Are You Ready to Design Your Own Wardrobe?
This is day
14 of my February sewing hiatus. So far,
I have not sewn a stitch. That doesn’t
mean I am not thinking about many sewing related items. I have attended and enjoyed several Zoom
meetings with the Lansing Clippers ASG Chapter groups. And in my mind, I have planned several sewing
projects for the future.
As I told
you in my last post, I thought February would be a good time to do a little
sewing research. With that in mind I
watched a video with Mary Ray entitled “Design Your Own Wardrobe”. The DVD is published and sold by Threads Magazine. Mary is a contributing editor for Threads. She is also a well-known
sewing instructor and an award-winning designer.
Mary Ray has
arranged her video to cover all the subjects you need to understand before you begin making items for your wardrobe. For example, one of the things she covers is
identifying your body type. She tells
you how to determine if you are an hourglass, inverted triangle, triangle,
rectangle, or circle. She explains what
types of clothes look good on each figure type.
She also
encourages you to focus on fit. After
all, if you make something that doesn’t fit right, you won’t enjoy wearing it
or worse yet, you won’t wear it at all.
I spend a lot of time altering patterns to fit me and I think this is
possibly the most important part of making a garment. If you are interested in making a wardrobe, I
suggest you get a basic pants pattern, a skirt pattern, a top pattern, and a casual jacket pattern that you
like and really concentrate on getting those four patterns to fit you before
you do any sewing. If you can't do it alone, ask a sewing friend to help you.
Mary Ray’s
video discusses how to choose colors that look good on you. From there she talks about color
combinations. Then she gives you tips about
choosing fabric for your garments. She
said we usually choose our fabrics by:
l. Color
2. How the fabric feels
3. Fiber Content
4. How the fabric behaves when you sew it. Some fabrics are more difficult to sew than others.
5. What is in your fabric stash? This is a good place to start.
At the end of the video there are several additional bonus items. They include selected articles authored by Mary Ray that have appeared in Threads Magazine, a measurement chart, a color quiz, a resource list, and an essential wardrobe checklist. All of the bonus items will aid in preparing you to design your wardrobe.
I know I
have trouble choosing colors that look good on me as well as choosing colors
that work well combined. I am definitely
going to view this DVD again to try to reinforce the information on choosing
colors. I think this DVD is a good resource for all of
us who make clothes. It gives so much
information on the many subjects that need to be considered before we cut into
a piece of fabric to make an article to add to our wardrobe.
I am looking
forward to using some of what I learned from watching Mary Ray’s “Design Your
Own Wardrobe” DVD to sew a summer wardrobe.
I will be able to start it soon because my sewing hiatus is almost half
over.
Good luck to
you if you are planning to sew a new wardrobe.
Judy
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