Fit for Real People: Sew Great Clothes Using Any Pattern!

by: Pati Palmer, Marto Alto, Marta Alto, Barbara Weiland

Topics include: armhole dart, high round back, new waistline seam, horizontal bust dart, full bust adjustment, full bust alteration, broad back alteration, bust fullness, creative vest, tissue fitting, true petite, armhole gaps, very round back, bodice tissue, your center front, flat derriere, fullest hip, horizontal dart, unaltered tissue, fuller busted, pattern center front, finished garment measurements, your apex, basic bodice, waist seamline

Book Description:

The best Book on Fitting On the Market Today -- I have been sewing for over 50 years. The one thing that always bugged me over the years was pattern fitting. I soon found out that I was not a standard fit when the bodices of dresses did not meet across the chest and the front waistlines were up around my ribcage. I had a larger than a b cup bra. It wasn't until recent years that I was told that patterns were only drafted for b cup bras. Over the years, by observing patterns and body shapes, reading books, (not many available years ago) and eventually learning the art of pattern drafting, I learned the art of pattern fitting and alteration. I have always been interested in fitting. Many books have become available in recent years on pattern alteration but I have not found one that addresses problems in the same way that this book does. So many books simplify one problem and do not let you see how the alterations affect other seams. This book goes through the whole process. It is the most comprehensive book on the market today. It starts with body types, how to measure, why you should alter and how to alter the pattern. I do not need a lot of the book's information today. However, it has been a confirmation of all I have thought of throughout the past years. I have purchased the book to add to my collection and I am thoroughly enjoying it. If only it had been available to me over the years, I would not have felt so stupid because patterns did not fit me. I would have had all the information in one place rather than the thinking and reading I had to do.The section on mature and maturing bodies is wonderful and this is one area I will be visiting. Congratulations to the authors for a fantastic book. The book in fun to read. It has lots and lots of pictures of REAL people not drawings. The illustrations of the pattern alterations are excellent. It is many books rolled into one and very good value. Reading it has sparked me off to want to start to sew again after too long an absence.

Best fitting instructions that I have found -- I have been teaching sewing for a number of years and have never found a more useful fitting book. The fitting methods are very easy to use in the classroom as well as in the home. This book has helped me solve all of my own fitting difficulties as well as most of my students. I recommend that you first read the entire book before you put any of the methods to the test. Then get a partner, your sense of humor and go to work. You will always be thankful you did.

Best illustrated and most sensible on the market. -- This is the best of the pattern adjustments books on the market today. Beautiful photographs and diagrams fill the gap between diagnosing a needed adjustment and making it happen. Full color photographs take you through the authors' tissue fitting steps lots of times with the full range of garments and live models. The section on flat pattern adjustments is logically organized, clearly diagramed and in many cases offers multiple options for adjustments. This book is also the only one I've seen with a lively and amusing discussion of the history of pattern sizes and what the various size categories mean - didn't you always wonder how a size 12 Miss Petite came to be? The book is printed on excellent quality paper with an equally excellent quality of typeface, photograhs and color diagrams making it a pleasure to read and work with. If any fault can be found it is that the authors make little mention of how important it is to work with a helper or a really well duplicated dress form. Aside from that, their approach is the most sensible and realistic I have seen. This book belongs in the library of every home sewer who wants to create garments with gorgeous fit.

Reviews:

Interesting, excellent resource -- I picked up this book and read it from beginning to end. I found the facts to be very interesting. Particularly of interest to me was the information regarding sizing of patterns and ready to wear. This book also offered many alterations. I would refer to these in addition to alteration methods in other books (Fitting and Pattern Alteration or Fabulous Fit, for example). I would recommend this book for beginner or advanced dressmakers. The photos and step by step alterations were wonderful. Included, also, were people of many sizes, variances, and ages. One of the best examples of why we sew was the fitting example of Martha's jacket. The book showed Martha wearing an altered size 12 pattern. It also showed her wearing jackets in similar styles in various price ranges and from various stores. The altered size 12 was the best fitting and most flattering by far. It outshone even those designer jackets costing hundreds of dollars. This book also showed how two people of the same height and weight would require vastly different alterations because of their weight and height distribution. Some people are short from waist to neck (me). Others are long in this area. Some have short legs but not short torsos. It is important, the book stressed, to know yourself and your body. They showed how to make a body map. I wasted no time at all doing this. I have a fitted sloper and know what alterations I need to do on my own garments (high right hip, wide waist, full bust). These were things (especially the high hip) which I never really saw until I made the map. When we were done with this process, we stood back and looked. The high right hip (and some other things) were actually noticeable. I would highly recommend this book as an addition to any sewer's library. The information is invaluable and timeless and PRACTICAL! I would also recommend READING THIS BOOK!

An encyclopedia for fitting -- If you can't find the fitting and/or adjustment in this book, they probably don't exist. It covers the most often needed pattern adjustments; as well as taking into account the (statistically) most frequently occuring body shapes (i.e. round shoulders, uneven shoulders, hips, wider/narrower shoulders; enlarging body areas, etc.). Each body part's adjustment is individually covered; as well as need for special dress/tops, etc. styles (i.e.princess). The book is so PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED diagraming alternation needed to achieve a `perfect fit' that you don't really need to read. The book does not cover special fitting for special needs such as wheelchair-bound, people with arthritis, prostetics, etc. Maybe that will be their next book.