Sunday, March 7, 2010

Psst.....Remedial Sewing Update

Smocking Lesson #2 tonight, along with Drafting Lesson #1: Taking Measurements.

Very animated conversation among Auntie Laura, Mum and me, during which Grandma (now deceased, and the same one who made the clown and caterpillars - see sidebar under "Tutorials" for links; too lazy to link myself) was declared Queen of Freehand Drafting. I am foolishly hopeful that genetics, albeit diluted two generations down, will give me some sort of innate skill.

I now have a sheet of paper with my measurements recorded on it, and the assignment to draft the basic block/sloper, to be critiqued/corrected/mocked mercilessly by Auntie Laura and Mum.
Yikes. Secretly excited also, though.

Interesting point: apparently I've lived my entire life with unequal shoulders, or an uneven neck, depending on how one looks at it. Mum claims my right shoulder is a quarter inch longer than my left and that she'd always had to draft slightly lopsided patterns for my shirts.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was confirmed by tonight's measurements- it seems I am still a lopsided specimen. Although, (and this is the Type-B part of my otherwise-Type A personality talking) I think a quarter inch is, well, miniscule, isn't it? Still, this is sewing school after all, so I'm going to focus on How To Draft Anomalies and not my actual newly-discovered-old-anatomical-freakiness.

5 comments:

  1. Let's hope the drafting gene is one of those "skip a generation" things. Although with your descriptions of your mum's sewing I'm not too sure of this!

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  2. When my mom was measuring me for my wedding dress we discovered one side of my chest was lower than the other, even in a bra. Weird. The things you never know unless you measure.

    I am a little intimidated by drafting my own patterns but it seems like such a good idea. My oldest is tall and skinny plus I can't find any patterns I like anyway. Glad to know from one of your earlier posts that I am not the only one who likes skirts to be lower than right-under-your-bum length on my girls. Maybe I'll give that book a read. Thanks.

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  3. oh that's so funny! "foolishly hoping" - I always do that with admirable traits in my family :)

    And my shoulders are off - I know this, but I've never measured how much. Mine comes from scoliosis which was too slight to ever need something official and medical done, but apparently skewed my shoulders.

    In my opinion, a quarter inch isn't worth drafting into a pattern, but then, I'm a sewing newbie and have only drafted the crudest patterns. But I'm so interested in your progress and lessons.

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  4. I think being lopsided is the normal state of being. People who are perfect are the anomalous ones :D

    I have one hip more rounded/sticky-out than the other. actually I think that is caused bu the fact that one whole half of my body from collar bone to pelvis is built slightly more 'forward' than the other. If that makes sense. Pants never fit me properly.

    Haiya! Wish I was there now...can shamelessly invite myself over and partake in some of that learnin'!

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  5. I think it's pretty normal to have one shoulder higher/lower than the other, and 1/4 inch doesn't seem that much...

    I really want to learn proper drafting, and think I need to given Emma's stubborn tendency to stick in the bottom 10th percentile on any weight scale, and even lower when you take her height into consideration. And, I would LOVE to wear clothes that actually fit...

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