Sewing for My Sister

I love to sew for my sister.  One year I made her a Teens Era ball gown (an early exercise in draping), and another year two winter hats (the Russian ice hat and the red tam).  She lives far away, though, which makes garment fitting tricky... you may recall last year's project to make a block of her body so I could customize my dress form here in Portland?  I got mixed results sewing from it: peplum top--good fit, bad style; pinwheel top--good fit, okay style; denim blazer--bad fit). 

Recently, I visited her again, this time with a plan of attack: I brought some patterns to work with, and while I was there I pin-fitted them to her and made muslins.  This was even more helpful than the block in teaching me about the challenges of her body shape... working just with muslin, I was able to replicate her body, but working with pre-made patterns I was able to see how her body most deviates from the average body that patterns are drafted for. 

Moreover, while I was there, I re-visited the denim blazer, altered a few of her Ready to Wear (RTW) clothes, and made a cute nightcap for my niece.  All in all, a productive visit! 

So in the upcoming weeks, you can expect posts on the following (I'll add links in this post as they come live):

ALTERATION - adding back darts to a RTW sweater
A Child's Nightcap
ALTERATION - Round Neck to V neck
McCall's 4968 - Blue tunic top, muslin
Butterick 6134 - Red Raglan-sleeved Top
ALTERATION - another go at the denim blazer! 
Draped Pencil Skirt