For years I taught pattern Making classes for continuing education credit for home ec teachers, in fabric stores and in evening classes as public education courses. (That was before the birth of our quadruplet grandbabies, who sort of took over any spare time any of us had!) At any rate, in a classroom setting it was easy to take each others’ measurements, especially those hard to get measurements like back waist length, back shoulder width, etc.
As an individual wanting to sew, make patterns, and get that perfect fit, the issue is how to get those initial measurements. I highly recommend that you work with a friend from start to finish on some of these sewing and pattern making projects!
When a couple of friends work together, you first can be assured that the measurements will be accurate, and secondly, by working together it sometimes is easier to talk out any questions you may have with the pattern or what some instructions might mean, etc.
We’ve had a rash of orders for our Pattern Making for Skirts and Pattern Making For Slacks And Shorts classes the last couple of weeks, which tells me Spring is upon us and women are getting their spring wardrobes going.
If you will get with a friend — set up a certain day / time to take measurements, then get started working on one of the patterns for a new skirt or pair of slacks for each one, you’ll find that making the patterns is a lot of fun, as well as having a great time of fellowship with each other.
There are tons of those fold out tables on the market that can be set up temporarily in the living room so you each have room on half the table for doing the marking and cutting. And if you prefer to have the whole table to yourself, they’re so inexpensive you can set two of them up – one for each of you to work on. When finished the tables can be folded up and stored in a closet or under a bed until the next appointed “work together” time.
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