The Sewing Place

Damned printed patterns.

Ohsewsimple

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #15 on: July 17, 2022, 14:15:33 PM »
I’ve tried Lekala and something else but each time I put in measurements I got very weird sleeves and totally off grain.  That’s what comes from using a computer programme I guess. I gave up and will probably stick to my own

Fabric Lover

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #16 on: August 11, 2022, 21:44:15 PM »
@Surest1tch Couldn't you put a dart in the shoulder seam to make the shoulder width match you measurements? Obviously matching darts in the front and back bodice pieces.
Stitching in Staffordshire with Style! (Well hopefully anyway)

Surest1tch

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #17 on: August 12, 2022, 02:13:12 AM »
If only it were that simple @Fabric Lover, but thanks anyway for your input  :thumb:

Kwaaked

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #18 on: August 12, 2022, 09:19:38 AM »
Uh, mine are slightly less than a man's average...so mine are a tad more than 7".

The problem with the draft is that they draft on the bicacromial instead of the shoulder point to neck, so it gets averaged out and the average woman's shoulders becomes 14.5".  This also does not account for fat, muscle or shape (rounded, square) of the shoulder which increases the measurement (it becomes about 17 inches in that case).

Unisex patterns are done on an androgyny index...which the numbers between men and women are becoming closer today then they were 30 years ago.  This is something introduced in 2002...pattern drafting has adapted to it.  I have books for men's tailoring that has a definite difference between women's drafting of the same eras (late 1800s to around 1960s), then after roughly 2008, the drafting becomes more unisex with only slight variances on the drafting . Men's used to be somewhat of a triangle in the basic draft and women's in hourglass, now both are rather rectangular in shape with some roundness to both sexes.  This new method is what I was taught for pattern making in school.

However, this method may help if the shoulders are the only issue (might not, too) https://www.sbccpatterns.com/blogs/news/how-to-adjust-for-your-shoulder-width



Tamnymore

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #19 on: August 12, 2022, 09:34:40 AM »
Oooh sounds complicated @Kwaaked . I find that Sandra Betzina patterns have far and away the best fit of patterns from the big 4. I've recently tried a couple of dresses by Marilla Walker and the fit was spot on without any adjustments. Other than that it varies. A pinafore and top from Marcy Tilton I made recently had astonishingly wide necks and I had to take 8 inches our of both necks. I think something had gone badly wrong in the grading of the pattern when they scaled it up to larger sizes - haven't seen any review of the pattern yet.
I generally don't have too much of a problem with fit as long as I adjust for my tummy. I really wear fitted clothes though.  I agree that shoulders are never too narrow on patterns and are quite often too wide... and I have quite broad shoulders.
'One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.' Oscar Wilde

HenriettaMaria

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #20 on: August 12, 2022, 10:46:19 AM »
Is the problem that you are buying a pattern size based on your bust measurement and not your high chest measurement?  I made that mistake once and the shoulders were indeed too wide.  If I buy a 12-14 and do a FBA, the shoulders are fine.  I'm only 1.66m / 5' 5" so don't have an outlier frame.

I agree about drafting your own - it takes time to do the draft but it it so much easier to make up afterwards and you know it will fit!

Kwaaked

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #21 on: August 12, 2022, 10:54:39 AM »
@Tamnymore it's not.  Rather dumbed down pattern drafting, all told. 

I tend to draft for myself from 1930-40s blocks...I fit the beauty standards of the 30s and 40s with wide shoulders and thinner hips and I don't often have to allow for shoulder pads or with very minor tweaks.  Not quite an inverted triangle, not quite an hourglass .  My husband is a trapezoid/apple and his tend to do well with more modern drafts, while my son does well with the late Edwardian/Early 1920s as an inverted triangle. 

My shoulders are as broad as my husband's, so I don't have much issue with the shoulder draft except that I have to account for the seam being too far to the back.  Wide in berth not front to back.  I usually have to dart my shoulders along with my T-rex arms needing to be shorter.

Sandra Betzina doesn't usually fit me without major adjustments that I have to do more of than the usual big 4 blocks...which mostly fit with pattern walking to correct some of the basic drafting errors and the massive ease...so there is no real one size fits all with sewing for anyone. 


Tamnymore

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #22 on: August 12, 2022, 11:34:11 AM »
I'm definitely an apple  :\
'One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.' Oscar Wilde

Ohsewsimple

Re: Damned printed patterns.
« Reply #23 on: August 12, 2022, 13:28:24 PM »
@

Oh definitely
@Kwaaked.  You're lucky if you find a pattern make that is drafted reasonably close to your shape.  I never understand these comments of 'true to size'.  What a load of tosh, what does that even mean?   Do people understand the concept of wearing ease and the difference between that and designer ease?   Very often not.  As long as it goes round their body they assume it fits! 

I’ve had to tell a friend of mine to stop buying TATB patterns because despite making up several all with the same problem she keeps getting them.  They just aren’t drafted with her body in mind. 
And I’ve yet to find any pattern make that closely resembles mine.  :laughing: