brain's ability to recognize and work with mirror images, basically the front has to be drafted as though it is in a mirror, with the left side of the garment on the right side of the drafter! The back is a bit more straightforward as it sits on the table the way it would be on the body. So the first thing I tell the class is to mark the left and right sides right away on the master pattern on both the front and the back drafts! Also the pattern is drafted on the whole front and the whole back, allowing the pattern maker to treat each side differently. Asymmetry can create the most interesting garments as long as there is a balance and not over-designed. I'm sure the mock ups will fit as well as the Empire cut ones did! For next week we will be working on the cowl neck bodice, it's the second last class for this semester already! Homework is to:
The choices for the last class on December 19, 2019 are as follows:
Start narrowing down a choice for the final exam for this semester, as was stated in the syllabus, there is a graded garment that will be completed over the winter break to be handed in the first day of the spring semester. This garment is to be chosen from one of the patterns that were covered this semester, finished and graded, subject to approval. I have a few projects on the go at the moment, 1 ladies suit that is half done, one man's jacket that is not half done, and one more ladies suit that is not even started! I have given myself a deadline of Christmas for these items. They will be ready by then!
I also had the pleasure of meeting some very nice people on Monday! They found me by accident and called to see if I would work on some garment production for a factory. I declined the line sewing and informed them that my forte is pattern making which led to a further conversation on the subject. I agreed to send them some pictures of garments that I made including the patterns, which I did by email. One day later I received a response from them saying they wanted to meet and finalize an agreement to have me make their patterns, mock ups and initial samples for them! These garments are needed for the end of January for a photo shoot in the Bahamas! How cool is that! I did suggest the pattern maker should be present in case of a wardrobe malfunction LOL!!! The one thing that surprised me most is the fact they had trouble finding anyone who knows how to work with linen! This puzzled me because it's the same as working with any other woven fabric, then I realized that with fabrics having so much stretch these days one doesn't really have to know how to shape the patterns properly to fit the body, so there are less and less people who can draft patterns for woven fabrics. This was confirmed by a manufacturer I contacted on behalf of this company and they said they don't work with fabrics that DON'T have stretch! I was floored! |
AuthorMaria Calautti, "Jack of all trades" Archives
January 2020
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