Talk Back Thursday

Thank you so much to Gwen, Wendy, Kristine, Amelia, Mamafitz, Lois, Cindy, Faye, Carla, Alison, Uta, Summerset, Goodworks1 and Elaina for talking back to my confession last week! I asked about people’s experiences with tissue fitting.

So, I think it's fair to say that tissue fitting is not THE most popular fitting method out there. ;) A couple of folks reported never having tried it, half a dozen said that they aren't fans and rarely (if ever) do it, and three people reported feeling that it was a useful skill in their repertoire, to accomplish certain objectives and in combination with other fitting methods.

The most commonly called out alternative fitting methods were, not surprisingly, flat pattern alterations (often in conjunction with a sloper or TNT pattern) and making a muslin.

People brought up 4 main concerns with tissue fitting - the primary one being that the tissue paper can easily rip and/or disintegrate (5 commenters). Also mentioned were the facts that tissue paper doesn't drape or move like fabric (2), it's difficult to tissue fit yourself (2) and you can't easily do patterns that call for knits or lycra (1).

On the "pro" side, several people like tissue fitting (or at least holding up tissue pattern pieces to a body) to get a quick feel for overall sizing. Cindy, for example, uses it to convince her students that they really do need to use the size that she is recommending! Goodworks1 uses it to estimate the bust point adjustment she's going to need to make to a pattern, and Lois uses it for patterns that don't easily compare (in flat form) to a sloper, such as a pattern with pleats.

Elaina is the strongest proponent of tissue fitting. She offered some work-arounds for the cons, like fitting to your dress form instead of to your own body. The idea of hers that I found most intriguing was that she doesn't pin the tissue pieces together - rather she pins each separately to a close fitting garment that she can slip on and off. She also recommended the book Modern Pattern Design by H. Pepin as a good source of fitting methods. (By the way, I found an online version of that book - here.)

Thanks again to everyone who commented! I learn so much from you all! :)