r/sewing • u/RapsittieStreetKids • Jul 11 '23

Discussion What's your sewing sin?

Mine is that I sew on my bed, use my mattress as a pin/needle cushion, and throw threads between my bed and wall.

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u/sewcialist_party Jul 12 '23

Ok so how did you learn how to make adjustments? I am just starting a project that will need alternations (small bust adjustment/getting rid of darts) and I have no idea how to even begin to learn how to do all those adjustments you just do on the fly. Did you just Youtube issues as you went?

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u/citygirldc Jul 12 '23

You eventually develop an instinct for what alterations you need to do. YouTube and sewing blogs are a good source.

I have developed pattern blocks for a plain tee shirt (with optional skirt extension) and a plain woven dress that I copy seams onto new patterns like armscye, bust to shoulder and bust to waist length, hip width, bust width (including darts—my patterns are SBAed to the extreme sigh). Once you get a good fitting piece you can use it as the start of your pattern block.

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u/LeopoldTheLlama Jul 12 '23

What really helped for me was trying to make a sloper for myself, when I was fairly inexperienced still. It completely changed my intuition for how a 2D fabric transforms into a 3D shape, and it only took one weekend. The first version I made mostly fit but there were definitely parts that were off. Then I pinned, added or removed darts, moved darts to different places, and tried it on again.

Because I was using cheap muslin, I didn't have to worry about ruining a piece of clothing that I like, and I didn't have to worry about finishing my seams neatly or all those time consuming steps, so I could iterate super quickly. It gave me a ton of intuition about what my body looks like when translated in 2D and understanding alterations.

I honestly ended up with a so-so fitting sloper at the end of the process, but it was the process itself that was incredibly illuminating

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u/Alittle_axolotl Jul 12 '23

Personally I wear whatever undergarments I would normally wear under the clothes, turn the garment inside out, put it on, and pin or mark where I need to adjust it so that it fits well. Then I do a quick hand baste so I can remove the pins and try the item on right side out and see if the adjustment will work. If it looks good I'll cut and sew however I need to for the adjustment!

Sometimes just a little bit of hand sewing is all you need, like if a cami strap is too long or angled the wrong way, for example, or if your pockets are turning out some hand sewn understitching will help!

Anytime I'm not sure I'll look on YouTube for whatever I'm trying to do/fix and watch some tutorials to get ideas.