We are about to start summer school holidays here. For us, Christmas is not only the end of the year, but also the end of the school year. This means that public schools get at least six weeks holiday over the summer, and private schools often get a little more. Our girls go to public schools, so they’re about to start six lovely long weeks of holidays.
As you’ll know, The Reader (12 years old) has been doing the pattern making class with me. We’ve both learned a lot, but for The Reader it has been a little harder as she doesn’t yet have a good understanding of garment construction.
These holidays we’re going to work on that a bit. I’ve set her some homework. Ideally, I think she should have a good understanding of the construction of pants (trousers), a skirt, a lined dress, and a button up blouse. She has already made a pair of elastic waisted shorts at school, though her teacher is a food tech teacher, not a sewer, so didn’t teach them very well, but it’s a start! She also made a six gore skirt with yoke, earlier in the year, from a pattern she drafted, so that has been accomplished.
Now we need to move on to some more difficult things. Yesterday, The Reader was dismissed early after school Presentation Day (when all the academic, citizenship, and sports award are handed out – she was very well rewarded for all her hard work this year) so we took the opportunity and went shopping to The Remnant Warehouse in Alexandria, as they had a sale on fabric.
For the holiday homework, although she can draft her own patterns, I want her to use bought patterns as they have step by step instructions to follow for the garment construction. I think seeing and reading the instructions for herself (with me to help her understand them) is a more concrete way for her to learn, rather than me just telling her what to do next.
If I tell her what to do next, she’s more likely to blindly do what she’s told, whereas following written instructions will hopefully help her to actually understand the process.
In choosing suitable garments, I had certain criteria for her. The dress had to be sleeveless and either partially or fully lined, with a full bodice, rather than a bodice with separate straps that went over the shoulder. From this she will learn about lining bodices, understitching at the arm and neck holes, the order in which sew to seams, inserting a zip, etc.
I also wanted her to make a button up blouse, preferably with a collar, and definitely with sleeves (while long sleeves would be good to learn, it’s summer here, so short sleeves means she’ll be able to wear it sooner).
She chose two very nice patterns, both by Vogue: 8667 (dress A) and 8747 (blouse A). I’ve read through the instructions and she’ll learn heaps from these! Both have princess line seams, which will test her easing skills! The dress skirt has a couple of pleats, and the blouse has some gathers at the bust. She’s never done buttonholes, so that will be something very new and challenging!
Because she is very petite in both size and height, I’ll have to draft them down to her size (size 2, if you extrapolate Vogue’s sizing downwards). But we had to choose women’s patterns rather than children’s ones as she has more “shape” than a child, even though she is still physically that size. A little job for me before she starts making!
She’s chosen a pretty red polycotton for the dress, and a lovely lavender blue poplin for the blouse. She desperately wants to wear the dress on Christmas day, so we’ve got a bit of work ahead of us, especially because I’ll want her to make a toile of the bodice, seeing I have to alter the pattern so much!
The red fabric has been washed and dried, ready to start, so today being Saturday, we’re all systems go. (And I’d better get going on drafting down the pattern!) I don’t think she’s going to be pleased when I tell her we’re starting with a toile, and I can understand that, as I’d be wanting to get going in the real thing too!
I’m looking forward to seeing all that she learns from this process, and she’s really excited about it too. Her current desire is to be a fashion designer when she finishes school, so why not start learning for that now? And even if she never ends up pursuing that as a career, dressmaking skills are extremely worthwhile to have!
What great groundwork you are helping her lay Yvette and how exciting that you can enjoy this activity together! It’s fantastic!