Thursday, June 3, 2010

Talk Back Thursday

Thank you so much to Elaina, Sarah, Mamafitz, Julia, Faye, Mary, Gwen, Gaylen, Claire, Cindy, Sarah, Becky and Uta for talking back to my confession last week! I asked if people have "tried and true" (TNT) patterns that they re-make over and over again.

So, do people have TNT patterns? We got the typical spread in responses - there were 7 definite “yeses”, 4 “kind-ofs”, and 2 “nos”. The main reasons for NOT using a single pattern over and over again were (a) the person I sew for (me or someone else) changes size too much and (b) I get bored easily.

The TNT patterns that were called out (many approximated as best as possible in the illustration above) included:
* women’s dresses (2)
* t-shirts (2)
* skirts (2)
* women’s lingerie (2)
* blouse (1)
* men’s underwear (1)
* children’s dresses (1)
* blue jeans pattern copied from RTW (1)

How often do you have to make a pattern before it becomes a TNT? Some call it a TNT after making it as few as 3 times, while others have made their TNT patterns as many as 20 times, and the average across all commenters (who gave numbers) is 10 times.

I didn’t specifically ask what makes a pattern a TNT, but nonetheless some themes emerged. Of course, some TNTs are for basic wardrobe staples (like underwear) – things that you can always use.

Beyond that, it sounds like TNT patterns are patterns with a particularly flattering fit, and that are easy to modify for different looks. For example, Cindy loved the fit of a pair of RTW jeans, so she copied the pattern and now makes them in a variety of styles - high-rise, low-rise, boot-leg, bell-bottom, etc. Each pair has the same excellent fit!

And Gwen’s TNT is a t-shirt pattern that she has used to make a t-shirt, a dress, a nightgown and a cardigan – changing the neckline, the sleeves, etc.

In other words, some people use their TNT pattern a little bit like a sloper. In fact, Sarah said that, instead of a TNT pattern, what she’d really like to have is a princess seam sloper.

Thanks, again, everyone! I loved reading about your TNT patterns and looking them up on the internet! :)

2 comments:

Julia said...

As usual, I love reading your commenters answers to your great questions. Thanks

Anonymous said...

I missed this question last week (alas!) but I must say I don't have any TNT patterns. I DO however, have TNT drafting math. I do historical costuming, lately focusing on early medieval period. Everything is squares, rectangles and triangles. I just plug my victim's measurements into a spreadsheet and it will spit out what size pattern pieces I need to make. Perfect fit, every time.

-Christine