This Just In

We are proud and
pleased to announce our latest Dress Shop addition, Illusions™:
Patterns for
Real People, designed by Kaaren Hoback, and released June 28, 2004.
Illusions, is a New Design Collection to
Dress Shop 5,
offering patterns which flatter the body, provide a gentle hint of waist
shaping as well comfort and custom fit.
We re offering this revolutionary collection at $129 with an
introductory price of just $99 until July 31.
Illusions includes 26 new and distinctive patterns, including 4 dresses,
4 skirts, 4 blouses, 3 jackets including a real side panel jacket!, 2
vests and 2 tunics, a real sweatshirt and a baseball shirt , as well as
5 nightwear designs.
It also offers two NEW levels of fit. The Casual fit level offers a bit
more ease, true side darts and a little gentle waist shaping as well as
the New Comfort fit level- with no waist shaping
There are new features and tools which include , options for vents,
pleats, godets ,front and back neck plackets and more. To read more about Illusions, click
here.
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Dress Shop Tip of the Month
Would you like to
understand how each individual measurement affects the shape of your
pattern? How you can make your shoulder lines come a little farther out
without changing the angle of the shoulder line? How to change your
bodice so the shoulder seams are a little further forward? How to give
yourself a longer front armhole depth without adding to the back armhole
depth which is fine?
Here’s a simple way you can begin to understand
how the different measurements impact the pattern, what measurements you
might have to change to achieve a certain result, and how changing one
measurement will change another measurement. The first thing you’ll want to do is to select a
standard size to work with. Try for example Women’s Size 12. It
doesn’t matter which size you pick, really, even if you’re far from a
size 12. You’re only looking at how the measurements interrelate. You
can apply what you learn to your own patterns later. Draft a set of slopers for this standard size,
and print them in quarter scale. Write “original” on the pages.
Now comes the interesting part.
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Sewing Tip
You can shrink out all appearance of gathering
in a sleeve cap using steam, when you’re working with cotton, wool or
linen, or a blend. (Though this appears related to natural fibers, the
technique doesn’t work for pure silk, because silk has a harder
“finish.”)
A good way to remove the
ease/gathering from a sleeve is to put in your double row of gathering
stitches between the front and back notches, and pull the basting
threads to gather just enough to exactly match the armhole (using your
fingers to arrange the gathers evenly). Then place the sleeve cap over
end of a sleeve board and use your iron to apply shots of steam to the
sleeve. You can shape the cap with the palm of your hand, and use the
point of the iron to eliminate the gathers. Then you’re ready to sew in
the sleeve.
More
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Q&A
What's
the difference in fit between Dress Shop Quickfit, Advanced, and Pro?
Dress Shop 5 QuickFit includes standard sizes for
women and misses, plus our QuickFit pattern adjustment system, plus the
option to draft and fit to 24 custom body measurements.
Dress Shop 5 Advanced includes everything that is
in QuickFit, plus the option to draft and fit to 57 custom body
measurements.
Dress Shop 5 Pro includes everything that is in
QuickFit and Advanced, plus standard sizes for men, boys, girls, and
small children. DS5 Pro also includes options in the Layout Tool for
laying out plaids, stripes, and border prints. And finally, DS5 Pro
includes a special option in the Crotch Tool for micro-tuning the shape
of crotch curves.
I have measured myself repeatedly and yet my test garments don't fit.
What can I do?
Even with as many measurements as we take in
Dress Shop (our most rigorous measurement system takes 57 body
measurements), we still don’t measure all the lumps, bumps and curves
that you might have on your body. And we make some assumptions
about the way you’re shaped, which are not going to be true in all
cases.
More
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