To answer another question...

Zarina asked me what books I have used that have been helpful with children's sewing, so I thought I'd take a post and answer that question.

First of all, let me say that I am mostly self taught. My mother gave me a good foundation to build on by teaching me how to follow a pattern and about grain and bias and that sort of thing. Most of what I have learned has come from experimentation, trial and error and reading tips in various places.

Two books that I found helpful are out of print these days, but can likely be found used or maybe in your library. They are both by Kitty Benton. One is called "Classic Designs for Today's Active Children" and the other is "Sewing Classic Clothes for Children". I also had a subscription to "Sew Beautiful" magazine for a while. There are a lot of good tips in there and they have wonderful instructions for the free patterns that are in each issue. There are soooo many beautiful things for children in the pages of that magazine.

I have recently happened upon a couple of internet sites that look quite promising, too. I have ordered one pattern from youcanmakethis.com and I have to say it was pretty slick. You pay for the pattern, download the PDF and print off whatever size you need. It does involve some taping, but I found that the pattern went together pretty easily. The one I ordered came with a boatload of variations and very easy to follow instructions.

I have also been looking at The Children's Fashion Workshop lately. I have not ordered from there as it doesn't seem that they have anything that I don't already have at home already, but it does look interesting. They have basic block patterns that they sell for a certain price and then you can purchase lessons for different modifications of those patterns. The disadvantage that I see as a designer is that each size must be purchased separately. As a designer, I would much rather see a set of sizes offered together.

I have purchased slopers (basic patterns without seam allowances) from this company and found them to be very accurate in size and a great company to work with. The prices are reasonable, especially if you buy several sizes at once. The shipping was fast, too. They also have junior and adult sizes and you can even have your sloper customized to your measurements if you wish.

There are also a ton of wonderful tutorials online at different places. There is no way I could link to all of them, but a Google search will turn up several for you.

******************************

And now for something completely different....

Have you ever had those projects that SHOULD be simple and straightforward, but for some reason they just seem fraught with problems from the start? That has been what I have dealt with for the past week or so. So much so that I just feel like setting the whole thing ablaze! A simple skirt and peasant blouse have been the bane of my existence for the last week. UGGG It's probably because I set myself too short a deadline and I am trying to do it too fast. Maybe this will end up up for sale, and maybe it won't we shall see. I thought I had it done, but then it didn't fare the washing too well, so I had to figure out something different to fix that problem.

And I also wanted to let you all know that I will be out of town starting on Saturday for about the next 5 days. I am going to visit family in Illinois, so I probably won't be posting much while I am gone, if at all.
Hope you all have a great week!

3 comments:

Amanda Jean said...

any chance we could meet up somewhere on the trip to or on the way back from IL? even if it's for a quick bite to eat???

Zarina said...

Thank you for having a post just for me. I did receive a reply from Rae of Made by Rae and she gave me some good advice. I may hold off to buying books at the moment since I am suppose to be on a self-impose shopping ban this year.

lifewithquads said...

I've ordered several things from you can make this. One of the things that I like the most about it is that you can usually email the person that wrote the pattern directly if you should have any questions. That's a great service to have. lol

Follow on Bloglovin