Love Sewing — Issue 45 2017

Claire-Louise is an author, pattern

designer, teacher and costumier.

We recommend Claire-Louise's

new course

http://www.learntosewwithapro.com/

ultimate-beginners

Claire-Louise’s book, The Great

British Sewing Bee: Fashion With

Fabric, accompanied the third

series of the show and is priced

£20 from http://www.quadrille.co.uk

ABOUT

CLAIRE-LOUISE

STITCHER

GUIDE

perfect fit

GARMENT TYPE GENERAL RULE AVERAGE

QUANTITY

STRAIGHT TROUSERS Twice the length plus 0.25m 2m

STRAIGHT SKIRT Length plus 0.25 m 1.25m

GATHERED SKIRT Twice the length plus 0.25m 2.5-3m

SLEEVELESS TOP Length of top plus 0.25m 1.25m

SLEEVES Length plus 10cm 0.75cm

SHIRT Length of shirt plus length of

sleeve plus 0.25 m

1.7m-2.5m

COAT Twice length, plus sleeve

length, plus 0.5m

2.5-4m

A-LINE DRESS Twice the length plus 0.25m 1-2m

DRESS WITH GATHERED SKIRT Twice length plus 1m 2.5-3.5m

DRESS WITH CIRCLE SKIRT 3-5m

and I record this in my Maker’s

Workbook sewing planner.

As a short lady, I can get

a sleeveless shift from

1m, a long sleeved version

from 1.5m if the fabric

is wide and I can get an

A-line mini skirt from

just 60cm of fabric!

Within the pattern

drafting process,

creating a layplan

allows you to set the

fabric quantities. Even

if you’re working on a

pattern with an existing layplan

you may decide to redesign the

layout for pattern efficiency,

or perhaps you’ve done this when

working with napped or one-way

patterned fabric and needed to take

matters into your own hands! You

should ideally do this before the fabric

is bought and cut, but it’s great for

projects with lots of pieces when you

want to be economical with expensive

cloth! Essentially you mark out an

area on your table (or floor) that’s

a standard fabric width and lay the

paper pattern pieces in that area. Once

you’ve got them all lined up with the

grain or fold, measure the overall

length and that’s your yardage. I often

use an actual piece of cloth I have

lying around to work out length.

Tailors traditionally have a handy

reference chart for standard ‘yardages’

for suits etc. You can create your own

using a mixture of TNT

pattern envelope quantities,

your own layplans and these

basic rules of thumb.

These are just guidelines for

standard garments however,

and it’s really important

to remember that if you

are buying fabric with a

repeating, one-directional

pattern you’ll need more!

Usually one repeat depth per

length needed (good fabric

suppliers should help with

this bit of maths!). Working

on the bias also means more

fabric! And remember that wide leg

trousers and very flared skirts will

eat up more of the width of your

fabric so buy extra!

Having a picture

of the back of my

favourite pattern

on my phone

means I can

quickly see what

sort of quantities

I’d need

Simplicity 1609

http://www.lovesewingmag.co.uk 37

LS45 p36 Thrifty stitcher.indd 37 19/09/2017 16:51