3 STAGES OF FITTING CLOTHES, IF YOU WANT TO SEW CLOTHES THAT FIT!

I disagree with what you said about making a mock garment first and that will help make the perfect garment. You said to make it out of muslin or old sheets or whatever. If someone is making a knit dress for instance, making a mock dress first is not going to help them fit into a knit dress because the fabric is totally different. I know what designers do, but muslin is not flexible like knit. I say, take precise measurements and fit the pattern to one's body and carefully, sew the pattern together constantly trying it on in the process of making it, and not waste time making the same garment first that may not fit at all or make things worse making the real one.

I struggle with the guilt I feel when making a muslin version which I will never wear, and no one else ever will either. It feels wasteful

Hello Evelyn! I stumbled upon your fabulous videos a couple of years ago and have been a devoted subscriber ever since! I'm seriously considering enrolling in VSS if it is still going. Thank you for helping me build up the confidence to embark on making an actual garment with the fancy Bernina I bought two years ago. So far, the extent of my progress is watching your videos and sewing (lots of) pillow covers. I never learned to sew, as the women in my family were impatient and took every shortcut possible.
I have two questions:
How are the mock-up alterations transferred to the final version? I hope it doesn't require remeasuring, transferring to the paper pattern, and then cutting out the final version from that?
Also, do you recommend mannequins for beginning sewers? It occurred to me watching this video that for a first attempt, having a mannequin would be super helpful. For me, the pin scratches from trying on over and over again are a deterrent to doing careful fittings.
Finally, I'm sending warm, healthful wishes following your medical issue earlier this year, and sincerely hope you are now fully returned to the peak of health. Best, Annet

The hardest step for me is the third step. At this point I am often ready to just have the finished garment and it really takes some willpower to overcome my laziness because I know that I wont wear the piece if it isnt fitted perfectly. The same goes for clipping the seam allowances, final ironing etc. This is why I sometimes take breaks in my sewing process. About 2 weeks after finishing the garment I am often mentally prepared to do the final fitting and finishing steps 😅
Right now I am testing if time pressure works as well. I really need the dress I am currently working on for an upcoming wedding in 10 days... we will see.
Thank you for the Video though! This might be the motivation I needed

I hear the Guy Feiri diners, drive-ins, and dives theme music every time i hear your intro 😅😂

Ok I have a pattern where my measurements are bust 98cm, hips, 82cm, hips 97 but the pattern is medium bust, go to small and then extra small how do I adjust the pattern to fit me on those measurements of the pattern to draw lines between the dots from bust med. Waist small and xs hips I dont want to ruine my pattern and my mockup

What discourages me is that I'm 59. The clock is ticking, so I must choose wisely what remaining garments I will have time to make. These extra steps will make garment take construction longer. Hopefully they will be worth it!

I start without a pattern and upcycle old jeans to a dress.
The problem was, that I see the most pattern would’nd be fit on me. Tiny step by tiny step I try to fit garments and vintage clothes to my body.
I think, the most important think to understand and learn is to trimm off old fashion and look and to find out how it is constructed

the stages were well described but can we have a practical demo of those steps please?

So pleased that I found your channel. I'm about to watch the one about fitting without a mannequin. In the past, if I found a style I really liked and it fitted well, I'd make up several garments (usually dresses) with different fabrics. I'd forgotten about using kraft paper or older newspaper to make up your pattern since those tissues can be very fragile and will only hold up to so much tweaking. My mother and grandmother taught me to sew on an old Singer treadle machine. I'm 72 now and use a very heavy portable basic Kenmore while all my quilting friends have high-tech machines. There are days when I really wish for a treadle machine.

I learned to make fitting adjustments after mess I made of a lovely cotton linen look material was made too big then the alterations were too much making it too small. Always making a perfect fit first then fashion fabric.

The hardest part for me sleeveless armhole so the broad don't show how can I fix thank you

I’ve sewn for years and I have only sewn about 5 garments for myself. My figure is very curvy; small waist, larger hips-where the majority of my curve is in the back side, then narrow rib cage with larger breasts. I’m a nightmare. I’ll try making a muslim mock up and see how it goes.

One thing I learned is that I would see a pattern in a book and would love the style and the material and I would buy it make it up and it was not the style for my body. and I would be so disappointed. I am a short 5'2" hourglass figure and I loved long flowing skirts and dresses.They I looked like a sack on me. Until I realized that I would never look 5'10" this types of clothes would never suit me. I need fitted dresses and tops. 50's styles and fit and flair, with a defined waist suit me best. Full gathered skirts or dress bottoms just add to much to my hips so a circle skirt or 3/4 skirt works best on my body. If the pattern skirt is a rectangle I take most of the fullness out of it by tapering the skirt to take away the fullness at the waist but still have it farther down. This has been the biggest change for me... finding my body style. I love the dresses of the Roaring 20's but I will never look like Daisy (from The Great Gatsby).

No one ever taught me this. Unles in the 1 and only home ec class I was asleep or absent. All my sewing projects i have picked skirts. Because Fitting! And J have never learned. Until now, this is my hoal

My hardest part for me hands down is always the arm pit area and the neck line and of course the crotch when attempting pants

Oh my gosh. Finally I understand. You are teaching me so much! Thank you for this terrific video. Your the best

I’ve been sewing a long time, taught by my mother. But she only ever taught me to “follow the pattern” instructions. I’m 6 feet tall, short waisted and frustrated that nothing I’ve sewn in my adult life ever fits! I can follow complicated patterns for lovely designs, but it is the fitting piece I’ve been missing!!!! It’s so frustrating to sew a beautiful garment, only to trash it!!!! Where have you been all my life?!😂 Thank you!!!!

Your videos are always so engaging and polished, yet approachable and I love how each is a little slice of the whole process and very detailed. In my sewing journey, as I have made some simple garments, I find it helpful to go back to certain videos to review and it’s amazing how much more you pick up and absorb from them on a second view once you know and have experienced the process a little more.

Can you skip things in mockup, like sewing in a hem, etc. And if you can, which things?

This is good to hear. I decided I wanted to make a design I saw in a shop, so had to learn how to make the pattern. I went down a rabbit hole of videos and books, it took days to understand important things. Then I made my first mock top, it failed went back to the drawing board and more videos, tried again and in the end decided to do something I didn't think would work and voila. My mock top of that went through a few alteration stages. I loved being able to draw all over it, cut it where I wanted, add bits and take bits away. I learnt so much through the entire process. I undid the mock top, redrew the pattern from it and made what I wanted. I am less afraid now to try things.

Do you keep your shells once the real model has been done - or do you take them apart to use elsewhere?

I recently found you videos. I have sewn for myself from my mid teen years. I am now in my 60's and have begun again to try to sew for my new body after breast cancer. I appreciate your "back to the basics" very informative video.

I've been making my clothes pretty much all my life and if I still had all the clunkers that I ended up with, I'd have to add a room ... not just a closet ... to keep them in! I know those 3 steps would help me, it seems like a lot of work, but so is skipping them and going straight to a clunker! So anyway I would like to learn how to do those steps. Another challenge is to pick out a dress style that will work for my body, perhaps you have a video that addresses this challenge. If so, could you please let me know where to find it. Thank you very much, your videos are wonderful and I'm considering signing up for vintage sewing school, just haven't gotten up my courage/commitment yet.

One of the hardest stages for me is transferring alterations I've made to a toile onto the paper pattern that I might then make up in a slightly different fabric. I think I've gone through all the stages, only to find out it still isn't quite right! 😕

I did not know all these stages. I'm basically self taught but want to make things that actually FIT! I appreciate your help on all these steps.

Do you have a vidio on fitting clothes on a manegan or dress mod.

I only started sewing this year but I've had a lot of fit issues and subsequent learnings already. I learnt most women's patterns are drafted for a B cup, which in the sewing world means the bust measurement is 2" larger than the high bust measurement so if you're bust isn't that large proportional to your high bust you might want to pick a size larger bust measurement so it isn't too tight across the upper chest. And now I'm painfully learning about narrow shoulder adjustment!

I find that no matter how well I have fitted my garment, unless the actual garment is made of the same fabric I will still have fit issues.

Of course there are some lucky people that fit perfectly into the standard sizes that patterns use. They are the object of envy, just like those who eat like pigs and never get fat.

Hello I’m new to your channel and I love it! I do have a question about fitting. I’m making a dress for a child and the final look needs to be taken in a bit more. But I’m not sure where to begin. It’s the bodice giving me a hard time. Can It can be taken in at the side seams ? Or use darts? Or would I have to deconstruct the garment and take it back to the cutting stage? Please help. Thank you so much! And thank you for all the great tips!

Evelyn do you have a brother nx-400? I love mine.

i did GCSE textilles, was a brief trainee tailoress, did industrial sewing on sports tennis and badminton nets and did quite a few DIY projects that never turned out the way i wanted, which all ended at least 15 years ago XD
I'm going on holiday to a hot n humid country, linen has been the suggested fabric to wear. I've worked out it would be the same price/cheaper to buy patterns, dressmaker doll, sewing machine, thread, fabric etc n make myself.
I never did mock-ups n i never had an adjustable doll in the past. Luckily my area has a good selection of charity shops, so i'll be buying some bedding it seems XD
My brain has been almost feverish with anticipation and desire to make my own clothes, to finally have clothes i actually WANT vrs what will do
Take shorts, they are always too long n frumpy on me, or too short n revealing of my upper thigh flabbyness, now i can make them with All The Pockets, the length and width i desire <3

❤️ Thank you Evelyn.

Very expressive facial movement. You use WAY more muscles than I knew I had. 😁

Why do I always find these videos AFTER I’ve already messed something up smh

Hello, from Miami. I want to thank you for your informative and happy videos on sewing garments. I lost my Mom years ago, and you have helped me remember her advice when she was teaching me. God bless you. I recommend you to my friends all the time 😊

adding in the first time making any pattern. knowing it is not the finished garment. lets me relax on getting it right the first time. and I have so many old bed sheets. lol great way to use them

Thanks for all your realistic information about fitting and sewing and how long it actually takes. I made a 2 hr summer skirt (in about 6 hrs) only to realize that it doesn't look right on me and will take a lot of adjusting. It isn't like baking muffins which takes about an hour start to finish! So I've unpicked and gone back a few steps. The material was in my stash and not expensive so I will use it as a toile and make my adjustments.

Wish I'd discovered yours and a couple other channels about 4 months ago. I've been sewing (actively) for 5 years, but come from a LARP background - and let me tell you, while a T-tunic is an excellent way to learn how to learn very basic preliminary construction, it is not the end-all-be-all of sewing. I taught myself princess seams, to a degree, but lacked any mentor. But I liked how the garments I made fit well enough, and enjoyed the process of sewing well enough that I decided to pursue an ambitious sewing project: making my own wedding dress for my medieval/fantasy-themed wedding. It's going, but I'm only focusing on the bodice (which takes ~1.5 yds (1.4 meters)) and have gone through 12 yards (~11 meters) of fabric just trying to fit the bodice properly and there's STILL things I dislike about the fit (I am not generally a perfectionist, I finally got the design comfortable, now I'm just curing the weird bunching at the front of the armhole seam (I was taught to call this armscythe by my quasi-mentors in the LARP field, but have yet to hear anyone else use the term). Discovering videos like yours and other creators have meant I see more impact from each draft, however. I'll get it done, but fit is no joke! I will be saving this pattern into perpetuity once I get it worked out!

Oh my...I thought you posted a video re using blocks to custom fit a pattern so you dont need to go thru multiple fitting steps?

Thank you Evelyn! I love the vintage look and cannot wait to start adding vintage styles to my wardrobe. I found the info about the muslin mock-up most helpful. I didn't understand until now that making a trial piece first is how it's done.

What if you fashion fabric is knit- what should you use for the mock up?

Thank you❣ I love your great energy! You covered quite a few steps; taking the time to go through the process of what we need to do is very important to me. I will re-watch and also pay close attention to your other sewing tutorials!

I think what's helped me the most in my fitting process is slowing down and not trying to overthink everything. I have memories of my mother sewing clothes and it was always so stressful for her, and that anxiety I took up as well. Now I'm learning to slow down, take my time, and ask for help when I need it. I love your videos because you explain things so clearly and that helps me as well! Thank you!

Thanks for your videos. Have you ever thought of helping us ladies who have scoliosis fit our patterns to our unique body shapes? This can be very challenging and I’m sure it would help a great deal of people out there. Thanks again for all your expertise.

Biggest take-away: the pair of pants I just made will need to be my mock-up! I should have watched this video first :)

What if you don't have a dress form?

Good Morning! I just finished watching the three stages of fitting video well, I guess you would know that as I am in that particular lesson! Anyway- you suggested making a shell as the last part of fitting... no facings etc. So, I think I understood you to say you are to make the shell out of the fabric you will be using for the actual garment- do I baste the entire garment? I ask this because you said you don't put facings etc... Thanks, Cindy