Designing and grading for a large size range

I get the following question from time to time:

I am a self taught pattern drafter, drafting patterns for myself and my 
kids for years.  I decided to turn this into a business recently and am 
creating a line of children's patterns for the home sewer.  My size range 
is 6m-10 and this is where my question is... Can you help me understand the process of redrafting the SAME style/pattern in my different base sizes?  I  get that I can't just take a size 5 and grade all the other sizes from 
there.  I own several popular pattern drafting books as well as 2 different 
grading books and I can't seem to find this information anywhere.  Any 
information you can provide me would be SO HELPFUL.  I am guessing there is some precise way to redraft my base sizes so the design doesn't change much.  Can you shed some light on how they do this in the business?  THANK YOU!

There are several things. First, it is not unusual when designing children's clothing to cover a large size range. The reality is it is much more work than you would think. I would recommend reviewing my previous blog entries on grading, especially Creating a Grading Standard (also read the other grading tutorials, they'll be helpful).

Unfortunately, there is no other precise way to redraft your sample or base sizes except good old-fashioned pattern drafting. If you have some basic pattern blocks for each size range, then it is no big deal. Just starting out, though, it is a lot of work. It will take less time and become easier over time, so no worries. One thing to pay attention to are proportions. You may need to alter the design to accommodate the size while still giving the impression of the same overall design idea.

Spinning - fibery goodness stash enhancement

Over the weekend I attended the Snake River Fiber Fair 2012 in Idaho Falls. My main goal was to stock up on fiber for spinning. The fair had vendors from the Intermountain and Pacific Northwest. There were hand dyers and ranchers selling fleeces. I had never been to a fiber fair before so I wasn't entirely sure of what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, especially with the friendliness of the fiber guild staff and vendors. I am definitely planning on going next year and maybe even take a few classes.

So here is what I bought:

1 oz. of undyed, natural Cormo top from Bennyhill fibers out of Montana. It is amazingly soft. I just wanted to test out a new fiber and I will probably practicing dying it as well. The vendor recommended dying the spun yarn rather than the roving.

8 oz of hand dyed corriedale from The Fiber Addict out of Donnelly, Idaho. The fiber prep on this is amazing and so much better than the fiber I purchased a few months ago. It was so pretty that I had to start spinning it right away. It will take me a long time to spin 8 oz of fiber, but it is such fun to watch the colors blend. I will probably buy from this vendor again.

It was really fun to meet Carolyn Greenwood from Greenwood Fiberworks. She is incredibly nice and enthusiastic about fiber. This braid was definitely the splurge of the day. 4 oz of merino/bamboo/silk. It is gorgeous. I haven't decided how to spin this up yet, but for now it's enough just to feel it's softness.

Finally, I purchased a new spindle from Irish Rose Rabbitry. She has beautiful spindles with stone whirls. I wanted a lighter weight spindle so I could spin finer yarn. The shaft is a beautiful hand carved glossy black. The spindle is a bit fast for me, but I love it. The prices on her spindles were really great. Only $10 for this gem.
The vendor also sales angora fiber.

I was able to test drive the Schacht Lady Bug and Sidekick spinning wheels. I definitely had a preference for the Lady Bug. I really need to try out a single versus a double treadle. One vendor says I picked up the treadling really fast (from all those years of sewing?).  I know that I need a lot more practice. There are many more things you have to pay attention to with a spinning wheel. The transition from spindling to spinning wheel was hard because I had a harder time controlling the spin and winding on at the same time, which are two different actions with spindling. In any event, it was fun to try. Is a wheel in my future? Maybe. But for now, I really do love spindling.

Grading a skirt pattern

I sewed a skirt from a Burda pattern 2 years ago in desperation. I had gained weight and none of my skirts fit me anymore. 6 months later, I dropped all that weight and the skirt was simply too big. I liked the skirt pattern and it fit really well, but I had to grade the skirt pattern down in order to use it again.

In order to grade the skirt, I had to figure out the grade for Burda's patterns. I did this by looking at their measurement charts and comparing the sizes. With a little math I determined that Burda was using a 1.5 inch grade in the waist and hips. After comparing my measurements with the chart, I learned I only needed to go down one size.

So I pulled out my handy Jack Handford grading book and followed the instructions for grading a woman's skirt one size down. There are charts and instructions for a 1, 1.5, and 2 inch grade. It was so much easier to do than I expected. I knocked this out pretty quick. This book is now out of print, but if you can find it, buy it.

And I may be too much of a nerd, but I assigned a style number and created my own cutting spec for future reference. Now all I have to decide is which fabric to use to make up my next skirt.

T-shirt pattern quest pt. 6 : How to correct the fit of the armhole of a fitted t-shirt

I created some drawings to further explain the armhole problem on my t-shirt pattern. Nearly all drafting instructions that I've seen for t-shirts are pretty much the same. First you enlarge the armhole and drop the shoulder. Then the front and back bodice are traced off with identical bodice shaping and armhole shaping. The only difference might be the neck. If you lay the pattern pieces on top of each other, you will get something like this.

This kind of pattern works ok for a boxy, loose fitting t-shirt. If you want a more fitted t-shirt, then it simply won't work. In my case, the symmetrical armholes caused the front of the shirt to be pulled toward the back. The closer the fit, the less symmetry in general. When you look at the human body, you can see there is no symmetry between the front and back so patterns should reflect this. (Most people are not truly symmetrical left to right either). Children generally are more symmetrical than adults and the patterns for them reflect this. But, even there, the more fitted the style, the less symmetry though the differences are smaller. Anyway, the patterns above resulted in a fit that looked like below. The red arrows help emphasize the shape and length differences of the front and back armholes.

To correct this problem, I needed to lengthen the back armhole. I compared the armhole of my blouse pattern, which was not symmetrical, to the t-shirt armhole to determine how much longer it should be. Slash and spread and the pattern should look like something below.

 With a result that looks much improved.

The next thing on my list is to make adjustments for front versus back body width.

T-shirt pattern quest pt. 5 : Evaluating the fit of the armhole

I sewed up two more samples of my t-shirt pattern. I was still not satisfied with the fit. There were wrinkles around the armhole and elsewhere. I spent a bit of time studying the pictures below to try understand the fitting problem and how to solve it.

It finally occurred to me why the armhole was giving me so many problems. The back armhole was too short. You can actually see in the picture that the front of the t-shirt is being pulled toward the back at the shoulder seam and underarm. The fix was rather simple - make the back armhole longer.

What a difference, don't you think? There are some other fit problems. I'm still debating the amount that I scooped out on the front armhole. I think I may need some extra width across the front. And then there is the sleeve that wants to twist. But overall, this is pretty good and those complaints are minor. Will there be a version 5.0? Probably.