I absolutely know the pain of picking a sewing pattern.
You pick your size,
you think it's all correct, and then you sew up the garment
and it doesn't fit and I mean, it doesn't fit by a two sizes. Why?
Let's in this video, talk about just why that happens
and how you can use this information
to actually choose a better sized sewing pattern the first time.
Welcome back, my sewing friends.
It is wonderful to have you here. If you are very just new here, welcome.
My name is Evelyn Wood and I'm the creator
of VintageSewingSchool.com here on this channel we talk about everything garment
sewing to help you get better at your government sewing.
So if it's what you're interested in, do hit that subscribe button
that's down below so you can be notified of all of the future videos.
We are obviously talking pattern sizes today.
It is one of the most frustrating things.
And I remember this being just so confusing.
Let me talk you through,
I think, the stages of learning to fit and pattern sizes,
right? First one, this is the first stage you pick up sewing pattern.
You think I've got this sewing thing. Pick up a pattern.
You look at the numbers on the back and then you choose one.
You see this like size 8, 10, 12, 14, 16,
and you pick what size you usually wear in normal clothes.
Then you sew it all up somehow
and managed to put it all together
and then you put it on and it doesn't fit at all whatsoever.
Oh, my goodness. What a disaster, right?
We all, I think, did that to begin with and realized that these sizes
have nothing to do with ready to wear clothing.
Sizes and sizes are completely different. I mean, there's U.S.
sizes, UK sizes, I'm in Australia,
these numbers are even different than my numbers.
They are literally just numbers. So they mean nothing.
Probably already passed that stage.
And then the second stage is where you realize this
and then you actually measure your body
and you get your body measurements and then you use this handy
little chart on the back and you track it and you pick your closest size
that it tells you to make according to what you've measured your body.
Then you make that up and then, my goodness, again, what a terrible mistake.
Why does it not fit something? Sometimes it's two sizes too big.
Why is this that is this is the point that I think a lot of people get to
and they quit sewing because it gets really hard.
I don't want that for you.
This is all part of the assumed knowledge of sewing patterns.
And it's the kind of thing that you just you can't pick up.
They don't tell you these types of things on the sewing pattern.
It was never designed as a learn to sew tool.
This is where you need your trusty
sewing friend, sewing mentor to tell you all about this.
And that is what we are doing here today.
OK. The first thing is that we need to know that there is a difference
between body measurements and garment measurements.
And so I have made other videos here on
about this topic for they'll be all linked down below.
So if you want to learn further about each of these topics,
there will down below for you.
So the first thing is that body measurements are different
than finished garment measurements.
So our body measurements, what we use in sewing is just a bit
more of what it sounds like is our actual size of our body,
that we measure our past waist hip. Usually the standard ones.
Now, the measurements on here are body measurements.
But this is not how big the garment will be when it's finished.
Those are the finished garment measurements. That's what we call it.
So that is what the measurement of the bust waist hip, for example,
will be on the actual garment when it is finished and all sewn up and made.
And these are two different things.
So we go by body measurements to choose our size on the back.
But the garment always ends up usually bigger.
And this is because of a thing called ease.
Now, I have made other videos here on ease as well.
So do watch those for further to expand your knowledge on this topic.
Ease is this magical thing on sewing patterns.
That is, there's two types of ease.
It's extra room on the pattern.
It's that difference between what our body is and what the garment is.
For example, this top that I'm wearing today.
All of this extra space here is ease on the garment.
So there's two types of ease.
I think it will make more sense when we explain it.
There is fitting ease or wearing ease.
Now, this is ease that is designed for movement,
for body movement, because think if this top
was exactly the size of my body, I would not be able to move.
I couldn't lift my arms, wouldn't be able to lean forward.
I'd probably pop every seam
because the garment actually needs to be bigger than my body
for comfort and just for room of movement that is fitting or design
fitting or wearing ease. The next type of ease is design ease.
And so this is where it is part of the design of the garment.
For instance, this is meant to be a peasant top and loose and baggy.
So anything baggy in nature or think of like a cow neck,
you know, where it's got all the drapey droopy
neckline. The actual garment, if you pull it out,
will be way bigger than your actual body.
But this is because. It's part of the design, so design ease.
And these are the two types of ease that you always need to think about
and look at when you are deciding on how much should be on your garment.
And there is no stamp because there is no standard amount of anything.
It will be entirely up to you and what you might.
That's half the fun of sewing, right? I know. And the hard part as well.
But it is the fun of it, I promise.
And so with these two things, we know that body measurements and garment
finished garment measurements are different because of a thing called ease.
And there's two types of ease.
So now how do we use this to choose a better sewing pattern size for us?
So this is where you really take control of your sewing.
And having this knowledge and understanding it,
even at a deeper level, will allow you to actually choose what you want.
Stop just relying on this
because they don't give you every information that you need.
So what do we do?
So here upon this handy little chart, you use this as your guide to begin with.
So you measure your body.
You measurements based waist hip, whatever is relevant to your pattern.
If it's a top, you only obviously need vast waist, for example.
And so measure those and then use an average
because we never see fit into one box.
So your bust might be up this side
and your waist here, and you just have to average it out.
And what is going to be the most useful?
And you obviously can as you get more skilled and more skilled,
there's more layers to go on, on how best to add and subtract.
But that's for another day.
So choose your, you know,
size, whatever it is, 10, 12, 14, whatever number it might be.
That just numbers, by the way, means absolutely nothing.
Don't ever get caught up on what the numbers are.
So let's just say we have a 12.
It's the sort of average of wear my body measurements.
It picks me and it puts me on here.
What they suggest that size 12, that is just
whatever pattern company
you have suggesting that for the pattern that they've made,
they've decided for you. How much fitting ease, wearing ease..
And they've also decided how much design ease
should be on the pattern and how they each should fit.
They've decided how baggy or loose or whatever it is
that you want to call it, how big it should be unir to fit.
And a size 12 with those body measurements would fit
with the amount of ease they have decided is appropriate for this garment.
Yeah, following along.
Now you can decide
how much ease you want on your garment,
because as you know, when you make this up, it's really often
way, way too big is probably one of the most common problems.
Or if you have a full bust, for example,
a quite a large cup size, and then you choose
according to that size, everything else is way too big.
So that's when you deciding what you want,
making a smaller size and adding a full bust adjustment.
Again, that's another lesson for another day.
So we can decide how do we do this?
Well, on the pattern, if you're really lucky,
you might actually see that they have written down here.
This one is beautiful.
They have finished garment measurements.
Now, they will not have lost waist hip in at all. Absolutely not.
And you very often find they will not include this information.
I know it's the most crucial information
for you to actually decide how you want it to fit.
Anyway, it'll either be written down here.
This one has finished garment measurements for the bust
or very often if you look on the pattern, you'll actually find it written too .
So it might just be on maybe the center front piece.
That's kind of the the the main piece of any pattern.
You might actually find that it is written on here.
So this one has the different sizes listed and the bust measurement here.
Now, this one here, it says total is above body measurements,
approximately four inches or 10 centimeters.
So this means that they have on this pattern
four inches or 10 centimeters of design.
Now, they just say total is about body measurements.
So if I made up the size that they told me to for my body measurements,
it should be 10 centimeters or four inches bigger than my body.
So how do we use this information to guess?
Well, go get a dress, a top or whatever it is, something in your wardrobe
that fits you similar to how you would like this to fit.
Should be very similar in design
and measure the actual garment and then see how much is on there.
And you can start deciding on how big you want it to be.
You might decide that you only want two inches of ice
for this particular garment, and that's when you can
maybe even choose then a size down and you'll know that it's going to fit you.
And remember that this doesn't guarantee that the pattern is going to fit you.
There's a difference between size and fit.
And I do talk about this in other videos here as well. So do watch those.
But this is just the next level that you can get to, to understanding
why the patterns are not as you expect when you first start sewing.
And now, just like I talked about at the beginning, when this was remember,
I talked about the different levels and this was level one.
This was level two.
You get to this stage and you start looking at body measurements.
There are more levels on top of this that you go through.
You start measuring the actual patterns themselves,
the pattern pieces, and adding it all up together
to find out the finished garment measurements for yourself.
And you can really take control of starting to make
adjustments to the pattern according to your body size.
And you keep layering on these skills and going up different levels,
and you get better and better and better at fitting different sizes.
And then you really start to realize
this is only just a starting size, a starting point.
You really meant to make adjustments from here to really fit you really well.
And that's where it gets really fun in sewing.
And I think where you get the best results, and that is
I do all of this and more at VintageSewingSchool.com,
this is my online sewing school, so I would love to have you join me
if you're really ready to take your sewing skills to those next levels.
That is what I do, that as links down below.
Now, I would really love to hear from you.
What has been your biggest struggles in fitting sewing patterns?
Let us know below.
I might just make a video about it.
And if you have tips and tricks for all of our fellow watches,
put those down below, too, because we are sewing community here.
And reading through
all those comments
will be a wealth of knowledge for you in your sewing journey,
because I want to see you making those clothes of your dreams.
I know you can. Okay, my friends, I look forward to reading your comments.
And until next time, happy sewing, bye.