The "How Much Fabric?" Series: Dresses

A beautiful color catches your eye... You reach out and touch - the texture is to die for! You MUST have that fabric! But, how much should you buy?

Obviously, the ideal situation is if you have the perfect pattern in your hand - it will tell you exactly how much you need. But sometimes life isn't perfect and gorgeous fabric comes into our lives before we have a pattern picked out. ;)

Well, if you think the fabric will make the perfect dress, maybe this table will help. Just like with my previous skirts, pants and jacket tables, I collected dress patterns and entered the required fabric amounts into a spreadsheet, broken down by fabric width and dress size, and calculated the following table of minimun, maximum and average fabric requirements.

I collected more patterns than for my earlier tables, because dresses vary so much in their styles (and thus in the amount of fabric that they require). Approximately 300 patterns went into the values for 45 inch width fabric, and about 350 patterns went into the 60 inch width numbers. I included patterns from Simplicity, McCalls, Butterick, Vogue, Burda, Neue Mode, New Look, and some BWOF magazines (3 issues from 2009).

I whited out some of the minimum and maximum values for sizes 6, 22 & 24, because the extreme patterns that I found didn't come in those sizes, and so I felt that those values weren't accurate.

Of course, even with a table like this, you still need to have a rough idea of the type of dress you might make, and you still need to estimate the amount of fabric to buy. I like the table because I feel like using it helps me start my estimating from a solid foundation.

Remember that an "average" is a number that approximates the middle value - that means that there are a lot of patterns just above it, as well as a lot of patterns just under it. So if you think you are going to make an “average” dress, you should buy a little bit more than the average number listed in the table above.

But how much should you add? This “Safety Margin” table should help you decide, based on how large of a safety margin YOU personally prefer! :)

To help make the values in the table more concrete, here are some images representing the patterns requesting the minimum, maximum and average amounts of fabric:

The pattern in my table requiring the minimum amount of fabric is view C of this McCall's pattern (view D has similar requirements - only a bit more than the minimum for certain sizes):

Notice that it is basically short, fitted and strapless.

Here are 3 patterns that represent the maximum values of fabric from the table for 45 inch fabric, 60 inch fabric and 60 inch fabric / plus size dresses. Note that many of the larger dresses do not include patterns that will work with 45 inch wide fabric, and that all of these maximums include very wide, long skirts.

And here are a few examples of patterns that called for the average amount of fabric (n most sizes):

It seems that you EITHER get sleeves OR a full-ish skirt (but only knee- to upper-calf length) for an average amount of fabric.

Do you think these tables are useful? I have updated all of my tables with even more patterns and had them printed onto small, plastic cards - perfect for slipping into your purse and accompanying you on all of your fabric shopping trips! You can order a set of 5 sturdy cards (covering dresses, tops, jackets, pants and skirts) here for just $14.95 - both US and metric versions are available - or get the eBook version on your smart phone or tablet for just $7.00!  

You can learn more about them here:

Friday Confession

Today's confession features another guest question - this one asked by Kathy of Abbeyclaire Designs. Kathy would like to know when you sew - what days of the week and what times during the day?

My answer feels mildly depressing to me - I am, unfortunately, typically only able to get sewing time in on the weekends. During the week I leave for work at 7 in the morning and don't get home until 7:30 at night - by the time dinner is cooked, eaten & cleaned up, I am usually too tired to do much of anything... I am sometimes able to squeeze in 30 minutes of sewing in the evening - but it has to be something routine. I am far too brain-dead to tackle anything challenging.

So, how about you? When do you sew? In a perfect world, when would you get to sew?

Photo credit: Fabiola Medieros

Talk Back Thursday

Thank you so much to Elaina, SunnyQ, Gwen, Lois K, Becky and Summerset for talking back last week! Gwen of All My Seams asked how much ease people like in their garments.

As usual, the comments were full of valuable information, including a pointer to the Butterick ease web page, and if you are interested in ease, it’s worth reading the comments directly. But, as usual, I’ll do my best to hit the high points. ;)

There were two points of pretty consistent agreement:

The first is that too much ease can be unflattering to many body types (such as hour glass figures and pear shapes) and fitted or even close-fitted garments tend to be more attractive.

The second point that many people echoed is that there is no single answer to the question of “how much ease” each prefers, because it depends on the cut and style of the garment and the fabric that you are using.

The issue that people split on was how to adjust when their usual pattern size has too much ease. Several people are able to drop down to a smaller size – possibly making some minor adjustments, such as lengthening the sleeves.

Other people are not able to drop down to a smaller size, and have to make more complex adjustments to the patterns. The adjustments that were mentioned include adding darts and adding extra seams (like a middle back seam) where they can take in the fabric.

How do people assess the amount of ease in a pattern? A couple of folks directly measure the pattern pieces. Lois K compares the measurements to those of some of her “tried ‘n true” (TNT) patterns to get a sense of whether or not the new pattern will fit well. And several people reported tissue fitting and/or making muslins before touching the “real” fabric – in order to make sure that the fit, including ease, is just right.

Summerset checks the tables on the back of the pattern envelope that list finished garment measurements. She picks the size that has the finished measurements that build in the amount of ease that she likes.

Are some pattern companies better than others in terms of building the “right” amount of ease into their patterns? Elaina prefers vintage patterns over current day ones and Summerset is not impressed with any of the big American companies. She finds them to be unpredictable in the amount of ease that is built into each pattern and says that the Burda World of Fashion (BWOF) patterns are much more predictable.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to “talk back” about ease! I learn so much from you all every single week! :)

Oh, did I forget to mention the photo? Now, normally I don't post pictures of myself on my blog, but this time...

Oh, okay, I know I'm not fooling anyone! Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt

ETA: Oops, I made a mistake. The finished garment circumference measurements that Summerset uses are marked on the pattern pieces themselves, not the back of the envelope. Sorry about that, and thanks for the correction Summerset!

Weekend Project: Dress Table Preparations

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.

--Alexander Graham Bell

You may have noticed that I've been putting 100 or more patterns into each of my tables. Now, it's true that I do own a lot of patterns. But I don't own THAT many! So where do I get all those fabric requirement numbers?

From the internet, of course. You can browse patterns on many sites, and most of those sites also provide a view of the back of the pattern envelope. My friend Christine has started helping me find and print patterns. Here is the set that I'll be taking with me on a business trip to California this week:

These are all from dresses.

Hopefully I can get all of these figures entered into my dress spreadsheet during my evenings in a hotel room. I'm wishing you all a good sewing week - try to get in some extra sewing time for me, as I will be far away from my machine... ;)

Friday Confession

And today's topic is (can you guess from the picture?) ... EASE! Gwen of All My Seams proposed this question - how much ease do you like in your garments and where? (Exciting news - she's working on ease tables for her blog!)

And I can match this topic with a confession of my own - I know the official definition of ease, but that's about it. I have no idea how much ease I like in my garments, nor do I use ease measurements in any way when I sew.

So, how about you? Do you know your ease preferences? If so, please share! Also, how do you use your ease preferences in your sewing? You have TWO Gwens eagerly awaiting your answers! :)

Photo credit: VictoriaPeckham

Talk Back Thursday

Thank you so much to Gwen, Kathy & Cindy for being life-savers last week! I didn't have a Friday Confession prepared (I've been spending all my free time working on my fabric tables!), and they suggested some great topics for future Fridays! I'm set for several weeks now! :)

Speaking of my fabric tables, people have suggested a couple of alternative methods to answer the "how much fabric?" question.

Christine pointed me to this website, which also has tables of fabric requirements for different types of clothes.

MeredithP came up with a clever system. She selected a single "basic" pattern in each of a bunch of categories (long blazer, short blazer, long skirt, short skirt, etc.) and copied how much fabric each of those patterns need (in her size) into a table. She refers to that table and then adjusts up or down, depending on her plans for each new fabric acquisition.

And Nancy K pointed out that the knowledge in these tables can be earned the "hard way" - through many years of experience sewing! ;)

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So, work is quite busy at the moment (including a week-long trip next week), so my posts will be a bit sporadic for the next week or so. But I am working on tables for tops and dresses and I'll get those up as soon as possible! :)

Updated Fabric Tables with Larger Sizes

BConky mentioned that she wished I would include larger sizes in my tables. I do have data for patterns up to size 24 - I just hesitated to include those numbers because there were fewer patterns, so the averages are somewhat less stable. However, some data are probably better than none, so here are my tables (to date) with 2 larger sizes included:

JACKETS (original post)

PANTS (original post)

SKIRTS (original post)
If you haven't already done so, I recommend that you go to the original posts to read more about how I created these tables and see examples of patterns (in each category) requiring the minimum, maximum and average amounts of fabric.

Do you think these tables are useful? I have updated all of my tables with even more patterns and had them printed onto small, plastic cards - perfect for slipping into your purse and accompanying you on all of your fabric shopping trips! You can order a set of 5 sturdy cards (covering dresses, tops, jackets, pants and skirts) here for just $14.95 - both US and metric versions are available - or get the eBook version on your smart phone or tablet for just $7.00!  

You can learn more about them here:

The "How Much Fabric?" Series: Jackets

A beautiful color catches your eye... You reach out and touch - the texture is to die for! You MUST have that fabric! But, how much should you buy?

Obviously, the ideal situation is if you have the perfect pattern in your hand - it will tell you exactly how much you need. But sometimes life isn't perfect and gorgeous fabric comes into our lives before we have a pattern picked out. ;)

Well, if you think the fabric will make the perfect jacket, maybe this table will help. Just like with my previous skirt and pants tables, I collected jacket patterns and entered the required fabric amounts into a spreadsheet, broken down by fabric width and jacket size, and calculated the following table of minimun, maximum and average fabric requirements.

Approximately 140 patterns went into the values for 45 inch width fabric, and about 160 patterns went into the 60 inch width numbers. I included patterns from Simplicity, McCalls, Butterick, Vogue, Burda, Neue Mode, New Look, some BWOF magazines (3 issues from 2009), Brown Paper Bag Patterns & Hot Patterns. (If a pattern was labeled "Vest" or "Coat" I did NOT include it.)

I whited out the minimum and maximum values for sizes 6, 18 & 20, because the extreme patterns that I found didn't come in those sizes, and so I felt that those values weren't accurate.

To help make these columns more concrete, here are some images representing the patterns requesting the minimum, maximum and average amounts of fabric:
The pattern in my table requiring the minimum amount of fabric is this Butterick pattern, view E- the (blue) version in the lower right-hand corner. (Personally, I wouldn't exactly call it a jacket, but hey, what did you expect for half a yard?)

The pattern requiring the maximum amount of fabric is this New Look pattern, the long sleeved, full length jacket.

And here are a few more examples of patterns that called for the average amount of fabric:

Both views A & B of this Neue Mode pattern call for the average amount of fabric listed in the table:

Similarly, all four versions of this Simplicity jacket can be made with the average amount of fabric listed in the table:

I was a bit surprised to find that this Simplicity loose jacket could also be made with the average amount of fabric:

All three views of this fitted Neue Mode jacket pattern are also "average":

Finally, this retro pattern (the long sleeved version) can be made with the average amount of fabric:

Of course, even with a table like this, you still need to have a rough idea of the type of jacket you might make, and you still need to estimate the amount of fabric to buy. I like the table because I feel like using it helps me start my estimating from a solid foundation.

Remember that an "average" is a number that approximates the middle value - that means that there are a lot of patterns just above it, as well as a lot of patterns just under it. So if you think you are going to make an average jacket, you should buy a little bit more than the average number listed in the table above.

How much should you add? It doesn't have to be a lot for jackets.

• If you add 1/4 yard (.25 meters) to the average value for your size, you'll have enough fabric to make (on average) 74% of the patterns that went into this table.
• If you add 3/8 yard (.35 meters) to the average value for your size, you'll have enough fabric to make (on average) 81% of the patterns that went into this table.
• If you add 1/2 yard (.45 meters) to the average value for your size, you'll have enough fabric to make (on average) 87% of the patterns that went into this table.

Do you think these tables are useful? I have updated all of my tables with even more patterns and had them printed onto small, plastic cards - perfect for slipping into your purse and accompanying you on all of your fabric shopping trips! You can order a set of 5 sturdy cards (covering dresses, tops, jackets, pants and skirts) here for just $14.95 - both US and metric versions are available - or get the eBook version on your smart phone or tablet for just $7.00!  

You can learn more about them here:  

Weekend Project: Care Package on its Way

Those who are absent, by its means become present: mail is the consolation of life.

-Voltaire

I finished the Hawaiian shirts for my friend, and dropped them off at the post office today. You may remember that my friend has cancer, and I made him these shirts because I have heard that they are good tops to wear during chemotherapy - casual, comfortable and cheerful, with easy access to the chemo port.

I selected the patriotic fabric, because he recently (within the last year or so) became an American citizen.

I selected the airplane fabric, because he loves planes and is a licensed pilot of small planes.

Here is the pattern I used - it is one of my tried-n-true (TNT) favorites.

This is an excellent pattern for a beginner! It provides a very simple introduction to shirts. There are only 5 pattern pieces - front, back, collar, sleeve and pocket. It does not have a yoke and it only has a one piece collar (no separate collar stand). The sleeves are symmetrical, so there's no danger of putting them in backwards.

I really should move up to a slightly more sophisticated pattern for men's shirts, but I keep coming back to this one! ;)

I am almost done with my next installment of the "How Much Fabric?" Series - it will be on jackets. (Dresses and tops are waiting in the wings.) Thank you to everyone for your encouragment with this effort! I am hoping to get my final tables printed onto small cards, with the minimum, maximum and average patterns illustrated on the back - if I can make it work, I'll make those available.

I hope you had a good sewing weekend! :)

Friday Confession

I'm so obsessed with my fabric tables, that I don't have a confession ready for today. I'm sorry! :(

How about you? Are there any topics that you'd like to see me cover in future confessions?

Happy Weekend Sewing to everyone! :)

Talk Back Thursday

Thank you so much to Kathy, Claudine, Cindy, Sue, Donna, Summerset, Myrosia, Elaina, Karima, Becky and Lois K for talking back to my confession last Friday! I asked what people do with their scraps of fabric, and received (as usual!) TONS of good advice!

Here is a list of the uses that others have found for their scraps:

-- Embellishments, accents and/or decorations (4)

-- Pillow stuffing (inc. pet beds) (3)

-- Small pouches (change purses, drawstring jewelry bags, etc.) (3)

-- Let kids play with them (3)

-- Quilt blocks (2)

-- Doll clothes (2)

-- Braided rug (1)

-- Children’s clothes (1)

-- Small pieces of knits can be used for lingerie (1)

Elaina offers her scraps up to quilters on www.freecycle.org – a website designed to support local recycling efforts!

She also sends the printed selvedge strips to “a blogger” – I’m guessing that it’s Jodie from RicRac. Have you seen her dress made entirely of selvedge strips?

Finally, three people mentioned a size limit on scraps. One saves anything bigger than her hand, while the other two typically don’t save pieces smaller than 0.5 of a yard (unless it is high quality and expensive fabric such as silk).

These are some excellent ideas! Thank you so much – you guys give great advice! :)

ETA: I was wrong about Elaina's blogger - she sends her selvedge strips to Carla at Feathered Fibers

The "How Much Fabric?" Series: Pants

A beautiful color catches your eye... You reach out and touch - the texture is to die for! You MUST have that fabric! But, how much should you buy?

Obviously, the ideal situation is if you have the perfect pattern in your hand - it will tell you exactly how much you need.

But sometimes life isn't perfect and gorgeous fabric comes into our lives before we have a pattern picked out. ;)

So, I collected pants patterns and entered the fabric amounts into a spreadsheet, broken down by fabric width and pants size, and calculated the following table of minimun, maximum and average fabric requirements. Approximately 70 patterns went into the values for 45 inch width fabric, and about 95 patterns went into the 60 inch width numbers. I included patterns from Simplicity, McCalls, Butterick, Vogue, Burda, some BWOF magazines (3 issues from 2009), Brown Paper Bag Patterns & Hot Patterns. (If it was labeled "Shorts" I did NOT include it.)
And here is my table:

I whited out the minimum and maximum values for sizes 6, 18 & 20, because the extreme patterns that I found didn't come in those sizes, and so I felt that those values weren't accurate.

To help make these columns more concrete, here are some images representing the patterns requesting the minimum, maximum and average amounts of fabric:

The pattern in my table requiring the minimum amount of fabric is this Butterick pattern, view A - the knee-length pants.

The pattern requiring the maximum amount of fabric is this Simplicity pattern, also view A, the wide legged, full length pants with cuffs:

Here is the line drawing of those pants - note that views C, D & E require about the average amount of fabric:

And here are a few more examples of patterns that called for the average amount of fabric:

A Harem pant from Burda:

A classic dress trouser from Hot Patterns:

A soft work-out pant from Simplicity:

Of course, even with a table like this, you still need to have a rough idea of the type of pants you might make, and you still need to estimate the amount of fabric to buy. I like the table because I feel like using it helps me start my estimating from a solid foundation.

Remember that an "average" is a number that approximates the middle value - that means that there are a lot of patterns just above it, as well as a lot of patterns just under it. So if you think you are going to make average pants, you should buy a little bit more than the average number listed in the table above.

Do you think these tables are useful? I have updated all of my tables with even more patterns and had them printed onto small, plastic cards - perfect for slipping into your purse and accompanying you on all of your fabric shopping trips! You can order a set of 5 sturdy cards (covering dresses, tops, jackets, pants and skirts) here for just $14.95 - both US and metric versions are available - or get the eBook version on your smart phone or tablet for just $7.00!  

You can learn more about them here:

Tuesday for Tiffany

I finished my niece's top. (And now I'll channel her: "Finally!")

Leopard trim and all...

And here it is, in all it's full glory:

My dressform and I weren't the only ones out on the porch enjoying the sunshine today...

It's Milly, Sammy's (admittedly less adorably photogenic, but quite regal) sister.

I've finished my fabric table for pants patterns, and started tables for jackets, dresses and tops. I'll try to get the pants table up tomorrow - please stop by and let me know what you think! :)

The "How Much Fabric?" Series: Skirts

No person will deny that the highest degree of attainable accuracy is an object to be desired, and it is generally found that the last advances towards precision require a greater devotion of time, labour, and expense, than those which precede them.

-- Charles Babbage

It is really just as bad technique to make a measurement more accurately than is necessary as it is to make it not accurately enough.

-- Arthur David Ritchie

Let me tell you what I've been up to, and then you can decide for yourself if my endeavor is covered best by Charles Babbage or Arthur David Ritchie... ;)

I was intrigued by the various heuristics that people use to estimate the amount of fabric they need to make various pieces of clothes. I was wondering what numbers I should use, when it occurred to me that I own a ton of patterns and I could use those to get a pretty good estimate of exactly how much fabric patterns really do require.

So, I set up a spreadsheet and started with my skirt patterns. I entered all of the fabric yardage requirements, broken down by fabric width and pattern size, for approximately 120 different views (most patterns have more than 1 view). Most of the patterns I used were from the big American pattern companies, but I also put in the skirt patterns from the 3 (2009) BWOF magazines that I own.

For each width & size, I found the smallest and largest yardage requirements, and calculated the average. Then I set up 2 tables - one with this information using the American measurement system and the other using the metric system.

And so, without further adieu - here they are:

I left off the min and max values for the smallest and largest sizes because the extreme patterns didn't come in those sizes. The averages are very stable and hadn't changed for the last 1/3rd of the data entry.

To help bring some meaning to these numbers, I thought I'd show you some patterns that represent the minimum, maximum and average yardage requirements on my chart:

First, the minimum. You may have guessed that it is some type of mini-skirt, and if so, you are correct! The skirt in view A2 of this pattern requires less fabric than any other skirt pattern that I found:

Next the maximum. Certainly it is a long skirt, but, more importantly, it is the long circle skirt shown here in view A.

In fact, the following long skirt, formed by cutting a rectangle and adding elastic around the waist, uses less than 3 yards of fabric (width 60 inches) - which is more than the average skirt, but quite a bit less than the circle skirt.

Finally, some "average" skirts. In all of the below comparisons, I will be referring to yardage requirements of 45 inch width fabric for a size 10, unless otherwise noted.

Interestingly enough, I did not find many patterns that required exactly the average of 2 yards. The knee-length skirt in View C of this pattern is close, requiring 1 7/8 yard of fabric:

(View A requires more because the sash is in the same fabric and View B requires less because of the contrasting band along the bottom).

Similarly, the knee-length skirt in View C of this pattern requires 2 1/8 yards, just over the average amount of fabric.

Switching companies, View C from this skirt pattern, with the pleats, is just shy of the average, requiring 1 7/8 yards of fabric, while View E (longer, but no pleats) is just a touch over the average, requiring 2 1/8 yards.

Finally, the skirt in View C below requires 2 1/8 yards of fabric (just over the average). The skirts in Views D & E are quite close to the minimum, requiring only 7/8 yard.



So, that's it. I'm thinking to make other tables the same way, and have them printed onto small cards. I also thought I'd include line drawings of one pattern representing the min, one representing the max and two representing the average (on the back of each card?). My idea is to put together something small and easy to carry in my purse, so that I'll be able to make more accurate estimates of how much fabric to buy the next time I fall in love with some new material.

Do you think these tables are useful? I have updated all of my tables with even more patterns and had them printed onto small, plastic cards - perfect for slipping into your purse and accompanying you on all of your fabric shopping trips! You can order a set of 5 sturdy cards (covering dresses, tops, jackets, pants and skirts) here for just $14.95 - both US and metric versions are available - or get the eBook version for your smart phone or tablet for just $7.00!

Learn more about the cards here: