| ||
Behind the Myth: Handwork is nearly impossible to find anymore. Therefore, don't hand sew, or you'll look "homemade." The Truth:The reason many of us do sew is to produce better quality garments. Couture garments look much more like "hand made" since the greatest percentage of sewing is done by hand. Of all ready-to-wear, Chanel produces garments with the most hand work The Solution: Do what you do best and will look the best. Sometimes it's easier to do hand work than manipulate the machine into some areas. Sometimes, machine work will hold up longer for washing and hard wear. And .... sometimes I just like to do it by hand.
Behind the Myth: The sewing machine companies have done an unbelieveable job creating machines that you can even get up and walk away from ... the embroidery just manipulates itself and stops when it's done. Amazing stuff. The Truth: Sewing machine companies have full ranges of price points in their machinery to satisfy a wide range of sewing needs. Few fashion sewing enthusiasts need the top of the line embroidery machines, but they definitely want good looking buttonholes, machines that will sew through luxurious, plush coatings, and the thinnest silks. For example, the Husqvarna Viking makes machines in their "Lily" series ... models 530, 540 & 550 ... with suggested retail for the 530 starting around $1,000.00, but with a variety of computerized buttonhole styles etc. The Solution: If your machine isn't meeting your needs, take some of the extremes of fabrics that you work on to the store and see how the machines make buttonholes, feed thick and thin fabrics, and generally work for you personally. When I sold sewing machines years ago, I was always surprised how many women just let us demonstrate, but never wanted to "test drive" the machines themselves. You wouldn't do that with a car, so go test drive a new sewing machine too. Find out what kinds of additional presser feet are available and check with your machine dealer every so often to see what's new to help you with your sewing. Maybe when you take it in for it's annual/semi-annual cleaning and maintenance check-ups, also ask for what feet are new. Instead of sewing machine companies always showing me their top of the line newest, I wish they'd also keep me up to date with new presser feet.
Behind the Myth: Women with more curves have had more success with Burda patterns. The Truth: Women who are thin have fewer problems fitting any clothes sewn or ready-to-wear. However, the European pattern companies have adopted a slightly different body shape that in general has a slightly higher hip curve, shorter waist length, and evenly distributed curves. The Americans generally have a shape that is a little longer, but offers more girth ease. One of the best pattern/fit explanations I have ever seen and read appears in Every Sewer's Guide to the Perfect Fit by Mary Morris & Sally McCann and available through most bookstores or G Street Fabrics since the book's authors are teachers there. The Solution: Know that not only Burda, but also Style and New Look patterns are graded similarly. The Fashion Sewing Group Patterns were designed with a special fitting block and then graded from that standard, since they are geared to an over-forty figure. If you have narrow shoulders and carry most of your weight in your waist and hips, the American pattern sizing may be best for you, but if your fullness is evenly distributed, than try the European pattern shapes. Of course, it isn't hard to add girth to the waist or hip area anyway. HOWEVER, if you love McCalls, don't start to doubt yourself because of what you read, or hear in a class somewhere. Do what works for you, and occasionally, you owe it to yourself to try something new too. After using and studying patterns for years, my armscye was drafted to offer the customer a superior fit in that area. The entire pattern was drafted to flatter an ordinary figure. If you're looking for a garment that will flatter your shape and make you look leaner, then you owe it to yourself to try one of the patterns of The Fashion Sewing Group. They've been around now for seven years and are still selling terrifically--all by word of mouth. | ||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | | ||||||||||||
"Handwork makes your garment look 
"You can't buy a decent sewing machine anymore for less than $2,000.00. " 
"European made patterns fit better