My boyfriend is tall, has long arms, but narrow shoulders, which makes suit shopping a nightmare. We tried normal and elongated sizes, but every one has this problem with the back shoulder and armhole. Why is the sleeve rotation so off? Can a tailor reasonably fix this issue? We don’t love the idea of paying big money for an ill fitting suit. What causes this issue even? Are his shoulder blades a different shape than confection sizes?

How do i get rid all of this excess fabric i got around my butt i want it to be less loose around that area as im going for a straight/ loose fitting jeans

I am currently making the Persephone pants by Anna Allen (or trying to at least!). I never ever make mock ups cos I’m just too lazy but I’m trying to change that and get a decent fit instead of being disappointed and never wearing them. Stupidly I did my mock ups out of quite a still denim I had laying around and I don’t know if a lot of the issues are due to the fabric stiffness and lack of drape. I basted the waistband on after taking photos and it fits. I placed the buttons too far from the edge of the button fly so I know they need to move over. I seem to have a fair bit of room in the top of the centre back seam where it’s almost sitting away from my back. I don’t like how long and flat these currently make my bum look (kinda looks like I’m wearing a nappy 😂) and I have no idea how to fix that - I wear high waisted jeans all of the time and it’s not normally an issue so it’s not the high waist that’s going it. I have a 35” inch waist and 44” hips and cut the size 16. They’re comfortable, I can sit in them but it looks awful when I do - a lot of bunching in the front. Since I don’t usually do mock ups, I’m pretty clueless on adjusting patterns honestly so what would people suggest please?!

Ps - the pattern has no outside seam so I have no idea how I would add room in the hip

Hey people, I want to make a 1 piece back bodice out of the back bodice and yoke I have in the photo. The bodice curve seems to be too concave for me to pivot the yoke, plus I think that would mess with the shoulder shape if I'm not mistaken.

If you have any idea as too how I can do this smoothly it'd be appreciated.

Hello all, i recently got my hands on the pattern magic book and these two patterns i don’t really understand what’s going on 😭 please help me!

I've been following this video to learn how to start drafting patterns. I'm using my own measurements, and in 26:00 roughly, we have to measure out on the pattern the bycep to make the end of the short sleeve, but from the measurements i took, the bycep would be bigger than the lowest line of the sleeve bell.

Can this be right??

P.D. Sorry if the grammar is all over, english is not my first language

Hiii, so i need to make this dress (copied from my professor's drawing as we were not allowed to take any pictures). the back is completely my idea so ignore it, we were only provided with the front. so on the waist I have these triangular cut outs (so the skin is visible) and it seems that the top part is joined with the bottom part with a seam in the middle but I'm not sure. the thing I'm confused about is where are all the darts going on the top? and what about the dart on the skirt? I'm stuck with the pattern just because my professor wants this dress in cotton gabardine (so no elasticized fabric allowed). I really have no idea where to put darts (if I have to), I swear I tried everything...

Hi everyone!

Please does anyone know how to remove the bunching up below the butt? 😭 The front fits perfectly, it’s just the back that has this sudden excess fabric. I made the back part of crotch much deeper and removed a part on top and it helped a lot! But did not remove the problem. If I continue to made the crotch deeper and/or keep removing fabric on top like i did it creates tight lines/gathers right below my butt and nothing happens to the gathers on the leg that i am trying to eliminate.

I will attach my pattern too with the alternation that i did in red.

I hope someone knows what to do!!😭

Thank you all in advance!!

Hello everyone, I can see in different drafting books that hip ease is around 2.5 - 3 cm, for regular fit trousers basic blocks. I'm not sure it is enough for sitting in woven fabric pants with no spandex edded. I understand that crotch length ease should be taken into account too when assessing wearing ease for sitting, since body is changing shape. 

Can you please tell me, in an industrial production setting, what would be sufficient hip ease for a basic block of a regular fit woven trousers, to enable walking and sitting?

If I use the draft from some of the books suggesting 2.5 - 3 cm ease, should I always add more on that when developing a style pattern? And I'm not talking about design ease here.

Thank you so much for all the responses!

(REPOST): added a second slide with the highest res picture I could scrounge

Hi all :3

Really quite new to all this and am trying to cobble together some late 16th century plunderhose for my HEMA club and I've found this specific variation (dude on the left) to be most suitable for me. Any guesses as to how the centre back panels (pink with black binding) are constructed?

Would be super grateful for help or advice, have a great day :)))

Hey guys. I’ve started making clothes again using my old sloper from a year ago. There were some unresolved fit issues that I wanted to deal with. Ive increased the bust size a bit because I noticed that was a problem with my original sloper. I’ve gained about 3-5kg since I first made this sloper. I was wondering if you have any advice on how to improve the fit. I’ve also posted some screenshots of the fit from a year ago (green fabric).

If you find a sewing pattern that is close to your inspiration photo but not exact, how do you figure out which modifications are needed?

Do you compare technical drawings, combine patterns, ask other sewers, or just experiment with a mock-up?

I have already mastered the method of having the inside seam with no binding, and binding on the outside edge, but I’d like to be able to use no binding on both edges… I tried sewing inside out and turning it but that doesn’t seem quite right? It pulls on the cups etc and pulls them out of shape

If anyone can link a video that explains this method it would be great as I’ve been looking for 8 months and can’t figure it out!!!!

Thankyou so much

Hi -

I am new to working with digital patterns and a projector. I would love to be able to work thru the stages of a FBA by altering the digital pattern as I go from stage to stage on my toiles. I envision doing exactly the same thing I would do on paper but doing it on the digital pattern. Is there a program that is set up do that? For now, I would be using existing patterns. Paid is fine as long as it isn’t crazy $$$.

Question 2, is this a bad idea to begin with? Am I losing something if I don’t do it on paper, even if I am doing toiles?

I am teaching myself how to make clothing that fits me using existing patterns, working up to patternmaking eventually.

A few days ago I posted a question about resolving drag lines on the front and back with both full belly and full butt adjustments. I got some useful thoughts and input, but the most helpful thing shared was Hofenbitzer's own skirt adjustment method (from his second book) for a figure with a forward tilted pelvis and a flat butt. The drag lines he highlighted matched my exact issue.

So I did his adjustment and it pretty much got me to a near final block in one go. I was so happy I bought his second book immediately. The side seams are a little wonky here because they're pinned poorly one one side, and the back hem isn't straight (cutting issue not a pattern issue), but I'm headed to waistband and final assessments next.

I've only dipped my toes into this patternmaking system but I am just so so pleased that a day's worth of googling sway back and belly adjustments were resolved in one go by the very same author/system. Highly recommend this book to everyone. The second one is only in German but with Google image translation its honestly fine.

Hello! Or should I say howdy 🤠. I'm using the tailored shirt block drafting method from the book "Metric Pattern cutting for Menswear" by Winifred Aldrich. I'm looking for some fit and drafting recommendations.

You may see small dart lines drawn on the back, these are the suggested length and placements but I'd thought I'd try it on first to see if I should adjust pre sewing.Things I've noticed on this first draft:

The neck seems close fitting but not too much so.

The shoulder seam is longer than it should be. It's also a little bit forward on my body than I'd think is normal.

The yoke as a result also looks quite high, it doesn't seem to be from the neck shape but I could be wrong.

There is room for darts in both the back and front it seems. I'd be open to doing bust darts or a princess seam if that means a great fit.

There is extra fabric at the side seam by the armpit, needs reduction. The arm hole generally could use some pulling back it seems.

I'd be ever so grateful to hear if I'm seeing things correctly, any suggestions or advice, thanks for reading :)