Hello! I followed the directions as I undeerstand them--folded the dart, matching up legs (and the center seam too), and then on the sewing line, but I do not understand what is meant by 'cut away excess paper, starting at the underarmn and going toward the hem.' Here's what I am seeing: the upper part of the pattern, above the dart, goes off at a small angle from the lower part of the pattern below the dart, with the dart folded and bull-dog clipped. I can't figure out what is meant by 'excess paper.'

This refers to trueing the dart and side seam on the PATTERN before cutting the pattern off the large sheet of paper.

You can cut away neck, armhole, cf first to reduce some of the paper but dont cut away on the cut line of the paper at side seam unt8il the dart is trued.

Kaaren

So you fold the dart all the way to the paper edge? The armhole in any case is still angled away from the pattern--what are you saying is 'excess paper'? (I already cut it out but can easily reprint it.)

Every dart has 2 dart legs upper and lower, they should be equi-distance from the center line. The dart cap- that pointy thing at the outside edge is what you are mostly "trueing.
When the paper has not been cut away from the side seam what is there is "excess" paper.
Kaaren

Oh! That little triangle of paper! Okay!Got it! Thanks!

oops--one more: But do I really have to reprint it? Can't I just trim it even with the cut line, which I already cut?

You can use it the way its printed.The point to trueing is for fit fanatics who are obsessive-like me. This instruction goes for commercial patterns as well.

Remember this software customizes to your body- with all that effort- you might as well get extraordinary construction results as well as fit results.

My hints/tips take something good and push it over the mark to extra special- though it is NOT intended to be a sewing construction course- hopefully it will add to your skills.

But I don't want to use it the way it's printed, I want it to be really nice. : )

I did just recently take a class, and we used a French curve to draw new lines according to variations in our measurements, like smaller upper bust, for example. (The teacher was a 'fit fanatic' too!) But DS shop patterns are different in some ways, it seems, from purchased paper patterns. For example, there don't seem to be all the collar markings I learned to use in putting on a convertible collar on the paper pattern. So with the sailor collar/dress I made for my granddaughter (using a DS woman's pattern scaled down to child's size two, which is why I love DS!) I just winged it. Lined up the ends and shoulder seams, pinned, clipped the neckline wherever while I was pinning instead of inside the boundaries that were so clearly marked in the paper pattern, and went for it. It did not lie so smoothly as in my own blouse made with the markings on the paper pattern, and it wasn't noticeably out of whack, either--but, one, it was a knit, so it curled and fought me the whole way, and two, it was so very tiny! I couldn't put it under the needle correctly, if you know what I mean, couldn't fit it around the arm of my machine. But yet and still, now I'm making another blouse for me, using DS again, and I want to go through your pattern-adjusting instructions and do them; no, I am not OCD--but the paper pattern I altered under instruction fits me well and looks super nice, so I want to be able to do it for DS patterns, too.

Of course some of the paper-pattern adjustments I learned would work for DS too, but why go through that when you can just change the measurements in the first place?

Anyway, and here's the point, I'm going to still try to do the hints/tips included with the program and ask you questions when I'm not clear, if that's OK. It sure would be helpful if there were illustrations, or links to illustrations. It's so hard to capture everything in words. I appreciate all your help.

So, back to the original question, if in the end the "excess paper trimming' is just the little triangle of paper pushed out beyond the cut line by the dart folding, then I wonder why the directions say, "cut away excess paper, starting at the underarm and going toward the hem. Step several inches above the hem." Are you sure you mean to tell me that one only cuts away less than a quarter inch of excess paper sticking out from the dart?

Thank you, not OCD yet but striving for it,
Janet

It looks to be a very small adjustment. The end result is pretty dramatic at least to my eye and those that routinely do this.

There are many possible user defined options and tools- I review each and every one when designing and make adjustments I have learned thru experience works for ME.

Thats the trick- figuring out what you need for you- I suggest keeping a notebook.

Make paper dolls of 1/4 scales tape them together and see how they work together.

Make a croquis to use in helping you design.

You can easily get a better than RTW from click, print construct. Right now there are often many pages of instructions available from each link in the sewing instruction articles versus to 2-4 given in commercial patterns.

you can easily draw on marks and notches you feel you want- I do all the time.

walk the collar pattern to the neckline pattern and adjust the collar as needed for marks, notches even length to what fits your design - especially if you defined neck opening width or depth.

I do classes on Sundays via WizIQ see the class notes in the BBS.

facebook_croquis.pdf (45 Kb, 20 downloads) Make a croquis

I see what I have to re-draw now, in the clear morning light. It is tiny, but it's the part of the angle where the top part heads 'west' because of the dart. It's the part closest to the dart, and there's a gap. I don't have to re-print the pattern piece, I just have to tape a small piece of paper underneath and then re-draw it either by eyeball or the curve. Because it's so tiny. But I can see now, if the dart were larger (related to bust size I suppose!), this gap could be substantial and require 'smoothing' from the armpit almost to the hem.

Will try to find that facebook link (don't use facebook), don't know what BBS is, in the reference above the facebook link. Thanks so much. Can't wait to find out what a croquis is!

These posts are ON the BBS
above the post find: A new post from livingsoftnw.groupee.net > Discussion List > Dress Shop Topics!

click on Discussion list and sroll down to find the classes section.

Kaaren