Hello I'm Aneka from Made to Sew. In this short video I'm going to be sharing my top five tips for
fitting a dress making pattern to your individual figure. Tip number one is that you need to take
accurate measurements when you're measuring yourself. You may be measuring yourself, you may
have a friend to measure you but whatever you do they need to be accurate and in the right place.
The key measurements that you'll be taking is the bust, perhaps the high bust if you may need
a small bust adjustment or a full bust adjustment, the waist the low hip and the back length.
If you don't know where to take these measurements I recommend that you watch my how to measure video
and I'll pop a link to it. When you're taking the measurements you need to make sure
that you aren't breathing in, the measurement isn't too snug,
and that it's not too loose, you don't want to be positioning a finger under the tape measure.
Tip two is that you need to understand ease and the ease that you like in your garments.
On your dress making pattern you're going to want to look at the finished garment measurements
and compare these to the size that you're planning on choosing. What is the difference?
How much ease does the pattern have at the bust, at the waist, at the low hip.
You could also compare this to garments in your wardrobe. Of course if you're working
with a dress making pattern that is for woven non-stretch material make sure that you compare it
to a garment in your wardrobe that's in a similar fabric woven and non-stretch.
You could measure the garments in your wardrobe at the bust waist and hip and see how much ease
they have, so what is the difference between the garments and your individual measurements?
That will give you an idea about the amount of ease that you like
in your garments. Do you like your garments to be closer fitted? Do you like them to be looser? And
therefore it may change the size that you want to make in the dressmaking pattern.
Tip three is that once you've chosen the size of the pattern that you want to work
with as a starting point you need to go through making any adjustments in the following order.
The first one is that you want to make any lengthening or shortening adjustments
to any of the pattern pieces that need it. You may be making those changes above the
bust above the waist between the waist and the low hip or between the low hip and the hem or in
the sleeves depending on what pattern it is that you're making, and your individual measurements,
and how they compare to the pattern. Once you've made the lengthening and shortening adjustments
the next thing is to make any adjustments that work with the curves of the body,
so we're not changing the size along the width of the body at the moment we're simply working
with any key alterations that you know you need to make. This could be a full bust adjustment
or a small bust adjustment I have tutorials on both of these if you want to watch them.
It could be that you need to do a full seat adjustment a round shoulder adjustment,
any of the kind of curved adjustments that you need to make for your individual figure
you would do it next. Then finally you would make any width adjustments to your pattern
so my tip number four is that making the width adjustments. You don't need to be one size you
do not need to be the same size through from the bust all the way down to the low hip.
You may find because you have an individual body that you are a different size at the bust,
waist and hip, that is absolutely fine and you simply need to blend your pattern
between those points. Tip number five is that I always recommend that you create a sample of the
adjustments that you've made on your pattern prior to sewing up the final garment. I would recommend
making a sample in calico or muslin material but again you can use something that you already have,
something that's cheap something, that is woven and doesn't have any stretch, if you're working
with a woven pattern. If you're working with a stretch pattern ideally the stretch percentage
of your sample fabric needs to be the same as the finished fabric. So those are my top five
tips for helping you to fit a dress making pattern to your individual figure. Thanks for watching!