Sunday June 24, 2018
The ladies came in still in shock they had completed all the work on Saturday!  I told them I had all the confidence they would complete the task with flying colours!  Then they saw the board with Sunday's tasks:

Learning objective is to finish the dress. 

• Once the body is fit properly make any necessary adjustments if any
• Press the adjustments
• Sew the basted seams in place
• Press
• Prepare sleeves for installation, press seam
• Hand baste sleeves to dress
• Try on again
• Machine stitch sleeves to dress from the body side of the garment
• Prepare facings for neckline
• Install facings
• Finish hem

They looked at me like I had two heads LOL!!!  I said they would get through it without a problem!  Still they had doubts but once they got working it went by very fast, by lunchtime they had the sleeves installed or basted ready to go right after lunch.  Of course they don't make life easy for themselves by creating dresses that are a little more advanced but in the end they both had a beautiful garment each that fit perfectly as you will see in the pictures below. They went even above and beyond my expectations by serging the inside of the dresses! As a reward I let them use my blind hemmer to finish the hem.  Karen ended up opting to do it at home with her own blind hemmer.... 

Peggy decided to put pockets on her dress and make the skirt part gathered which she did on her own at home so by the time she got to class she was very familiar with the design.  The fabric was a fine linen which had to be underlined with a cotton sheeting to breathe and not be transparent, worked like a charm!  She can choose to wear a belt with the dress at the Empire cut or not for a more casual look, and Peggy LOOOOOVES the pockets!!!
Karen opted for something different, also advanced with pleats at the neckline and to be consistent, pleats at the sleeve cap as well.  The fabric for Karen's dress was a denim look rayon with a gorgeous drape to it so the pleats sat perfectly.  She can also choose to wear a thin belt at the Empire cut to finish the dress beautifully.  Both can match the belt and new shoes to them, great reason to get new shoes!!! 

Hello all it's been a while since my last post, too busy it seems that June barely started and here it is almost Canada Day!  Will someone please take their foot off the gas pedal and slow us down a bit the speed as to which time flies by is making me dizzy!!
This weekend was a very fun weekend for everyone especially the students who went home with a brand new dress to wear!  The task was to cut, mark, sew, fit and wear a dress home by Sunday and guess what they did it! 
I pulled a fast one on them by not sending a syllabus to them beforehand as is the norm, I told them that (insert any lame excuse) for this reason all they need to know is they will be cutting and sewing.  In fact I knew exactly what the learning objective and work was going to be but felt if I sent them the syllabus they would be stressing over it and in the end be paralyzed with fear.  So I sprung it on them at the beginning of class, this is what I wrote on the board not mentioning the fact they also needed to cut the dress out that day as well!:
Sewing sequence for Empire cut dress part one

• Mark pattern pieces using tailor tacks
• Sew darts first
  • In the event of no darts sew princess seams
• Press darts/seams
• Sew bodice and skirt together at Empire cut – pres
  
• Install zipper at centre back
• Hand baste sides and shoulder seams
• Fit the body
  

Tee-he-he-he!!!  When they saw this they were like... UM.... we aren't going to do all that are we????  We can't possibly finish all that??  I told them to give it a try and see how far they would get on Saturday, even if they had to stay a little later that was fine they could go home early the next day.  Guess what!  They did it!  They only went 20 minutes over and got all the work done so no homework was the reward. 

A great big welcome back to Denise B.!  A former student from Georgian College who did the intensive program about 3 years ago.  It was so nice to catch up with her and to see exactly how much she remembered and how much she needed to learn :)

The objective was to create an asymmetrical design to use with recycled T-shirts, mission accomplished!  Denise actually remembers more than she thinks if she would not overthink the method and let her muscle memory kick in.  Just like any other class there will be homework! 

Homework is to create a mock up of the pattern made in class plus draft a new pattern with the same design using the following measurements:

• ½ bust 52
• ½ waist 44
• ½ hips 54
• Front neck to waist 44
• Skirt length (length from the waist down) 27 cm

Plus an additional asymmetrical pattern using personal measurements in a different design, I will need to see some pix of the mock up or bring it to the next class.  Please let me know when you are ready to proceed with more work, my recommendation is to have a class every two weeks if that is possible...  but it’s your decision. 

Hello all I hope you are all doing well and looking forward to a great summer ahead!  I have a new project on the go my daughter's birthday present a new suit with blazer, pants and skirt! 
I fit the mock up on her the other day and it fit like a glove, literally like a glove I need to let it out a bit... someone wanted it a bit small on purpose, she said she does not want to close the blazer so rather than arguing with her I chose to do it her way and make it too small on purpose!  Well she loved the look and finally agreed that it would be better to close on her than not LOL, "told you so" was what I felt like saying but did not, saying instead that it's a great idea I'm glad she thought of it!! 
The pants really did fit like a glove with very little in the way of adjustments, only the rise had to be shortened a bit but the rest was PERFECT!  The skirt also needs very little done to it before I cut the fabric.  So happy with the outcome especially because my "client" is happy too. 
So I got the pattern pieces all finalized yesterday, this is why I like to make the master pattern and only the main pieces before I make all the lining, canvas, stay, facing, upper/under collar etc that way if there are any adjustments I only have a few pattern pieces to adjust and can trace the rest with all the adjustments already done.  Must work smart not hard :)
Below I have some pix of the progress so far, I will try to remember to take pix as I go and post them, usually I get so involved that it's only when I'm finished that I remember to take a picture!