Simplified Systems of Sewing Styling - Lesson Six, Fittings

Simplified Systems of Sewing and Styling

IN TEN LESSONS        •      By DORIS ANDERSON

Lesson 1 — SELECTION OF PATTERNS AND FABRICS

Figure Analysis—Wardrobe Co-ordination

Fabric Requirements—Essential Equipment for Sewing

Lesson 2 — PATTERN ALTERATION

Personal Measurement Chart

Lesson 3 — CUTTING

Effects of Cutting on Final Appearance of Garment

Lesson 4 — ASSEMBLY OF GARMENT

Seams, Darts, Tucks, Pleats, Gathers, Pressing Tailoring Suits and Coats

Lesson 5 — BUTTONHOLES—POCKETS—NECK FINISHES

Lesson 6 — FITTINGS—SHOULDER PADS—SLIDE FASTENERS

Lesson 7 — SLEEVE FINISHES—SETTING IN SLEEVES—HEMS

Lesson 8 — FINISHING COATS AND SUITS

Linings

Lesson 9 — PROFESSIONAL FINISHING DETAILS

Lesson 10— ACCESSORIES, THEIR IMPORTANCE AND HOW TO PLAN THEM

Mending—Restyling Garments

Contents

Lesson Six

Shoulder Pads Fittings Side Closings

Shoulder Pads

The First Fitting

The Second Fitting

Closings: Slide Fasteners—Plackets

Skirt-Top Finishes

LESSON SIX

Shoulder Pads • Fittings Side Closings

THIS booklet, the sixth of a series of ten lessons on Sewing and Styling, tells you how to fit your garment so that it will have a professional, custom-made appearance. In it you will learn how to design and assemble well-fitted shoulder pads. You will also learn about the various types of slide fasteners and plackets which may be used for closings in your garments.

If you have carefully studied and properly applied the scientific techniques outlined in previous booklets in this series, you will have no problem when you come to the fitting stage, for the steps that determine the fit and becomingness of the finished product will have been executed in their proper order. Three factors of major importance determine the success of dress, coat or suit: the fit, the selection of a becoming style and the step by step construction that molds the garment to the figure and camouflages figure faults. Actually the chief fitting problems should be solved before the garment is tried on.

In Lesson One of this series you were taught how to determine the styles most becoming to you and how to camouflage the faults of your figure by the proper selection of lines and fabrics. An honest assessment of your figure and a proper application of these principles will assure you a becoming garment.

Lesson Two showed you how fitting depends on pattern alteration. By first adjusting the pattern according to your requirements you will eliminate almost all fitting changes, and when the trying on stage is reached only minor adjustments need be made. So successful is this proved method of pattern alteration that a perfect fitting can be assured for any figure type.

Lesson Three stressed the fact that the garment will hang properly only if the correct techniques of cutting are scrupulously followed. A garment cut incorrectly cannot be expected to fit well.

Lesson Four demonstrated the molding of a garment to the lines of your body through actual construction and pressing. You learned to visualize the effect of each detail in relation to your own figure and to make necessary adjustments in the length of darts, etc.

Lesson Five told you that major details of constructions should be completed before the fitting is done. If your pattern is correct in size and has been accurately adjusted to your figure you need have no fear of doing permanent stitching.

Make Adjustments First: A garment cannot be fitted correctly by basting the parts together and trying to adjust and shape them on the figure. When the garment is basted together, with the major details of its construction incomplete, you cannot visualize the true effect of its lines, nor can you accurately judge its fit. Vision and thought must be given to each detail of the garment throughout the whole process of its construction. For example, when excessive fullness is released in the waistline through the use of gathers it is unnecessary to wait for the final fitting to decide whether or not they are becoming. Decide during the construction stage whether or not the use of darts will make the garment more attractive.

I know how to sew, but I cannot fit myself, is a statement women make over and over. Some of them have wholly false ideas about their fitting requirements, usually based on some past experience, the carelessly given opinion of