Saturday, September 22, 2012

My busy week

I have had a very busy week. I am going to try to take as much time off as I can this week-end but I know I should get into the studio tomorrow to keep the ball rolling. I got back from Boston last Sunday night, went in Monday morning and started in on my week.

Boys tailsuits:

I have to finish altering my patterns for these tailsuits, so I can cut them out and get them going.
I was very happy with how they turned out. 
I basically made four sizes based on heights that I was given. 
All the body length measurements were spot on for the sizing, it is just that I made everything a bit big through the chest and waist for these guys. Well, better a bit big than too small I say.
It is so much easier to pin excess in than rip things apart to let out or worse, to guess how much more you may need. This is important because often the fittings are very short, I think I didn't have anyone longer than 25 minutes. It felt a bit crazy, but that is what we are up against sometimes.
I cut all the trousers on Monday and Tuesday and Denise has most of them together already, I have Lela on board cutting shirt dickies, then she and Denise will switch to making coats next week while I then cut the waistcoats.









































For Mr. B: 
I fit his suit on Wednesday.
Here is the trouser pattern to go with the suit jacket that I was drafting here.
As you can see they do not require a lot of fabric, just a metre is enough.
This gentleman prefers to wear his trousers under the fullest part of his belly and you can see that I have cut the front waistline down to accomodate this.
He is definitely not and easy shape to fit and I have to make some more adjustments now that  we have had a fitting. I think I should make the legs a bit narrower now that I see the pattern with fresh eyes.  I still have to mark the alterations on the jacket for Silvia, who is making this. 

I also went in to Toronto on Thursday for a fitting with a 1920's suit on another project, which I was very happy with. I managed to shop there for linings for the boys tailsuits and waistcoats, buttons for the suit above and his next suit to come and dropped off fabric for covered buttons as well. I got caught in rush hour traffic on the TTC, and just barely made it to the train station for my trip home.

Friday was spent altering the tailcoat patterns, shipping fabric (which is a mound of paperwork), shopping for more supplies, and then updating and doing work on the computer.

Next week looks about the same. I think I will go and put my feet up and have a glass of wine.




3 comments:

  1. Terri, thanks for all what you write! Quite stimulating.
    Children have not much fitting problems, I like to sew for them.
    To the trousers: Do you have a rule of thumb how wide you calculate the width of hem in comparison to the hip. (I know it depends on style and length of the trouser) But life would be easier if I knew a 130 hip (average height) looks good in a 54 hem. Your pattern looks a bit "compressed"
    lg
    heidi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do not have a rule for the width of the trouser leg. In this case I used the width of a previous pair that he liked. I have a friend who uses a percentage of the hip as a guideline, but it doesn't work all the time. If I am making a period trouser, I usually check with some references I have then adjust to what looks right for the height of the person and their shoe size.

      Delete
    2. I do not have a rule for the width of the trouser leg. In this case I used the width of a previous pair that he liked. I have a friend who uses a percentage of the hip as a guideline, but it doesn't work all the time. If I am making a period trouser, I usually check with some references I have then adjust to what looks right for the height of the person and their shoe size.

      Delete