Hi Sewcialists!
My name is Gabby Brown, and I’m a technical designer in the apparel industry. I have experience fitting all RTW garment categories: men, women, juniors, and kids, including petite, plus, tall, big & tall, junior plus, toddlers, and layette. I currently live and work in Denver, Colorado, but previously spent about 16 years studying and working professionally in New York City. Check out this video for more!
In this fitting series that will run on Mondays, we’re going to cover things like:
- How to measure your body, your patterns, and your garments
- Familiarizing yourself with grading, and with “jump numbers”
- How to rub off a garment, and use RTW to help you
- I’ll conduct fittings with sewists in Denver to fit real makes on real bodies — and you get to watch!
- I’ll also have some hints and tips to throw in, and a discussion on exactly why RTW doesn’t work for so many people
You can find me on Instagram @ladygrift if you’d like to check out what I’m up to. I am super happy to work with you! If you have any comments or questions, please reach out — I believe strongly in transparency and sharing resources!
And another PS! (When I mention in my intro video that grading is tedious, from an industry standpoint, it’s because it entails endless tables and formulas subtracting 5/16″ from a back rise over and over — lots and lots and lots of math, decimal and fraction addition and subtraction, and zero typos allowed! I’ll show you an example when we get there.)
xo Gabby
Gabby is a technical fashion designer, fit specialist, and prolific googler. She lives in Denver, raises tiny littles, reads, embroiders, makes, experiments, fails, learns, tries again. See her on instagram @ladygrift.
I am so excited about this series! Thank you for doing this!
We’ve been doing a happy dance behind the scenes every since Gabby agreed to do this series for us! It’s so exciting to have access to her RTW knowledge and experience!
Me too! And, of course! If you think of any particular issue you’d like to see discussed, feel free to let me know 🙂
Hi Gabby–this will be wonderful. 2 quick questions–how to manage the extra waistline on the bodice created by doing an FBA, and how necessary is a dress form to get fitting right?
Hi Terry! If you have a waist dart, you can increase the uptake to bring your waist measurement back, or pivot the excess out to your bust / shoulder dart. I recently saw an Alexandra Morgan youtube video that did an excellent job of showing how.
Also, I love using a dressform- I have a Beatrice (it’s my own body scan) but it’s definitely an investment piece. I use mine to fit, and also to drape original designs.
I personally think any kind of fit form is invaluable, but only if you use it a ton- otherwise it can become just an expensive hanger. For fitting, if you have a full length mirror and can take photos of your back / side on a timer, you can definitely fit on yourself pretty easily. And always fitting with a friend works just as well 🙂
Soooo looking forward to this series, it’s the fitting that overwhelms any of my projects and I would love to make things that fit rather than keep going with oversized type projects. I will have great expectations for all my future makes
WOW this sounds EXCITING! Is this a free class? I sure hope so! I can’t wear ANYTHING in RTW,because of scoliosis. I look forward to seeing what I can do to patterns to help them fit better on me. Thank you.
Absolutely it’s free! Gabby is volunteering her time to film these videos, and they’ll be posted on Monday’s here on our blog!
Absolutely! I had scoliosis and a spinal fusion as a teenager, so now I’m basically all one piece inside, haha. I feel your pain there. If you think of any particular fit problem you’d like to see discussed, please let me know! 🙂
This looks great -will it automatically show up in your IG or do you need to sign up ?
Hi! The videos will be posted here on the Sewcialists blog on Mondays, and yes, we’ll always post something on IG to remind to let you know when a new post is live! 🙂
I am SO looking forward to this! Thank you SO VERY MUCH.
I am really looking forward to this!
All I can say is THANK YOU! I expect that my makes are usually too big because I don’t measure myself properly. (And/or size incorrectly due to some kind of misunderstanding.) Just how tight is that bust measurement anyway? I could get very different measurements depending on how I hold the tape…
Looking forward to the series!
Melody, I’m going to pop in here for this one. McCalls/Vogue/Butterick pattern’s Bust measurement is actually High Bust. I know it doesn’t say that, but it is. I was making 2 sizes too big. So if that is who you’re sewing, that’s where 90% of the issue is. Pati Palmer teaches this in her classes and books as she’s been working with them for decades. She tried to get them to put it in their patterns but no luck.
Oh totally! Measurements are always hard because people take them in different spots, and patterns a lot of times don’t tell you where the measurements are being taken from. (Hip? um…. like…. *where* on your hip?) We’ll actually be doing that in the next post 🙂
Great idea for a series! I’m really looking forward to it. I have ridiculously broad shoulders and large shoulder blades so getting a woven bodice to hang correctly or allow me to move my arms is challenging! I’d love to hear some insight on fitting shoulders/upper back if possible. 😊
We can definitely go over that for sure 🙂
I am so excited!
This is so cool! I am looking forward to seeing more!
What a great idea guys! I’m excited to watch this and love the sound of the content. Yay!
I am so excited for this. How do I sign up?
we’ll be posting here on Mondays as videos come available. <3
Thank you so much for this great idea and thank you Gabby for your generosity in sharing your time and expertise. I am of an earlier generation that did learn sewing on a larger scale – we made real clothes with buttons and zippers in Home Ec class! But we never really got into the intricacies of fitting. You just looked at the pattern envelope and got the size that matched your biggest measurement. It’s taken me 45 years and numerous fitting classes to understand a few of the fit problems, but there are so many that are still a mystery. “The wrinkles point to the problem” is one of those mysteries!
I really look forward to this series and wish it was next Monday already!
You’re very welcome!! I think that’s great that you learned *really* how to sew in school- I wish more schools offered hands-on programs. And I totally agree- even in college, we learned how to drape and tailor etc etc, but we weren’t taught fitting or grading, it took years and years in the industry to learn how to read garments and acquire that knowledge. And things change all the time, with new silhouettes, or fabrics, so there’s always more to learn. I’m looking forward to working with you! 🙂
Thank you for doing this series. I need help with fitting my small neck area but my large bust.
Absolutely! I’m make sure to cover this- this is where I struggle, too 🙂
Thank you, thank you for this. I gave up sewing for myself in my 20s because I didnt understand why nothing fitted properly. I’ve had a few minor successes lately thanks to the internet, but I don’t want to waste time or money and I know I don’t get fit yet. I’ll be eagerly awaiting your next post 🙂
Thank you so much for doing this.
I’d be glad of any advice in getting good measurements. The approach starting with an elastic round the waist needs a lot of guesswork for me, because elastic creeps up over my belly and down into my sway back. Fit models usually seem quite straight – I guess they have to be close to some average or aspiration for the brand. Whereas my side view is definitely sinuous. Most RTW chafes, worst at back crotch (ouch wedgie) but I can usually scoop some there, also rubs at front underarms.
I’m looking forward to seeing your videos, I’m sure I’ll learn a lot.
Sorry, that should read “fitted” 🙂
Ah, I see! If you are having trouble with migrating elastic, you might try wearing a fitting knit tank while you measure yourself- nothing compression, maybe a rib knit or something that will just lay flat to your body. Then you can safety pin your natural waist placement at center front and back and sides, to make sure you’re getting consistent vertical measurements and placements. I’d suggest doing this in front of a mirror and either marking where the hem of the tank sits on your body, or mentally taking a note, so you can keep the tank adjusted to the same length on your body as you move around. Let me know if that method helps! 🙂
The tank suggestion is a good one for anyone close enough to the “standard” to keep straps up on their shoulders and stretch fabric down on their belly. I tend to use an ancient racer back swimsuit and old, slightly too big now, leggings. I’ve recently remeasured pinning tapes at “waist”, high hip, low hip, anywhere that seems helpful and repeatable. Check the horizontals front and side by eyeballing in a mirror, photographing on a time delay for the back.
I’ll enjoy looking at the videos and see if I can make better guesses at where to put the pins!
You’re quite right about possible compression. I might need to build in just a little extra ease after measuring, depending on what I was wearing? My mechanics theory has been rusting for decades, but I suspect that the tendency to compress will be most when the fabric is most stretched from its design intention, and most effective on the parts like tummy that are squishy. (Apologies, general readers, for technobabble in that last sentence). For the swimsuit/leggings I have, I’d guess it wouldn’t be more than a percent or so anyway, nothing compared to daily variation in size and posture.
Lots to learn, thank you again for doing this.
I think you’ll like the next post, then- I’ll explain how to measure yourself using standards I use in RTW (placements are pretty specific, and consistent.)
You bring up an excellent point! I think you can measure yourself pretty easily over any type of figure skimming garment, it’s just hard to do over anything too loose because you end up with larger measurements going over fabric folds, etc.
And, you’re right- unless you’re measuring over a Speedo or Spanx or something like that, I doubt your measurement would vary more than 1/2″ or so, and that’s not even how much variance a body changes during the day 🙂
Hi,
For al of you, who are looking for a “custom” dressform .
You can make on yourself with your own measurements.
Take al look here: https://patterns.bootstrapfashion.com/diy-dress-form-sewing-pattern.html
Look for the custom fit patterns
Its not as good as a 3d scan, but way better than a standard form.
Wow, that’s a cool resource! Thanks for sharing.
Looking forward to this fit series sooo much, thank you Gabby. I’m 5′ 6″, pear shaped, a B cup with narrow shoulders and a 30″ high bust and there is always too much fabric above the bust and necklines and armholes gape.
I’m embarrassed to say at 60 I’ve hardly had any upper body RTW clothes that actually fit other than some t-shirts (I’ve worked from home) I’ve only recently had time to learn to sew and have mainly made ‘bottoms’. So keen to finally find a clear path and set of fit fixes to move forward to make some tops.