Pattern Altering and Fitting

Service Description

I want to help you improve the fit of your makes! One of the main reasons people decide to make their own clothes is because they don’t fit standard dress sizes (Guess what - most of us don’t.) So, it’s really frustrating to find that your dress patterns also come in standard sizes. This short course is an introduction to two important skills that we can use to improve fit - altering paper patterns and using toiles. Used together, these two processes will help you adjust and then refine the fit of your patterns to make them work for you. Day one - Altering Patterns On the first day, we will talk about some important principles that we must understand in order to work with our dress patterns, including: 🪡 Taking measurements accurately 🪡 Understanding ease 🪡 Choosing your starting size 🪡 Working with seam free patterns 🪡 Distributing fullness correctly We will then do some practical exercises in some of the most commonly required pattern alterations, including: 🪡 Lengthening / shortening 🪡Increasing / decreasing a waist 🪡 Increasing / decreasing a hip 🪡 Full bust adjustments In the course of this day we will learn about three key pattern altering techniques: dart manipulation, slashing and spreading, and re-drawing style lines. Finally, we will learn about how to check and true our new patterns before we go ahead and cut out. Day Two - Fittings On the second day, we’ll focus on how to refine your pattern alterations in a fitting. You’ll make a simple bodice toile (prototype) in calico, and then we’ll learn how to conduct a fitting effectively — avoiding the common trap of endless sampling and adjusting, and instead developing a clear, structured approach. We’ll cover: 🪡 How to correctly prepare a toile 🪡 Where and when to add extra seam allowance 🪡 How to identify and resolve fit issues 🪡 Correct pinning techniques during fittings 🪡 How to accurately transfer your fitting adjustments back to your paper pattern 🪡 Creating a balanced working pattern. All materials and equipment will be provided, so there’s no need to bring your own patterns or projects along. This course is designed to deepen your understanding of the pattern alteration and fitting process so you can confidently apply these skills to any future dressmaking project. Tea and coffee will be provided throughout the day to keep us all going, and there will be an hour for lunch when you can pop out into Peebles to refresh and refuel.