The planning stage is always the best part... it's the preparation that becomes the obstacle to overcome. I begin the drafting and revisions, and it's about halfway through that point that I lose my steam. I've been lucky (in the sense that I didn't have to think about it) that since August I've been preoccupied with other obligations... but with my Christmas and New Years break, I have found I have no more obligations left but to my own self. Those unfinished garment patterns waving at me from the shelf.
With a day left to my break, I have finally sat down and started on the one closest to being finished, armed with new equipment to make revisions with much more ease.
One of those items is a new dress form that I could actually pin on and adjust.
I don't even remember if I wrote about this... but back in August, my boss and I made an agreement that if I was to sew costumes for her daughter, her daughter's husband, and her son's companion for their Halloween in Disney trip, that I would get a dress form and a large table top omnigrid mat in return. Sufficed to say, I spent many hours under the light of my sewing machine and got it all done just in time.
But I greatly digress...
I haven't looked twice at the dress form since receiving it, because in the following months I've been knee deep in other such projects for work and loved ones. Since the rekindling of my garment creations, I have been able to acquaint myself properly with this new piece of equipment, and I have found one crippling flaw.
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| Dritz's dress form to the left, my DIY dress form to the right |
Perfect Fit Dress Form by Dritz
I consider my body to be well enough into the average spectrum that dress form selection is quite abundant; my dress form back in Canada was a size or two larger, but proportionally correct... and I bought it from the thrift store. I should have known there would be a major flaw, since Dritz has offered nothing but disappointment lately... but the promise of added features blindsided me. As you can see, the bust apex's are extremely different and cannot be adjusted. To give perspective, I included the line that represents the highest point of the hip where they both seem to match up well enough. I scratched my head at how low the bust is... in my experience, I have never worked with anyone who had these similar proportions to have such a low standing bust. That's not to say it doesn't exist, but it's definitely not average for youth. This shape reminds me of a mature figure-- I feel like that should've been mentioned somewhere, as it's a make or break kind of detail in tailoring for the obvious reasons.
It would seem Frankiestein cannot be retired just yet, even though she's had just about enough...
Simplicity Sidewinder
With my "new" machine, I just couldn't get the hang of winding a good and proper bobbin on it, so I flipped flopped from machines just to wind bobbins... it was tedious and I had enough after the 30'th bobbin winding floundering.
I bought the Simplicity Sidewinder.
I never gave this thing enough thought until my machine family grew by one, and then I've come to heavily rely on this little piece of gadgetry. I had a weird hiccup where it just seemed to sputter and completely stop working... but after some tinkering it's back to working order. I still don't know what the heck happened, it's almost like it wasn't taking the juice from the A/C plug. With batteries it worked fine albeit it a little slower, but I don't like the idea of constantly buying batteries. I took out one of the two batteries and tried the adapter again, and that's when it worked once more at full speed. It hasn't done that since, but then again, I haven't removed the sole battery.
It wasn't meant to take from large cones of thread, but a little ingenuity goes a long way-- it doesn't have to be a hindrance. A little wood, a little glue, and some hardware and I remedied this minor dilemma.
It also doesn't have a cutter of it's own, and I'm a chronic misplacer of scissors...
Then I remembered that I bought an adhesive cutter for my singer, since it was also lacking one.
Pretty cool, eh? And yet another problem is solved.
I haven't stuck it on yet, as I am still trying to find a comfortable position for it. Between the extra bobbin holders seems logical, so it won't get knocked off when I pack it up.
With the time spent winding one bobbin perfectly on a sewing machine, I can wind 2 even 3 perfectly in that time.
And now I have perfect bobbins every time, at the drop of a pin.
