This weekend we started the pants class with Karen and Peggy,  What a great weekend we had!  The ladies did a lot of work with the pants draft for the first time!  Seeing pants have traditionally been a men's wear garment they have never really been modified to fit a woman's body properly so it's up to us the individual tailors to make them work.  The key component to a proper fit is the crotch curve, it has to be correct or the fabric will get stuck and show pull/drag lines where it's stuck!  The most confusing part of getting the correct curve is the negative space that makes up the crotch inside the pants.  Key word here is NEGATIVE!  Whatever you think should be done, do the opposite!!!  The only way I could communicate the adjustments is to tell students to sew closer to the body or further away from the body, it's the only way it makes sense to the students so they can accurately assess a mock up. 
The ladies cut the mock up at home and marked it with tailor tacks ready to put together this morning so they completed the mock ups way before noon and we got to fit the body at that time.  There were a few issues with each of them which was a good thing because I could show the students how to approach a fitting and how to read the mock up along with making any adjustments on the pattern.  Peggy did the one mock up and it worked quite well so she was told to draft a new pattern taking into account the findings from the mock up, which she did and then help Karen with her pattern and mock up. 
Karen had a few more issues which took us a bit to figure out the 1/2 knee measurement used on the initial pattern was the wrong one, it was the generic measurement and not the personal measurement, a mistake anyone can make... so patiently went over the pattern draft and made a paper pant to fit which was a good move it showed the correct front curve which needed to be more straight, took into account those findings and did an new draft.  Once that was done we did a new mock up and fit the body, well EUREKA!!  The mock up fit very well!!!  By that time it was almost home time just a couple of things to do and they were off with pants that fit! 

All the hard work notwithstanding, alas there is homework! 
Homework is to sew a new mock up using new adjusted pattern and fit the body.  Double check to be sure all adjustments from the mock up have been addressed on the master pattern and the pattern pieces on the adjusted pattern. 
Find a different person to draft and sew a mock up using different measurements, fit the body and make any necessary adjustments.  The more you draft the better so find friends/relatives/neighbours and keep drafting and sewing once the numbers change the whole thing changes...

Prep for the zipper storyboards with the following:

• 7 pants front cut on folded fabric (2 layers)
• 5 front flys with fusible interfacing
• 6 zippers
• Extra fusible interfacing

Prep for pocket storyboards with the following:

• 4 single pants front all cut in the same direction
• 4 pocket lining
• 1 pocket fabric
• Twill tape (narrow) or seam binding
• Fusible interfacing
  

So here we are with a 6 and an 8 year old making shorts they can wear under skirts/dresses so they are feeling more covered and comfortable.  We started off by drafting a pattern, that was Nonna's job while the girls watched then they had to trace the pattern pieces for the front and back labeling them properly and mark a notch as well.  The shorts have no side seams making them very simple to make! 
Once the pattern pieces were traced they pinned the pattern to the fabric, stretchy fabric at that!  Anyone who is afraid of stretch take heart, if a 6 and 8 year old can do it, you can do it too!  They then got to add seam allowances to the pattern pieces using a measuring tape and chalk, mission accomplished with a bit of help from the teacher :)
After that came the cutting, check out the scissors they got to use!  No fear!  Cutting was a bit choppy but no matter was going to be trimmed anyway....
Their favourite part of the whole process was the machine stitching starting with some plain paper to understand how to use the sewing machine they sewed some straight lines and some zig-zag, stitches they would be using to sew.  The only thing I did was add the elastic at the waistband figuring it would be too hard for their first attempt at a project, did not want to discourage them with work beyond their means.  As you can see they did a great job, the pants fit very well, they were consulted along the way and had their preferences taken into account giving them creative freedom and some critical thinking too! 
ALL THIS AND NO PINS!!!
They both agreed that they want to do a next project, a pencil case and wallet!  Makes me very happy! 

What a student!  This wonderful young woman created mock ups for the bodice, pants, skirt and sleeve without any instruction on pattern draft at all until this class on Monday!  She followed the graphics in the book and did  phenomenal  job, the mock up for the bodice fit very well, a little issue with the shaping lines and that it!  The skirt was PERFECT!  The pants were the only garment with an issue but it would have been an issue regardless because it has to do with the negative space inside the crotch and how to curve the crotch for women's wear that has seemed to escape most if not all manufacturers, so that was expected. 
I showed Amanda how to correct the crotch curve plus how to figure out exactly how to measure the distance between the waist and hips for a more perfect pattern. She seems to have a really good grasp on the pattern draft so I am not concerned at all about her studies.

Homework is to make the necessary adjustments on the pants keeping the tissue taped to the master pattern, scoop out the back crotch, add to the front crotch to make it sit closer to the body, add small dart to centre back to avoid gaping.  Create a new mock up of pants to show next class reflecting the changes made from fitting.  This part of the homework needs to be done before continuing on to the next part. 
Draft capris on page 13(15) with the yoke using personal measurements and incorporate any necessary changes as seen on previous mock up.  
Also re-stitch the bodice princess seams to smooth out the lines as discussed in class. 

Hello all I had an interesting evening yesterday, I tried to connect with Amanda, my new student a George Brown graduate. She is quite a gal understood the basic blocks AND drafted them all on her own!  We tried to connect via Skype last time and I sounded like a robot on her end so we ended the conversation with a promise to try and find the source of the sound problem.  Well last night we tried it again and the same thing so we went with Facebook Messenger and it worked very well!  So going forward we will be connecting by Fb. 

Amanda also got to meet 2 of my granddaughters who will be here for the week and guess what their project of choice is; to sew a skirt each!!!  

It is with a heavy heart we say a final good-bye to my mother's older sister, she passed away peacefully in her sleep on Thursday July 5.  She had long suffered from heart issues, now she is not suffering any more.  My aunt was the most gentle, strong, loving person I had ever had the pleasure of knowing plus the privilege of calling her "aunt" was a true blessing. Over the years I learned a lot from her gentle nature, strong sense of family unity, caring personality things I will forever carry with me, being forever grateful for having her in my life.  A mother of 3, grandmother of many and great-grandmother as well, she had a long life, good life that deserves to be celebrated.  We will mourn her passing and cherish the wonderful memories she has left behind a person who will be missed terribly leaving a huge void in her absence all the while filling us with love and kindness at the same time. 

Today is the first visitation I am not looking forward to it she was like a second mother to me and a third grandmother to my children.  In the true Italian tradition whenever we went to visit the first question was always "did you eat?" and trust me if you were a tiny bit hungry guaranteed you would be over full by the time you left!  And could she cook!!   I don't think there is a chef around who could hold a candle to the spaghetti sauce she used to cook on an old wood cook stove at their place in Oro-Medonte, I can still smell and taste it to this day! 

My dear Zia Lillina I will miss you, I love you very much.