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-
- >Books on Fitting:
- > IF: Introduction to fitting
- > VF: Vogue Fitting. Sandra Lenker.
- > FF: Fabulous Fit. Patricia Perry (editor)
- > MYCF: Making Your Clothes Fit. Patricia Burkhart Smith.
- >
- >Books on Pattern Drafting:
- > IPD: Brief intro to subject of pattern drafting
- > PFD: Patternmaking for Fashion Design. Helen Joseph Armstrong.
- > EK: Ernestine Kopp's series of books. Ernestine Kopp, et. al.
- > PPfD: Professional Patternmaking for Designers. Jack Handford.
- > DD: Dress Design: Draping and Flat Pattern Making.
- > Marion Hillhouse & Evelyn Mansfield
- > MPD: Modern Pattern Design. Harriet Pepin.
- > AFD: Art of Fashion Draping. Connie Amaden-Crawford.
- > DfFD: Draping for Fashion Design. Hilde Jaffe & Nurie Relis
- > PD: Precision Draping. Nelle Weymouth Link.
- > PoFPD: Principles of Flat Pattern Design. Nora MacDonald & Ann Weibel.
- > HtMSP: How to Make Sewing Patterns. Donald. H. McCunn.
- > FoMFD: Fundamentals of Men's Fashion Design. Nasaaki Kawashima.
- > MPCfM: Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear. Winifred Aldrich.
- > TS: Tailoring Suits: The Professional Way. Clarence Paulin.
- > S: Sleeves. Louise Todd Cape.
- > FDPS: Fashion Design for the Plus-Size. Frances Leto Zangrillo.
- > GTfMD: Grading Techniques for Modern Design.
- > Jeanne Price & Bernard Zamkoff
- > MNPD: Miscellaneous notes on Pattern Drafting
-
- >Miscellaneous: (todo)
- > DD: Decorative Dressmaking. Sue Thompson
- > MYOJC: Make Your Own Japanese Clothes. John Marshall.
- > FYF: Flatter Your Figure. Jan Larkey.
- > GE: Great Expectations (maternity)
- > ARtW: Altering Women's/Men's Ready to Wear
-
- >FAQ: Where can I get an up to date copy of this FAQ?
-
- >
- >Books on Fitting:
-
- >IF: Introduction to fitting
-
- >Many standard sewing references include some sections on altering patterns for
- >fitting. In particular, you may want to check out:
- > RDCGtS: Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing
- > VSB: The Vogue Sewing Book
- > SSSbS: Singer's Sewing Step by Step
- > VBSbSGtST: The Vogue/Butterick Step By Step Guide To Sewing Techniques
- > SB: Sandra Betzina's books
- > NZ: Nancy Zieman's books and videos
- > T: New books from Taunton Press
-
-
- >Alterations come in two sorts:
-
- >-small alterations that are generally made along seam lines or dart lines and
- >can be made during the fitting stage. Ideally, if you can buy the right size
- >pattern you should only need this sort of alteration. It helps if you have a
- >multi size pattern and can put several patterns sizes together (i.e. bodice
- >size XX, skirt size YY).
-
- >-large alterations that involve redrafting parts of the pattern (typically
- >slashing and spreading or overlapping).
-
- >_The Reader's Digest Complete Book of Sewing_, _Vogue Book of Sewing_ and
- >_Vogue Book of Fitting and Alteration_ discuss both methods. Both have
- >slightly more emphasis on the first method; which is appropriate. Good books
- >on pattern drafting discuss many of the techniques used in the second form of
- >alterations. An understanding of drafting techniques will help during major
- >pattern alterations.
-
-
- >SRL,PF: _Singer Reference Library: The Perfect Fit_:
-
- >A good introduction to fitting with beautiful photos, but not quite as
- >complete as several of the other books available. Still it covers most of the
- >common alterations neccessary. The introductory chapters discuss garment ease,
- >figure analysis and taking measurements. The section on adjustments shows pin
- >fitting a tissue pattern (can you *really* do this? without a helper?) and
- >fitting as you sew. Then there is a large fitting section that shows
- >photographs of common fitting problems and minor and major adjustments for
- >correcting them. _The Perfect Fit_ is the only fitting books I have seen that
- >uses color photos instead of drawings and this can be extremely useful. _The
- >Perfect Fit_ is also very well organized; if you read through it once it can
- >be used regularly as a reference book.
-
- >Additional comments from Marie-Christine Mahe [MAHE@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu]
- >What really makes the Singer book unique is the use of photos. Each problem
- >is presented in mild and severe form, so you can tell easily what the pattern
- >companies consider as a real objective problem. There are so many people
- >running around with distorted body images that it's very useful to be able to
- >look at 2 pictures and see that you only have a mild case of square shoulders
- >or big thighs or whatever, or a really serious case of skinny arms. Moreover,
- >the adjustments also come in 2 versions: the easy one for the mild cases, and
- >the slash-and-rip ones everyone else recommend, but only for the extreme
- >cases. I haven't seen any other book that makes such a clear distinction
- >between the possible adjustments and why you'd want to use one or the other.
- >Of course, you can also slide and pivot, but that really falls into the more
- >extreme category too. Most people really only need small adjustments, if any,
- >and these are rarely explained so well.
-
- >Additional comments [trytten@laurium.cps.msu.edu (Deborah Trytten)]:
- >Go to the store and buy the Singer Reference Library Fitting Book. It's a
- >gem. I found out things about my figure that I never knew before. I had
- >always thought that my fitting problems came about because I am large busted.
- >Come to find out, that's only half of the problem. The other half was that I
- >have narrow shoulders. They have hundreds of pictures of fitting problems and
- >the cause. I was paging through it when I saw this weird front armhole gap
- >that shows up on all my clothing. Then I started measuring, and found out
- >that my shoulders are very narrow--and I had never suspected it. Give it a
- >try. It's as painless as fitting can be.
-
-
- >VF: Vogue Fitting
-
- >_Vogue Fitting_: If you just want to look at one book, this is probably the
- >best one. It only covers fitting and is fairly complete in it's treatment of
- >alteration techniques. It should be available in many stores for about $15
- >(paperback). You'll certainly have no problem ordering it.
-
- >Vogue fitting : the book of fitting techniques, adjustments, and alterations /
- > [writer, Sandra Lenker ; illustrator, Phoebe Gaughan ; editor, Helen Moore].
- > -- New York : Harper & Row, 1987, c1984. 192 p.
-
-
-
- >FF: Fabulous Fit
-
- >_Fabulous Fit_. Butterick Publishing Company. This book was printed in about
- >1977 and is now out of print. I like this book slightly better than _Vogue
- >Fitting_, but both are good books. I believe Butterrick and Vogue are owned
- >by the same parent company, so this book has also been called _The Vogue
- >Sewing Book of Fitting, Adjustments and Alterations_.
-
- >The Vogue sewing book of fitting, adjustments, and alterations.
- > [The Vogue sewing book of fittings, adjustments, and alterations]
- > Fabulous fit / [editor, Patricia Perry]. -- New York : Butterick Fashion
- >Marketing Co., c1977.
- > 190 p., [6] leaves of plates : ill. ; 26 cm.
- > "Also published in hardcover as The Vogue sewing book of fittings,
- >adjustments, and alterations ... (third edition, 1977)."
- > Includes index.
-
-
- >MYCF: Making Your Clothes Fit
-
- >_Making Your Clothes Fit_ by Patricia Burkhart Smith. This book was also
- >published in the 1970's and is out of print. I like this book alot. It
- >consists of a page of pictures that show common fitting problems with pictures
- >on the opposite page that shows the appropriate adjustment. This book
- >concentrates on the smaller adjustments; I am not sure whether or not it shows
- >the large adjustments.
-
-
-
-
- >
- >Books on Pattern Drafting:
-
-
- >IPD: Brief intro to subject of pattern drafting
-
- >Basically there are three methods that designers use. Most designers use a
- >combination of several of the methods.
-
- >Initial patterns are drafted from a series of instructions based on the
- >measurements of an individual body. These patterns which are often called
- >basic slopers. Typically this system is used to design slopers for basic
- >pants, a basic bodice and a basic dress and the slopers are then modified with
- >flat pattern methods to create new designs. All basic slopers fit the body
- >snugly with minimum ease. Many pattern books from the 1800's discuss drafting
- >complex dresses and suits using body measurements, but today this method is
- >used mainly for slopers.
-
- >Flat pattern methods take basic sloper patterns and alter them into more
- >sophisticated patterns. This is probably the most widely used method. The
- >basic principles are slashing and spreading. Some pattern makers use pivoting
- >in addition to or instead of the spreading step. The books on flat pattern
- >drafting show you how to cut lines on the original pattern and manipulate the
- >pattern pieces to get a completely different pattern. One basic principle is
- >how to move or eliminate darts in order to change the drape of the pattern and
- >the design ease. Pivoting is particularly useful for moving darts from one
- >part of a pattern to another.
-
- >Some of the steps in flat pattern drafting can be similar to the modifications
- >you might have to make when drastically adjusting the size of a pattern (e.g.
- >changing it 4-8 sizes). For this sort of major modification you cannot adjust
- >at the seam lines, you must slash and spread the pattern to re-proportion all
- >parts of it. The new Sewing Basics section of Threads magazine has shown a
- >number of slash and spread modifictions that you may need to solve some common
- >fitting problems.
-
- >The third method is draping. In draping a piece of muslin is pinned directly
- >to a dress dummy (or even a 1/2 or 1/4 scale dress dummy!). Draping gives you
- >immediate feedback about the way the cloth hangs. Many people drape with
- >muslin for initial experiments and use the cloth they intend to use for a
- >advanced draping to get a better feel for the drape of the final fabric.
-
- >Many of these books discuss flat pattern methods. A few books such as {PFD:}
- >and {DD:} combine draping and flat pattern design. The Hillhouse and Mansfield
- >book discusses the appropriate uses for both draping and flat pattern design.
- >The Armstrong book discusses both but concentrates on flat pattern design.
-
- >Pattern drafting books are not available in most bookstores. Universities
- >with large programs in fashion design will carry some of these books, possibly
- >as textbooks. Many of these books are fairly expensive. It can be very
- >useful to preview the books by reading through them at a good University
- >library or borrowing them from an InterLibrary Loan program before you
- >purchase them. Several mail order places carry a range of books on drafting;
- >check Hard to Find Needlework Books for old and new books and Unicorn Books
- >for new books. (See the sewing FAQ for more information on these places.)
-
- >These reviews are based on the subjects that the books cover and the clarity
- >of the illustrations and writing. In short, these reviews are from a
- >well-read, but inexperienced, hobbyist in the pattern drafting field.
-
-
- >PFD: Patternmaking for Fashion Design
-
- >- Patternmaking for Fashion Design. Helen Joseph Armstrong. c. 1986. New York.
- >Harper & Row. (Ref: Threads #14, pg. 67) (Ref: Threads #11, pg. 37 gives c. as
- >1987.) (has been highly recommended in Threads several times) (has been
- >highly recommended as a single all-in-one book for flat pattern + draping in
- >Jan/Feb 1991 Threads). I agree that this is probably the best all-in-one book
- >that I have seen that is currently in print. It's somewhat expensive ($45+),
- >but it is about 700 pages and covers a very wide range of subjects and
- >alterations. If you want one book, I think this is the book to get.
-
-
- >EK: Ernestine Kopp's series of books
-
- >- How to Draft Basic Patterns, 3rd edition. Ernestine Kopp et.al. c. 1984. New
- >York. Fairchild. (Ref: Threads #11, pg. 37) Describes making the basic slopers
- >needed for _DAttFP_ and _NFAfDAttFP_ from either standard measurements
- >(provided thru size 18) or from individual measurements. Basic slopers for
- >sleeve (fitted and straight), skirt, pants, bodice, maybe more.
-
- >- Designing Apparel through the Flat Pattern, 5th edition. Ernestine Kopp. c.
- >1981. New York. Fairchild. (Ref: Threads #14, pg. 67) Uses the basic slopers
- >and flat pattern methods to create a wide range of patterns.
-
- >- New Fashion Areas for Designing Apparel through the Flat Pattern. Kopp,
- >Ernestine, et al. Sequel to _Designing thru the Flat Pattern_. Interesting,
- >but fairly old (1972). Includes some interesting sections, incl a chapters on
- >capes, hoods, and cowls.
-
- >The three books by Kopp are a good, and fairly complete, intro to all aspects
- >of flat pattern design. Of course, purchasing three books represents a
- >considerable investment. The _Designing Apparel through the Flat Pattern_
- >book can pretty well stand alone, but you may need the _Basic Patterns_ book
- >to get some of the slopers if you are hard to fit, etc.
-
-
- >PPfD: Professional Patternmaking for Designers
-
- >- Professional Patternmaking for Designers. Jack Handford. This is a pretty
- >good book that is probably still in print. It is a one book intro to drafting
- >slopers and flat pattern design. It's spiral bound and about $25. You'll
- >probably have to special order it. I can look up the publisher if you can't
- >find it in Books In Print.
-
-
-
- >DD: Dress Design: Draping and Flat Pattern Making
- > [HIST-COST] 1930's & 1940's
- >- Dress Design: Draping and Flat Pattern Making. Marion Hillhouse and Evelyn
- >Mansfield. c. 1948. Boston. Houghton-Miffin. (Ref: Threads #14, pg. 67) Clear
- >instructions on draping, with excellent drawings of bodice, skirt, sleeve, and
- >neckline styles. Perfect for reproducing styles of the 1940's. (Threads #30).
- >This is a GREAT book! Lots of draping examples. Also lots of exercise for
- >flat pattern drafting.
-
- >_Dress Design_ is one of the most comprehensive all-in-one books. There is a
- >large chapter at the front that discusses fitting and making a master shell.
- >The rest of the book discusses both draping and flat pattern making
- >techniques. Alot of information on making a good dress dummy, drafting and
- >fitting basic slopers, using slopers for more complex design. It emphasizes
- >designs popular in the 1940's.
-
-
-
- >MPD: Modern Pattern Design
- > [HIST-COST] 1930's & 1940's
-
- >- Modern Pattern Design. Harriet Pepin. c. 1942. Drafting slopers and slash
- >and spread modifications. Has many neat ideas for 1940 style clothing. Many
- >unique cuts, etc. I found this in a used book store and really like it. It's
- >not quite as good as the Hillhouse and Mansfield book, but it's still a pretty
- >good all-in-one reference.
-
-
- >AFD: Art of Fashion Draping
-
- >This book is a good general introduction to draping. The book contains many
- >clear illustrations and takes you through draping many different styles step
- >by step. Of the draping books that I have read this book appears to be the
- >most thorough introduction as well as the book that would be most useful for
- >someone trying to learn draping from scratch. The illustrations show you
- >exactly how to place the muslin material and the hand motions to use while
- >smoothing it and controlling darts.
-
- >The Art of Fasion Draping. Connie Amaden-Crawford. Fairchild Publications.
- >copyright 1989. 307 pages. (available from Unicorn as of 4/92; see sewing FAQ)
-
-
- >DfFD: Draping for Fashion Design
-
- >This book has good directions for draping many styles of bodices, necklines,
- >princess seam variations, bodices with unique yokes, skirts and cowls at the
- >neckline, armhole and waist. The book illustrates a wide variety of styles.
- >The book uses only draping methods, it does not include flat pattern
- >alterations. Many other books use flat pattern methods for some of the yokes
- >and cowls that are draped in this book.
-
- >The illustrations and descriptions in this book are adequate. The
- >illustrations and text often do not include details about how you should
- >smooth the fabric over the dress form. For example, the illustrations in
- >{AFD:} and {PD:} typically contain arrows showing the position and direction
- >appropriate for using your hand to smooth the fabric in each step. {DfFD:}
- >seldom includes this level of detail.
-
- >Draping for Fashion Design. Hilde Jaffe and Nurie Relis. c. 1973. Reston
- >Publishing Co (a Prentice-Hall Company). (Ref: Threads #11, pg. 37) ($27,
- >9/89)
-
-
- >PD: Precision Draping [HIST-COST] 1940's
-
- >This book provides well illustrated instructions for draping many of the
- >styles that were popular in the 1940's. The illustrations show how to lay the
- >cloth and how to smooth it on the dress form. This is a good general
- >introduction to draping and particularly useful for anyone that wants to
- >recreate the styles of the 1940's. The book uses some flat pattern methods to
- >show alterations for sleeves, yokes and skirts. The book covers only women's
- >clothing and does not include pants.
-
- >Precision Draping. Nelle Weymouth Link. Funk and Wagnalls, copyright 1948.
- >Check for this book through Interlibrary Loan.
-
-
- >PoFPD: Principles of Flat Pattern Design
-
- >- Principles of Flat Pattern Design by Nora M. MacDonald and Ann Weibel. For
- >a Textile Arts class. Spring 1991. Spiral, $30. I've looked through this and
- >it seems like a good book on flat pattern methods. Starts with a few chapters
- >on pivoting.
-
-
- >HtMSP: How to Make Sewing Patterns
-
- >- How to Make Sewing Patterns, rev. ed. Donald. H. McCunn. c1977. Drafting
- >patterns from measurements. Some notes on flat pattern methods. Has both
- >women's and men's basic patterns. Long out of print, but available through
- >inter-library loan. I think this book may have been re-released in the early
- >1990's; available from Unicorn books as of Feb 1992.
-
-
- >FoMFD: Fundamentals of Men's Fashion Design
-
- >This is a book about drafting suits from individual measurements. A wide
- >variety of men's suits are illustrated. Of course, many of the illustrations
- >show styles that were popular in the late 1960's and early 1970's. However
- >many of the patterns for formal attire are relatively timeless. I know of no
- >other book that contains such a variety of men's patterns drafted from
- >measurements.
-
- >Fundamentals of Men's Fashion Design: A Guide to Tailored Clothes. Masaaki
- >Kawashima. Fairchild Publications. copyright 1974. ISBN 87005-105-9.
- >Available from Unicorn as of 4/92.
-
-
- >MPCfM: Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear
- > [mgrice@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr M. Grice)]
- >_Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear_ by Winifred Aldrich
- >(Oxford: BSP Professional, 1990 - 2nd Edition)
-
- >(My copy of this book is actually the first edition, however, the second
- >edition is essentially the same with the addition of a chapter on Computer
- >Aided Designing (CAD) in pattern drafting.)
-
- >The book covers the basic principles in metric sizing, taking body
- >measurements, how to use the basic blocks (slopers), devloping basic blocks
- >for casual wear, sleeve variations, trousers, coats, nightwear and the classic
- >suit. A separate chapter covers adapting the men's blocks to women's wear
- >(essentially darting the blocks).
-
- >The instructions are extremely detailed, with very accurate (to scale?)
- >drawings of what the blocks and adapted patterns should look like. The
- >development of adaptations such as extended shoulder lines, lowered armhole
- >(easy fitting) and combinations thereof is very well described. The chapter
- >on collars (shirts and jackets) removes much of the uncertainty that I have
- >found in other books on pattern drafting.
-
- >The criticisms I have are that the adaptations described are a little
- >conservative, the book is based on the metric system of measurement (which
- >personally is not a problem, but may put others off), and the chapter on CAD.
- >As a computing professional I found the discussion on CAD for pattern drafting
- >to be too high-level, with the focus being on systems found in large
- >production environments.
-
- >On the whole, the book gives comprehesive coverage to various aspects of
- >pattern drafting of interest to the "home" pattern cutter.
-
-
- >TS: Tailoring Suits: The Professional Way
-
- >- Tailoring Suits: The Professional Way. Clarence Paulin. I found this book in
- >a used book store. It's a bit old (60's?), but seems to be reasonably
- >complete. It's mostly for drafting and making men's suits; women's suits are
- >a chapter tacked on to the end. Paulin shows how to draft the pattern based o
- n
- >measurements and then adjust as needed during the first fit.
-
-
- >S: Sleeves [HIST-COST] drafting sleeves
-
- >This is a collections of unusual sleeve designs that may be useful for anyone
- >doing costuming or historical costuming. Many of the designs are too unusual
- >for daily clothing. However if you need to design fancy or unusual sleeves
- >for clothing from the 1500 - 1900 era you may find this book very useful. You
- >may have to search a bit to find this book; check Interlibrary Loan Programs
- >and Unicorn books.
-
- >Sleeves: A Treasury of Ideas, Techniques and Patterns. Louise Todd Cape.
- >Copyright 1988. Coat of Arms Press, Box 1, Penland, North Carolina 28765.
-
-
- >FDPS: Fashion Design for the Plus Size
-
- >This book is written for a student designer. It discusses some of the common
- >figure types for larger women, some standard design tricks that can be
- >flattering. The largest section discusses introductory drafting and draping
- >techniques for making slopers and altering the slopers to make some
- >complementary designs. The last section discusses grading for sizes 14-24.
- >This book may be useful if you are doing alot of designing for larger women.
- >Most of the topics and techniques are covered more thoroughly in other books,
- >however this book concentrates on the problems most common in larger women.
- >If you're not sure how useful it will be, check for it in a library before you
- >buy it.
-
- >Fashion Design for the Plus Size. Frances Leto Zangrillo. copyright 1990.
- >Fairchild Publications. ISBN 87005-677-8. Available from Unicorn 4/92.
-
-
- >GTfMD: Grading Techniques for Modern Design
-
- >_Grading Techniques for Modern Design_ shows pictures of standard pattern
- >pieces and shows how they should be slashed and expanded in order to regrade
- >them. I believe they start with the industry standard size 12 (?) and show
- >regradings up and down for most women's sizes. I once used the techniques in
- >this book combined with the pictures in the _Reader's Digest_ book to alter a
- >dress pattern from size 12 to about size 18. I slashed the pattern in the
- >places indicated by the book and used their charts as a guideline for
- >spreading the pattern.
-
- >Price, Jeanne. Grading techniques for modern design / by Jeanne Price and
- >Bernard Zamkoff. New York : Fairchild Publications, c1974. ix, 132 p. : ill.
-
- >See Also: article on pattern grading in Threads, issue #29, June/July 1990.
- >Good intro.
-
- >See Also: _Grading for the Fashion Industry, the Theory and Practice_ by
- >Patrick Taylor and Martin Shoben. London: Hutchinson and Co, LTD. 1984. (from
- >a reference in Threads issue #29). A complex and comprehensive text, from an
- >apparel manufacturers viewpoint. Includes a survey of 34 body measurements
- >(in metric) as well as two and three dimentional grading for missy bodices,
- >skirts, sleeves and pants.
-
-
- >MNPD: Miscellaneous notes on Pattern Drafting
-
- >I have seen recommendations for the following books, but have never read them.
- >The recommendations came from a "Best of Out of Print Dressmaking Books"
- >article in Threads and references from other articles.
-
- >Flat Pattern Design. Allyn Bane. c. 1972. (out of print). New York.
- >McGraw-Hill. (Ref: Threads #14, pg. 67)
-
- >Dress Pattern Designing: The Basic Principles of Cut and Fit, 5th edition. c.
- >1986. Natalie Bray. London. Collins. (Ref: Threads #11, pg. 37)
-
- >More Dress Pattern Designing, 4th edition. Natalie Bray. c. 1986. London.
- >Collins. (Ref: Threads #11, pg. 37)
-
- >Pattern Making by the Flat-Pattern Method, 5th edition. Norma R. Hollen. c.
- >1981. New York. Fairchild. (Ref: Threads #14, pg. 67). (Note: Threads #11, pg
- >37 gives c. as 1972 (?).)
-
- >Clear-Cut Pattern Making by the Flat Pattern Method. Mary Gorgen Wolfe. c.
- >1982. New York. MacMillan. (Ref: Threads #14, pg. 67)
-
-
- >- In Threads #21 (spring 1989) there is an article about Madeleine Vionnet by
- >Betty Kirke. Vionnet designed clothes in the 20's and used bias cuts
- >extensively. The article states that Betty Kirke is working on a book about
- >Madeleine Vionnet. It should be interesting! I keep checking for this book
- >in Books In Print and looking for articles about it. I have not seen any
- >evidence of the book yet, guess it's time to write to Threads and ask them
- >what's up.
-
- >- Patternmaking and Design. Antionette Colicchio & Burr D. Coe. c. 1967.
- >This book uses flat pattern methods. It emphasizes designs popular in the
- >60's. This book might be hard to find as it appears to be from a small
- >publisher or possibly even self published.
-
-
- >
- >Miscellaneous Books:
-
- >DD: Decorative Dressmaking [HIST-COST]
-
- >Dressmaking details and techniques common in the first half of the 20th
- >century (1900 - 1940 or so). Each chapter describes the sewing techniques,
- >shows pictures and illustrations of a number of garments and includes a
- >project, generally with a scaled pattern (in sizes small, medium and large).
- >Suggests and techniques can easily be applied to commercial patterns also; the
- >charted patterns in the book have minimal sizing. The pictures and drawings
- >of techniques and variations are very inspirational. Chapters include:
-
- >1) Flounces: Using flounces and ruffles on skirts and collars. Circular,
- >spiral and shaped flounces. Appropriate materials, finishing edges,
- >variations. Pattern for simple dress with flounced collar at neckline.
-
- >2) Stripes: Creating interesting designs with stripes. Skirts, shirts hand
- >dresses. Chevron patterns, gored skirts, pleated stripes. Pattern for a dress
- >with a pleated skirt and striped accents at neckline and hipline.
-
- >3) Piping: Types of piping, making piping, cording. Piping to accent seams or
- >edges in jackets, shirts and dresses. Pattern for simple linen jacket and
- >pants with cording highlights in seams.
-
- >4) Topstitching: Topstitching or quilting accents on collars, cuffs, yokes and
- >hats. Pattern for a boiler suit (simple pants-suit) with topstitching on wide
- >collar.
-
- >5) Pintucks: Using pintucks to add design and accents to skirts, jackets.
- >Using pintucks to control fullness in blouses, skirts. Pattern for pintucked
- >jacket and skirt with pintucks on collar, waist, pockets, yoke and front of
- >skirt.
-
- >6) Applique: Appliqued desings on clothing. Somewhat "60's-ish". Pattern for
- >caftan with a white on white appliqued pattern.
-
- >7) Bands and Bindings: Making and using bindings. Classic 1940's suits with
- >bound edges as an accent. Binding garment edges. Using binding on garment
- >seams (bind one edge and sew seam together with an overlap seam).
- >Incorporating bands into a pattern for accents, either inset bands or bands
- >sewn over seam allowances. Pattern for a full (oversized?) winter coat with
- >banded seams and edges.
-
- >8) Pleats and Tucks: Making pleats, marking pleats, pressed pleats, inverted
- >pleats, partly stitched pleats, horizontal pleats, pleats in jackets,
- >combining pleats and stripes. Pattern for pleated top and skirt that uses
- >striped material for added interest.
-
- >9) Ruching: Adding bands of ruching to dresses, jackets, blouses for
- >detailing. Rouching in garments, for example as gathering to form shaping for
- >the bust of a dress. Altering a pattern to add strips of rouching. Altering
- >a pattern to incorporate ruching (e.g. all-over gathering) in the garment
- >seamlines. Pattern for an evening dress adapted for ruching.
-
- >10) Faggoting: Making faggoting strips and sewing them together. Different
- >embroidery stitches to use. Faggoting in garment seams, collars, yokes, hems.
- >Patterns for an oversized thick mohair jacket made of strips joined by
- >faggoting.
-
- >Decorative Dressmaking. Sue Thompson. Rodale Press. 1985. ISBN 0-87857-579-0.
- >Has been available from Hard to Find Needlework Books (see sewing FAQ).
-
-
-
- >MYOJC: Make Your Own Japanese Clothes. [HIST-COST]
-
- >Detailed directions for making a traditional kimono, outer robe, haori jacket,
- >hanten jacket, wraparound top, vest, slacks, obi sashes and tabi socks.
- >Includes comments about using traditional (14" wide) materials and modern
- >materials. Includes notes for fitting Westerners who are often larger than
- >traditional Asian people. Meticulous details!
-
- >Make Your Own Japanese Clothes: Patterns and Ideas for Modern Wear. John
- >Marshall. ISBN 0-87011-865-x. $16.95 (paper). 1988. Kodansha International
- >Ltd.
-
-
- >FYF: Flatter Your Figure.
-
- >Includes tests (using a mirror, stick, string and helpers) for about 20 figure
- >features such as short legs, short or long waisted, swayback, shape of
- >shoulders, bust, waist, hips, and arms. Also analyzes shape of face and
- >haircut. Advise for deciding which figure features are advantages, which are
- >minor disadvantages and which are major disadvantages. A section showing many
- >basic garment shapes explains which are favorable or unfavorable for various
- >figures. Discusses camaflaging common problems, accenting your best features,
- >and using garment lines to create illusions. Emphasizes a positive attitude;
- >accent positive features and don't draw attention to less desireable features.
- >Advise for balancing conflicting advise (e.g. styles that are good for some of
- >your features but bad for other features).
-
- >This subject is usually covered in general sewing references, but FYF is a
- >much more comprehensive guide. Recommended for people who sew their own
- >clothing or buy ready made. Illustrates and discusses women's clothing only.
-
- >Flatter Your Figure. Jan Larkey. $9.95 ISBN 0-13-321795-7. 1991. Prentice
- >Hall / Simon Schuster. Larkey had an article in Threads in ?early 1991? that
- >contained a number of the ideas in FYF.
-
-
- >
- >FAQ: Where can I get an up to date copy of this FAQ?
-
- >There are four textile related FAQs. The first list concentrates on general
- >sewing questions and supply information and restoring antique sewing machines.
- >The second list concentrates on costuming and historical clothing. The third
- >posting contains a list of books that cover sewing, fitting and pattern
- >drafting. The fourth is an index to quilting FAQs that are maintained by
- >various individuals and are available by email request.
-
- >When looking for an FAQ list, first do the obvious and check the relevant
- >newsgroup for articles with "FAQ" in the subject line. If you don't know how
- >to check articles marked as read, your sysadmin can tell you. Next, try the
- >group news.answers since this FAQ is crossposted there. Again, your sysadmin
- >can tell you the commands to use in searching.
-
- >If you cannot find the FAQ on your system, you can retrieve a copy from
- >Jonathan Kamen's archive of periodic postings. For general instructions on
- >the server, send email containing the commands "help" and "send index" (no
- >quotes, separate lines) to
- > mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
- >For a list of all periodic postings that are archives in news.answers, email
- >the command "send usenet/news.answers/index" to the server.
-
- >via anonymous FTP:
- >Periodic postings including FAQs are archived at "rtfm.mit.edu" in the
- >directory "/pub/usenet". The textile FAQs are:
- > /pub/usenet/news.answers/crafts/textiles/faq
- > /pub/usenet/news.answers/crafts/historical-costuming
- > /pub/usenet/news.answers/crafts/textiles/books/part1
- > /pub/usenet/news.answers/crafts/textiles/books/part2
- > /pub/usenet/news.answers/crafts/quilting-faq-index
-
- >via email server:
- >The address of the server is mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu. To retrieve files,
- >send email to the server with a blank subject and one or more of these lines
- >in the body:
- > send usenet/news.answers/crafts/textiles/faq
- > send usenet/news.answers/crafts/historical-costuming
- > send usenet/news.answers/crafts/textiles/books/part1
- > send usenet/news.answers/crafts/textiles/books/part2
- > send usenet/news.answers/crafts/quilting-faq-index
-
- >Another recommended by Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite)
- > that may be in print: THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK OF SEWING MACHINE REPAIR
- > by Howard Hutchinson. Published 1980. TAB BOOKS INC, Blue Ridge
- > Summit, PA. 17214
- >Another from Alan Holland: The Sewing Machine Handbook by Peter Lucking;
- > Copyright 1985. Arco Publishing, Inc. LCC TT713.L75 1985;
- > ISBN 0-668-06562-1; paperback, 112 pages, list price $6.95; It has a
- > chapter on the several types of stitch-forming mechanism used in
- > sewing machines. Another chapter is on sewing machine needles.
- >Draping and Designing With Scissors and Cloth, 1920's and 1930's. Two vol
- > reprint from the original Women's Institute series, used by coutures
- > of the era. $18.95 + $2 s/h each volume. Diane Barlow-Close
- > recommends. Body Blueprints; 1734 Scott St., St. Helena, CA 94574
- >Ladies' Tailor-Made Garments - 1908. S. S. Gorden. detailed patterns of
- > gored skirts, coats, capes, sleeves, collars and jackets. 240 pgs.
- > $22 ppd. LACIS Dept SN4, 2982 Adeline St. Berkeley, CA 94703;
- > 510-843-7178. Is this an RLShep reprint?
- >There will be a new Couture book from Claire Shaeffer and Taunton sometime
- > within the next year or so; check Sew News ads I guess (I've seen
- > suggestions for spring '93 or June '93, but I haven't seen it listed
- > anywhere yet so it may be delayed again)
- >According to Diane Barlow-Close, Robbie Fanning is also working on a Couture
- > book; '93 may be the year of Couture books.
- >Shirtmaking by David Coffin (Taunton, $30 paperback; new March '93)
- > one report says it has good pix and seems to have good text too
- >_From the Neck Up_: *the* book on making hats.