Understanding pattern grading for children's clothing

I'm catching up with some questions and comments. It's been a while since I've answered a grading question.

My brain is spinning with all the reading I've been doing on this subject. Can you please explain to me why I couldn't grade within my separate size ranges by grading, for example, 3-6 with one particular grade rule and then taking then changing my grade rule for the next section? Would this not be taking the difference growth rates and such into account? I feel like there's probably a reason that I haven't quite grasped yet. Thanks so much.

Grading women's clothing is different from grading children's clothing. Women's clothing is graded with either a 1 1/2" or 2" grade between the sizes. This grade rule refers to the change in circumference measurements between the sizes. There is a lot of criticism for this grade rule because it appears to not have a connection to actual body measurements. That assumption is not strictly true, but it is true this practice is a convenience for the industry. It is too difficult to mass produce clothing and create a custom fit for an individual woman. This grading convention has historically proven to fit the most women in the most efficient way.

Men's clothing has many more sizes. These sizes are given size names that correspond to actual body measurements such as waist, pant leg inseam, or neck and sleeve. The circumference difference is usually 1 inch but it may be 2 inches for larger sizes.

Children's clothing is different. Children grow exponentially from birth. Their growth makes it difficult to group children into size groups, but over 70 years ago a measurement study managed to give us enough measurement data to do just that. That measurement data shows that the change between children's sizes is not even. This is true regardless of how sizes are arranged or named. The circumference measurement difference may range between 1/2" to 1" or more. There are similar irregularities in length grades. Children's clothing brands interpret measurements in their own way, so you will see variation in the marketplace.

Speaking to this particular question. If you group your children's sizes so they are called 0-3M, 3-6M, 6-9M, etc., your grade rule will still vary between the sizes. But there will be no grade change between a 3M and a 6M in the size called 3-6M. When developing a grade rule for this kind of size system, I interpret the sizes like this:

0-3M = 3M
3-6M = 6M
6-9M = 9M

You can call your sizes whatever you choose, but for pattern making and grading you have to assign a meaning to that size. Interpreting sizes with a size label of 0-3M as a single size 3M is the easiest way to develop grade rules and it seems to work.

Knitting with Chronic Fatigue

I know it has been a while. Some of the recent comments here have even suggested this is a dead blog, like so many. It's true I have not posted in a while. My Chronic Fatigue flared up pretty bad in January and it continued through to about August. I've always self-diagnosed my fatigue as functional chronic fatigue. In other words I have always been able to work through the fatigue and just deal with it. This last time was different. I still worked, but I started to wonder if I really could continue working. Besides the fatigue, the brain fog was overwhelming. And then it was waking up each day stiff and sore as though I hadn't slept at all.

I have been dealing with fatigue for over 10 years. The fatigue has varied in intensity but rarely interfered with my ability to do what I wanted. I did get tired of being tired all the time though. Just over a year ago I felt like I hit a wall. I needed help because my fatigue was starting to interfere with my enjoyment in life. I won't go into all the details, but it was enough for me to start looking for an open-minded doctor. Thankfully, I found an integrative medicine doctor who believed me. That was key. She started me on a supplement routine and one prescribed medication. I started to feel good and my energy level came back. So good that I felt like picking up my knitting needles again. I was ready to knit something challenging.

I started these socks in August of 2017. I picked the Celtic Denim Sock pattern because I had always wanted to knit socks with cables. Many ravelers mentioned the socks were a bit small in circumference, so to add to the challenge, I adapted the pattern. I did a 72 stitch cast-on instead of 64, distributing the extra stitches into the pattern. I also added a 1x1 rib for about 1 inch at the cuff. It was too difficult to jump into the cables without having some kind of stabilizing rows where you didn't feel like your needles would fly off the stitches. The cables really slowed down my sock knitting until I got the hang of it. After finishing the leg on sock #1, it was actually pretty easy.

So, I started the socks in August. I was feeling so good that I started to reduce some of my supplements (big mistake!). In September we started on a major renovation project for our house. As these things go, there were problems every step of the way. My focus and attention was not on these socks, but I picked them up now and then and managed to finish the first sock by January. Our house project finally, sort of wrapped up in December, so in theory I should have been able dig in to sock #2 and finish this project up. Instead, my body collapsed from the stress of the renovation project and my fatigue was the worst it had ever been.

It took me 8 months to finish sock #2. The brain fog and fatigue really zapped my knitting mojo. I had to let go of a lot of things, which only added to my frustration. Thankfully, after a couple of appointments with my doctor over several months, she got me back on track with a new regimen. I can't say I'm 100% yet, but I'm doing much better.  These socks literally took a year of my life and represent a story of what it takes to deal with chronic fatigue.

So these are my tips of dealing with fatigue and knitting (or any other hobby, project, or life plan):

1. Don't give up!
2. Find a doctor that believes you. I highly recommend an integrative or functional medicine doctor.
3. Don't stop taking your meds, supplements included, without talking to your doctor first.
4. Work on a project gradually. A few rows at a time is great! Don't give up!
5. It's ok to let a project languish for a while.

This blog is not really a health blog. It started with my posts on pattern making and fashion design and then evolved to whatever project I was currently working on. I will probably be getting back to that in time. One problem came to my attention. My contact form was supposed to send me notifications but it wasn't working properly. I will be working through those questions and comments over the next few months as I write new posts. I will also provide updates on current projects as time (and energy) allows.

Patches and Pinwheels pt. 3

Three fourths of the blocks are finished. I've made some progress on the remaining 16-patch blocks but have a ways to go. It has been slow going now since I am taking the time to measure the piecing and blocks before starting the next one. I am fairly certain that my difficulty is from inaccurate cutting. Placing the ruler inconsistently can cause some pieces to be just a bit smaller or larger than other pieces. Bonnie Hunter loves piecing quilts with lots of small pieces. I'm curious as to how she really maintains accuracy. With as careful as I thought I was, I still ended up with difficulties. This is something that I will have to revisit as I go forward with other quilt projects.

Patches and pinwheels pt. 2

After fixing all of the 16-patch blocks, I assumed that I had all the blocks I needed for the top. But once I started laying out the blocks, I realized I only had half the number of blocks needed. I went back to the pattern. In Bonnie Hunter's free patterns, she does not necessarily give you piece or block counts. The free patterns are a bit more of a free-form tutorial style. In this pattern she tells you how she laid out her quilt and you have to do the math to figure out what that means. There are pluses and minuses to this approach. In my case, I just did the math wrong.

You can see how many 4-inch squares I was able to cut out of the upcycled shirts. A large or extra large shirt can yield quite a lot. I will definitely have left over squares for another project. I do take the time to square up my half-square triangle blocks because it does make it easier for matching the points in the final pinwheel blocks.

I made a visit to the local thrift store because I was out of white/light colored fabric. I managed to score some XXL white cotton dress shirts. I should have enough fabric to finish up these blocks!

There is some debate in the quilting community. Some people seem to think that fabric from clothing is not great for quilting. I tend disagree. Upcycling old clothes hearkens back to yesteryear when our grandmothers did not waste anything useable. Producing a quilt from otherwise useless clothing is the ultimate in recycling and economy.

A new quilt project : Patches and Pinwheels

I have been following Bonnie Hunter for a few years and I finally decided to try one of her quilt patterns. I selected Patches and Pinwheels, one of her free patterns at her website. I wanted to try one of her quilt patterns because I wanted a feel for how she designs her quilts. I admire Bonnie's ability to sit down at a machine and sew scraps together to create a quilt - though I suspect she uses eQuilter design software more than we know. On the surface, this method of using fabric scraps in ready to go sizes seemed very relaxing. I also want to migrate into designing my own quilts. I know I can, but I get stuck at the planning stages. I needed to loosen up in my expectations of color and fabric and just play.

The fabric for this quilt comes mostly from upcycled men's shirts, but I threw a few of mine in there as well. With my first attempt, I did not pay attention to the fiber content of the shirts and some of them were more polyester then cotton. I ended up not liking the fabric from those shirts, so they ended up in the garbage - minus their buttons. After that I primarily used only cotton shirts. I supplemented with some shirts from the thrift store which yielded a surprising amount of fabric and a few fat quarters from the fabric store.

My first few attempts at cutting apart a man's shirt to harvest the fabric took me much longer than I expected. There is this little bit of fear about potentially ruining an otherwise good shirt. An irrational fear because several of these shirts had worn collars and cuffs and were not suitable for donation. After cutting down several, I developed a system and they went pretty fast.

The cutting and sewing went pretty well until I was ready to square up my blocks. The pinwheel blocks are fine for the most part. The 16 patch blocks were not. Bonnie Hunter recommends checking the piecing periodically to ensure everything measures as it should. I did not check very often. I figure my machine was set properly after the first few blocks and away I went. Come to find out that most of my 16-patch blocks all measured 1/4-3/8" too small. If the sewing or cutting is off just a little bit on a few of those 2 inch squares, the problem is quickly multiplied across the entire block.

So yes, I am going back through the 16-patch block and redoing them. This is a good lesson on precise cutting and sewing and checking measurements.