ETA California

     As I was sitting down to post this, it started to lightning here.  I went outside to look at the rain and saw quarter sized HAIL falling!  In southern California?!  I think we are having soup for dinner! 
     I just got back from Irvine and the Education of the Textile Arts in California show (it is also held in Dallas each year).  If you are going to be sewing for yoourself, this is a wonderful resource for sewing and fitting patterns for women.  Several of the teachers have pattern lines (Peggy Sager, Cynthia Guffey, etc.) and they are bery knowledgable about fit.  I also had a chance to teach smocking and hopefully we have some converts!
    As soon as I get them downloaded, I will post some of the pattern samples.

In themeantime, I will post a pleateing lesson this weekend.  From now until Christmas, I will be going over some basic smocking stitches and then in January, I will give lessons on a smocked basic yoke dress.
Have fun and keep stitching!
Vaune

Creating a Pattern

I am working on a few new patterns to add to my Classic Couture for Children line.  Next up is my basic yoke pattern, a basic a-line apron and a tucked apron.  I am fortunate to live about an hour from the Los Angeles garment district, which is convenient for patterns!  The last time I was at StyleCad, I took a few pictures.  The first picture shows my 3T dress form.  This form is wht my basic sloper is fitted to.  Once a I had my slope, all of my patterns will be based on this and then graded up and down from size 2 - 6.  I also have a 12M dress form and my baby patterns will be graded from this.  The baby sizes are graded a bit differently than the children's sizes, so itt is more accurate to grade this way.

Once I have a paper pattern, I place it on the scanner and scan it into the computer.  Each piece is scanned separately.  Once this has been done, I can pull up each piece on the computer and work with it, truing up the lines, adding seams, making notations, etc.

The pattern pieces are checked to make sure all of the seams match, the notches and markings are in the correct place, etc.  After that, the grading rules are put into place and the computer grades the pattern.  I am slowly but surely learning the software and Marina is a whiz and a huge help!  After the grading is finished, it is like a puzzle to find the best way to lay out the pattern on the paper.  The more paper the pattern takes up, the more expensive it is to have it printed and to ship.  Nesting (all the sizes of the same piece on top of each other) is the most economical, but not always the most user friendly!  Some times the pattern pieces have to be printed individually or maybe only odd sizes nested and then even sizes nest.
   Once I think it looks good, I print a copy and look for errors.  I have someone else check it also - 4 eyes are better than 2!  When it is ready, I add the cover and the directions and it is ready to go!
And that is a day in LA!

Stitching with Vaune will open soon!

I have just created my blog!  One of hte things I will be doing is teaching a technique, step by step.  If there is something particular you are interested in, please let me know!
Vaune