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Tip of the MonthJuly 2011 Tip Easy Fit Tip One of the simplest fitting methods is simply to take your measurements, add a reasonable amount of wearing and style ease* to your body measurements and compare the pattern measurements at the same places. Will you fit inside this garment? Adjust accordingly. * Wearing ease is a small amount added at each body measurement to make it possible to move in your garment (typically 1" at the waist and 3" at the hip and bust. Style ease varies depending on whether a style is a close fitting style, loose fitting style, very-loose fitting style, etc. Google "wearing and style ease" for more info. March 2011 Tip Practice!! Remember that the very best -- and highest-paid -- baseball players have batting averages of around 300. That means 3 hits for every 10 times at bat. Another way to think of that is a 70% failure rate! We textile artists usually want to hit a home run every time we step up to our design walls - or dress forms, looms, dye pots, etc. Now, is that realistic? The key is to embrace every failure as a learning opportunity and another day at batting practice, moving us, every day, closer to a mastery of our art form and our medium. Keep practicing!! August 2010 Tip
When you make a reversible garment that has buttons and buttonholes, work buttonholes in both sides of the front and insert "cufflink" buttons in the two holes. "Cufflink" buttons are buttons sewn to each other with a thread shank or attached with a little metal "link" in between. If both buttons are the same size, each of them can go through either buttonhole and the overlap will go the right way on either side of the garment. May 2010 Tip
Button Selection Sometimes the best button(s) for a garment are the simplest: small and plain. Other times the button is the main focal point for a garment and should be big, bold and flashy. Garments with lots of interest in the fabric, piecing or embellishments will require the simple buttons that do not detract from the main- attention getter. A very plain garment can accommodate a focal – point button. Decide where the focus should be.
February 2010 Tip
Combining Parts of Different Garment Patterns If you want to combine parts of different garment patterns, you must provide the appropriate transition between the parts. For example, if you want to put the collar from one pattern on the body from another pattern, you must superimpose the bodices of the two patterns and use the neckline of the pattern whose collar you are using, transitioning into the body of the garment to which you want to add the new collar. Then everything will fit nicely together. December 2009 Tip
We are all drawn to the more saturated colors of the middle value range. Colors that are too light sometimes seem boring and colors that are too dark just obscure the color altogether. But using all middle values in your work, or values that are too close together, produces work that is mushy and hard to “read” visually. If you squint looking at your work and it all turns to mush so that you can’t see the composition, you probably need a little – or sometimes a lot- more value contrast. Remember value defines a composition. __________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________ November 2009 Tip A well designed and colored quilt can withstand mediocre craftsmanship, but a poorly designed and colored quilt cannot be saved by perfect craftsmanship. Study color and design. It's what we notice first.  |
