I recently ordered Sarah Veblen’s new book, The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting, and I have to say that at first blush it looks appropriately named. Some concepts are not new. Making muslins, or test fitting garments, is hardly revolutionary. Though I was a little surprised that Sarah makes from 4 to 10 test garments to get the fit just right. Ten! It seems she is indeed striving for perfection. She shows photographs of fitting issues on real bodies, not stick thin models, so that is also helpful to illustrate specific points. Again, other fitting books have done this as well. The part that was new to me was her method of showing fitting problems related to length issues. Sarah visually shows the impact of too much or too little length by having sewists draw a horizontal balance line, aka HBL, on all fitting garments. For example, on pants this line should be drawn across the hip area. If the HBL dips down toward the floor, the crotch is too short and the solution is to add more length. Doh! Just by having this visual marker you can instantly see a fitting problem, AND you can also see when you have corrected it sufficiently. Nicely done, Sarah! I am going to try this method to adjust my jeans pattern since I am not at all happy with my current fit. I promise to post again after actually using her techniques and provide details. Maybe once I get my own jeans fit corrected I can stop looking at everyone’s butt to see how well THEIR pants fit! 🙂
Happy sewing!
Maris Olsen
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