2.11.2012

sloping and revelry



you guys. its mardi gras.

fun fact: galveston has the second largest mardi gras celebration in the u.s. after new orleans, of course. i'm pretty sure its a distant second, but still...

not so fun fact: mardi gras is happening right outside of my window. and it goes on for twelve freaking days! wtf!! so. much. revelry! truthfully we don't get the revelers-in-the-midst-of-revelry outside of our window as much as we get the revelers-stumbling-to-their-hotels-and-cars. so. much. broken. glass. if you live anywhere near the downtown galveston area you will find your daily routine... impeded.


i think the world might be divided into mardi gras-ers and curmudgeons. i fall into the second camp. i've found myself putzing around my apartment and muttering to myself "don't these people have jobs?" more often than i care to admit. and yes - i realize that is the same thing that the grumpy 90 year old ww2 vet is doing too. i may also sigh and say "kids these days..." under my breath too. i always did feel a kinship with the over 60 crowd...

so to drown out the sound of blaring classic rock and drunken raucousness i've been doing what any sane sewista would do. i've buried myself up to my eyeballs in my patternmaking book, surrounded myself with measuring tape and pattern paper and colored pencils and erasers and rulers and muslin, in an effort to draft a sloper.


fellow sewers, do you slope? do you find it helpful to have this basic, made-to-your-measurement pattern on hand?

i am curious because i've always somehow felt that if i actually sit down and draft a sloper (or pattern block, whichever term you prefer - i don't really know if one is more correct than the other...) that it would magically open the door of designing to me. like all i needed was this flat pattern and then the world would be my oyster (sartorially speaking).

but the actual drafting of the sloper seemed so.... boring to me. first, you take your measurements. and these measurements aren't for the faint of heart. we measure things like bust arc and shoulder slope and new strap length (whatever the hell that is - i certainly don't know - but i measured it). you need these measurements for your front AND back. and this is where it gets tricky. unless you are skilled in the ways of dislocating your shoulders - getting accurate back measurements is impossible to do on your own. i asked my husband to help take my back measurements as i stood as naturally as possible while still craning my head in the mirror to see if he was doing it right.

then you do a little magic with your pencil and ruler and a little while later - you have a flat pattern of your upper torso. or so you think. i had to fudge some of my back measurements a bit because somehow my across waist measurement was bigger than my across back. i may not have the sveltest of waists, but even i was pretty sure this was a measuring error and not some quasimodo like proportions.


and this is where it gets deathly dull. because even though you thought you were all careful with your measurements and stuff - you have to test it. so you sew your sloper up in muslin. this is, without a doubt, the most boring garment sewing ever. but whatever, at least it goes fast. then you try on your sloper to see how it fits.

prepare yourself for awful photo booth pictures (and say hi to my messy apartment and winter belly - hi!)


this is my second test fit. the first was a good 2 inches too big all around. not sure how that happened - but rather than remeasure and redraft i just pinched and tucked out the excess then transferred those markings back to my flat pattern.


i'm pretty happy with the fit of the front. i may trim off a teensy amount in the shoulders to fit the slope of my shoulders more accurately. you can see the little bit of drag lines from the neck to the armpit in the first photo. when i lifted the shoulders just a smidgen (we're talking maybe 1/4 inch) the drag lines disappeared.

but this...

edit: perhaps you can see the wrinkles better in this equally bad photo?

is the back... i mean... whats going on back there? ignore the weird flipped up bottom. i'm running into the same problems fitting my back as i did trying to get measurements. unfortunately, my husband (bless him) isn't really much help in this matter. last night i thought perhaps i could talk him through helping me fit the back. it didn't go so well.

me: can you see where the big wrinkles are?
him: yes.
me: can you maybe locate where they are the worst?
i got an impromptu back scratch. perhaps to signify they were everywhere?
me: can you maybe find the big ones and pinch them out?
he pinched my butt.

well fine. this is why i have the internet. fellow sewinas (i just made that up) can you help me figure out whats wrong with the back of my sloper? is it too long back there? is it just too big all over? how do you fit the back of your garments? and most importantly - does anyone else use photo booth to help them assess fit?

if you're into mardi gras - may you have a fun filled and safe twelve days - and for gods sake keep it down!

xx

30 comments:

  1. I'm having trouble seeing the wrinkles. It might help if you did some shots closer up and with more light.

    I'm kind of disenchanted with the whole drafting a sloper idea, since I tried it once. It took like two days straight, and in the end I had the front and back overlapping when they weren't supposed to and no way of using it. The guy who wrote the directions said maybe it wouldn't work for women with large busts. Great.

    But anyway, get some clearer pictures and I'd be happy to help with your wrinkles!

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    1. Thanks Hannah - I tried to find a picture that showed off my wrinkly back a bit better. Unfortunately I'm just not feeling stripping down and re-photographing myself right now! ha! If you have any insight I'd love to hear it.

      I think the thing thats sort of stupid about slopers is that you go through all this measurement and drafting - but in the end the damn thing still needs to be fitted on you! I've been wading my way through it all week, which is fine because I'm waiting for some fabric to arrive before I can actually do REAL sewing!

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  2. I just made my first set of slopers. The measurements were tedious, but I was happy with how they turned out. But like you mentioned I havn't really done anything with them yet. I thought I would use them to create all sorts of things, but so far they have just hung on my dressform.

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    1. Hey Kelli! Yeah, I think the sloper might be more positive thinking on my part. But who knows - its been one of those "to do's" on my list forever so at least I can say I gave it a shot!

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  3. Love your blog! And that irritation you're feeling over the revelers, it's called the "get off my lawn" phase of life, of which I am a fellow member, haha!

    As for the sloper, looks like you have to do some sway back adjustments. This link has some excellent information/pics on how to fix it:

    http://buzzybeesworld.blogspot.com/2010/12/sway-back-alterations-my-analysis.html

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    1. Hey Jill! Thanks! I love the "get off my lawn" title - its really truly accurate! Glad I'm not the only one.

      Thanks for the link - I think a swayback adjustment is definitely in order (among other things...sigh)

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  4. You know, I have to admit that I completely agree all round with the boring part of slopers. Gah! They are so boring. And I couldn't agree more about the measurement part. Lame. I didn't actually draft my bodice sloper, but found a bodice on a pattern that with a few tweaks now fits me like a glove. But I've read through drafting my own on several occasions and even then I start getting bored.

    I love the idea of pattern drafting and I've drafted a few things. That part is really fun and extremely liberating and I'm looking to better my skill each month this year. I think where slopers are even more awesome is how you can all of a sudden fit patterns (to a certain extent) without having to make a muslin. Now I'm only in the very early stages of learning how to do this, but I'll admit its FABULOUS! It takes a certain amount of pattern drafting know how and being able to dissect a pattern and how it was drafted and then putting your sloper up to it and fixing those parts that you know just won't work like sway back or broad upper back (both major issues for me). I definitely think you can do this and will once your sloper is perfected! I'm sure you'll find it terribly useful!

    As for the back part of your sloper, it looks like you might need to make a sway back adjustment. To me, it looks as if the wrinkles are appearing from it being too long back there. I've got the same problem. I think if you pinch out the back horizontally you'll find the wrinkles gone. Otherwise, it does not look too small, but right on par! Fabulous job! Can't wait to see what you do with it!

    xoxo, Sunni

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    1. Thank you Sunni! I trust your fitting eye one hundred percent - you are, after all, the master! Swaybacks are usually an adjustment I have to make. I have a high waist all around, but its weirdly high in the back! I agree that other than that I don't want to nip it in too much - right now its rather comfy and comfort is key!

      I truly hope that my sloper will be useful, not just for pattern drafting - which I'm super pumped to jump into - but also, like you said, to speed up my fitting process with commercial patterns. Because lord knows, if I can cut down my muslin time I will be one happy seamstress!

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  5. I agree on the curmudgeon-ness. My job is inside the Mardi Gras gates so it was noisy all day long.

    I've made slopers occasionally but have only ever used them for historical costumes. They don't seem to have much utility for modern clothes. :/

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    1. Oh bless you Emma - you Mardi Gras Saint!

      Its funny - the first ever sloper I made was from instructions for historical costuming. I never really fit, however so I ended up scrapping it. Do you think slopers lend themselves better to historical garments?

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    2. I make costumes for a living so I have a bias there... ;) With historical clothing I generally have to start with a basic pattern in the period shape and then change it to match the inspiration image or to whatever design I'm trying to make which is essentially the sloper method of dress design.

      Until the 1960s or so most dress patterns came off similar blocks. If you take vintage patterns from different companies of similar style and lay them one over another there are usually only minor differences. Back then it would have been useful to have a standard pattern.

      But nowadays anything goes in dress styles and there are so many differences in the cut and amount of ease from pattern to pattern that I find having a basic pattern fitted to myself is only useful if I want to design a dress totally from scratch. I'm more of a 'save time by altering from similar pattern' kind of gal.

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  6. Oh fun! I made a sloper once, and it didn't fit me at all...but instead of trying to fix it I just gave up. Instead I use a heavily altered pattern as a sloper, which it basically is by this point. I think the shoulders look a bit long, so you could maybe use a small dart in the back of the shoulders? And it looks a little long in the waist, which may be why it's showing so many wrinkles. But I'm no expert, I'd listen to the lovely who supplied the website!

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    1. Hmm - yes I definitely think its too long in the waist. I'll try pinching out some extra fabric at the shoulder dart and see how that looks. Thanks Meli!

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  7. The frustration is that you can't fit on yourself! In school we always made our slopers for a partner in class so you can pin and fuss around with your work on another body. My solution when trying to fit for myself is a my dress form which is very close to my shape/size.

    All the flat pattern drafting in the world just doesn't compare to draping and fitting on the body. After the leg work of learning it, now I only ever create slopers on the dress form, fit them on the body and move on, it just sames time and hair tearing out.

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    1. Thanks for the advice Candace! I would love to drape directly on a dress form. Unfortunately when I bought my dress form I was quite the novice and I didn't check the upper bust measurement. Its waaaaay bigger than I am and no amount of adjusting will change that. Eventually - when I am wealthy (or perhaps just after tax season?) I'd like to buy a new dress form and pad it out to my measurements. But for the time being I'll just bang my head against the wall with flat patterns!!

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  8. The back is definitely too long - I had this issue too. Maybe it's a tiny bit too wide as well, but only at the upper back - between the shoulders.

    Anyway, you can't take back measurements yourself. I got my mum to help me. It seems like husbands/boyfriends quickly get distracted by other body parts, haha. :D

    P.S.: Love your blog! :)

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    1. Thank you Laura! It seems the major consensus is the length. I also think there might be a width issue in the upper back - when I stand to the side it bubbles out a bit between my shoulder blades - which maybe is from both the excess length and width?

      I wish I had a sewing assistant! Unfortunately my Mom (who's not much of a seamstress, as she'd tell you herself) is some 8000 miles away :(

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  9. Tee Hee you curmudgeon you! ( Sorry. That's the only thing I could comment on as you lost me with the slopeyslopes. To me the back looks like its too short and therefore cut into fast so now is pulling across your upper waist. No shit Sherlock??? OK I'll keep my non-sewer comments to myself! Happy sloping!!)

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    1. And speak of the devil!
      Hmmm... I love you - but I think your fitting assessment might be a bit - off. I'll give you points for trying though ;)
      I think I could get into the Mardi Gras revelry - especially some of the parades - a bit more if I didn't have to pay $17 just to get near the place. However I HAVE (obviously) been enjoying the silly decorated golf carts!

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  10. We took a holiday in New Orleans at the beginning of February one year, before the official started... and even then it was nonstop outside our hotel room. I was wondering the same thing! (What do these people do the rest of the year?!) Although the clown in black with candy canes was interesting.

    I also drafted a bunch of slopers but never got around to sewing them. I got a non-sewing friend to take an hour (two) out of her life for me and do all the measurements and she was so precise! I think where I am at with it is that I want to have some basic blocks (or as other sewinas call them, tnts). Like you now have a pair of trousers--a block that fits you and which you can make other pants drafts from. I do use my bodice sloper pattern to check lengths on other patterns. I line it up at the center front and shoulder line and then I can get an idea of how much ease is in a pattern and it's especially helpful with length, which never changes. (Ahem, width seems to change with food.) But I'm starting to use my pattern drafting books more and more to add things to patterns I already have. Maybe part of the benefit in sloping is just learning to train the eye.

    I'd agree with the others about taking out some length in the back. And maybe letting the waist out just a smidge so it doesn't pull?

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    1. Thanks Amy! I'm hoping this sloper business will be useful somehow. I like the idea that it could help me cut down on my muslin making time.

      I was also wondering if I would have to continually make slopers as my body changes. Gah! That prospect sounds dreadful!

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  11. I love the idea of a sloper and have just bought Adele P. Margolis's "Make your own dress patterns" which shows how to modify a basic sloper into... well, practically anything really. ;) Haven't started on the sloper yet, though.
    My experience with fitting involves mostly pinching out wrinkles, but I agree that a swayback adjustment is probably the one you want. Good luck with your sloper!

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    1. I know! I love the idea of using a basic sloper to draft any design I might dream up! I blame this urge on my new pattern drafting book which has me convinced that a good fitting sloper is like the gateway to sewing awesomeness!

      If you ever get around to making your sloper - best of luck!

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    2. sallie, it *is* the gateway to sewing awesomeness. i made a sloper with kenneth king over the summer, and while it took some getting used to, the end results have been pretty life-changing, sewing-wise. it's amazing what i suddenly find myself able to do and understand now that i've been using my sloper--first to modify existing patterns, and now to draft new ones.

      a good resource for existing patterns, if you manage to get a good result with your sloper, is lynda maynard's e-book. good luck!!!

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  12. I just did this, although I am sure you will do it better than I did. It does look like the back is too long. I had some major wrinkling that magically disappeared when I trimmed the length on my bodice. I used a basic bodice pattern that I just tweaked. It took a good chunk of two days, but it was very, very worth it once I got close to something that fit. I, too, was interested in the designing and drafting aspect, but I have only so far used it to fit two garments, and it is a revelation! I measure a 36 bust, but I always swim in them, and placing a pattern on top of the sloper showed exactly where by adjustments need to be made. Check out this article http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/4498/the-merits-of-a-basic-fitting-pattern/page/all
    Charge on! You'll be very glad you did. I made up a dress so fast the other day, and it fits well! I put the pattern on the sloper, and made a pinch, fold, etc, and then put tracing paper on top. Huge time saver.
    Oh, and drat those blasted kids!

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    1. Thank you A.J.A! I'm hoping all this finnicky fitting will be all worth it when it comes time to fit future projects. And hopefully I can try my hand at a bit of drafting while I'm at it :)

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  13. I'm so behind on my reader and am just now reading this. I love my sloper - I mostly use it to draft new patterns and it's my most prized sewing possession. I have to commend you though - I can't imagine trying to fit one on my own.
    Here's what I'm seeing - mind you, I'm no expert and struggle with fitting on my own. I would put a pin through the 1/4" that you've pinched out of the shoulder - this will change the back as well as the front and will be easier to assess with your hands at your side. I can see tiny fold stemming from the front bottom side to the dart apex. Pinch this out and manipulate it into the dart. Tie a piece of lingerie elastic around your waistline because I think you'll have length adjustments to do in the back (too long) as well as the front (appears short). You may also find that the back length is fine but the "hem" is too tight while the rest of the lower torso is too loose. The back shoulders are too wide and it's possible that the base of the armhole is high but I can't get a good read on that through pictures.
    Keep going because out of all the sewists I know, I think you would get the most use out of a solid sloper.

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    1. Thank You Lizz! That is the sort of inspiration I need to keep working on my sloper! I'll admit that the fitting issues are definitely bogging me down. Good eye on the bust point - side waist fold - I definitely never would have picked up on that (probably because all my clothes have it!) I really appreciate your fitting assessment and will be putting a lot of these changes into effect!

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  14. Hi! I stumbled onto your blog from Pinterest. It was really cool to see that you're in Galveston, too. This year is my first year that I'm not partaking in Mardi Gras and am very happy about that. To be honest, if you made it through Biker Rally, this will be a breeze.

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    1. Haha! I was going to mention biker rally! Actually this hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought it would be (I tend to be a tad dramatic ;) Welcome to the blog - thanks for stopping by! I get really excited when fellow Galvestonians stop by to say hi!

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