TNT

A significant part of my "spare" time the past few weeks has been spent looking at fabrics and dreaming of things I might make, as well as bemoaning the fact that I probably need to make a muslin of everything.  Bummer…muslins are great and I highly recommend them, but they are not conducive to instant gratification.

I have also been cleaning out my closets and trying on everything that they were harboring.  In the process, I made, what seems to me a remarkable discovery.  Many of the clothes I made two summers ago fit now, or nearly fit, which means that I actually have some patterns that fit, and they are, for the most part, basic patterns that I can use for new garments or as a basic block for altering other patterns. 

The second half of 2007 suddenly looks much brighter:

First I learned that I could wear these pants again:

These are actually just one pair of several pairs of one seam pants that are in my wardrobe, both in wovens and knits.    I also took this pattern and adapted it to be pants with a side seam, the first pair of pants I had ever made where the pants fit through the waist, hips, and crotch curve, and the side seams fell absolutely straight.   I wrote about them back in May 2005 .  All of these paints were made from a pattern I got from an online sewing class to which I can no longer find any links and I have totally changed the crotch curve, and in the standard pants with side seams, the entire shape of the pieces.

Still, I learned a lot using this pattern over a year or two and it is still has basic information which I use even when using other pants patterns.

I also learned that the straight skirt I last made two summers ago fits well and that pattern can go back into my basic pattern list without further alterations (yippee!)

I don’t tend to think it matters what basic straight skirt pattern one uses, as there are only so many variations.  This particular skirt is from an OOP Sandra Betzina pattern for Vogue:

Between this skirt, and the pleated skirt pattern I used last summer and fall, I have a good foundation for several other skirts, and a good base to use when using new patterns as well.

Then I found that two older knit top patterns also fit again, or fit with only minimal work needed, perhaps a small full bust alteration, depending on the stretch factor in the particular knit being used, Butterick 3124 and Vogue 2483.

But truly the biggest thrill for me was that I almost fit back into a peach silk dress I made back in 2004 for my step-son’s wedding.

It is not quite a TNT pattern as it looks a little dumpy on me now, and actually it is too small through the bust and too big through the hips.  The hip thing can be easily altered, the bust, not so much, and although I can zip the dress, I feel like my chest has been wrapped in a compression stocking, so this is not a dress I would recommend for wearing comfort. 

However, this is something I think I can easily alter, even with my relative lack of experience in FBAs. 

So I am thrilled.  With these patterns, and the two knit top patterns that are still sitting on my cutting table waiting to be perfected,  I could practically make a wardrobe in a pinch, and I can certainly use them as a starting point for working with several other styles and determining accurate pattern sizes.