the Beatrice Blog

Exploring zero waste fashion with the Daydream Top

August 9, 2022 By Alison Leave a Comment

I am a goofball. Thanks for bearing with me! But seriously, the fun fit of this billowy garment makes me giddy 🙌

Because I make custom dress forms, I’m usually in the mindset of making more structured and silhouette-following garments. But lately, I’ve been curious about abandoning that approach altogether in the name of zero waste fashion.

What’s great about zero waste garment making is obviously less garbage making. But what I’ve also discovered is that zero waste patterns can be a satisfying quick make that pushes the envelope in terms of your personal fit preferences and style.

This was certainly the case for me when I made Cris Wood’s Daydream Top. I had this dark lavender slubby hemp fabric that I’d been stashing for some coveralls, but really needed a quick sewing fix asap. How about matching separates in the same fabric instead? For the top, I found this awesome pattern that I could make out of rectangles! Let’s do it!!

What you do is take a few measurements, pop them into the pattern‘s handy worksheet, and voilà – custom rectangle pieces. I don’t think the cutting process went any faster than when you print out a pdf pattern (you have to double check your measurements constantly, make sure it’s square, etc.) but it sure does save on paper and ink.

Here is what I ended up in terms of waste. I would say this is very close to zero since I used several of the small scraps for my construction experiments.

Cris Wood does a great job with her instructions. You will motor through this simple style. I made one adjustment during construction – shortening the bodice for my short-waisted torso. I added more top-stitching than in the pattern because I think it looks more finished that way (and less “homemade” if you know what I mean). Oh man, buckle up for MILES of gathering. Wow.

Word of warning: don’t try to get fancy like me and skip the double finishing on each bodice piece at the side seams and top of the sleeve. Follow her instructions instead to get a clean right angle junction at the sleeve. I wish pattern makers would explain some of their construction choices so I don’t have to do experiments to understand why they didn’t do it the standard way. Luckily, I have been burned enough times to do those experiments on scraps so no significant time or fabric was wasted.

This was the first time I ever sewed hemp and it’s a bit like linen with a stiff hand. This particular weight of fabric is heavy enough for pants so it’s even more stiff. I do really appreciate how it holds the volume for this style.

That’s it. Stay tuned for some matching pants!

Have you tried any zero waste patterns? How did it go?

Top 5 tips for fitting and making JUMPSUITS!

April 2, 2022 By Alison

Remember the shawl collar coveralls I’ve been working on? They’re done!

The final product

I’m super happy with how they turned out. I decided to sew them up in an inexpensive denim as a wearable muslin to test. Later, I plan on making more of these with various collar shapes in bright, fun colors!

To jazz these up a bit, I added some fun details with sort of a punk/rockabilly style. I don’t have any tattoos but I wanted to take some of that inspiration here using patches. I also lined the pockets and waistband with black and white checks (a la Vans slip-ons – you know the ones).

After several past failures fitting coveralls and overalls, I feel like I finally nailed the fit this time. It wasn’t easy but hey – at least you can benefit from my struggles!! 😂

Here are my top 5 tips:

Tip #1: Include enough vertical ease to sit & bend over

I know this sounds obvious but it’s really easy to either come up short or end up with unintended drop-crotch (oh, the horror! 😅)

The big question is: how much? Well for me it ended up being 2 inches of vertical ease each for front and back. To give you an idea of what that means – when I measure from my high point shoulder (HPS) down through my crotch and back up to HPS, it’s 60.5″. So we’re talking a total of 4″ of vertical ease for 60.5″. On my coveralls, HPS to HPS is 64.5″ including the vertical ease. You can use the maths to figure out how to translate for your body! And then test it to make sure you like it (see tip #4).

Now, where to put that vertical ease? I initially thought it should be evenly distributed between the top and the bottom, including adding 1/2″ to the crotch width to add room in the seat. That turned out mostly to be true, but I ended up with a little more in the top section for a blousing effect which leads me to my next tip…

Tip #2: High armscye and ease to reach comfortably

After many experiments, I found that keeping the armscye high and maintaining more of the vertical ease between the bottom of the armscye and waistband really helped with arm mobility.

In the photo above, you can see the benefits of a high armscye with a lot of length in the side seam. On the left, I kept the original armscye depth of my draped block and on the right, I’ve raised it about 1/2″, increasing the side seam length. When I raise the arms, you can really see a difference!

When you distribute the vertical ease so there’s a little blousing above the waistband, it will be easier to raise your arms. That’s because as you raise your arms, you’re only lifting the garment up through the waist and not having to lift the whole pant up too. (You may still be lifting up the pants if you don’t anchor at the waist so keep that in mind when you fit the waistband.)

Here’s a video showing how well these adjustments are working in my coveralls on me.

Lastly, I found that I like to add about a quarter of an inch to the cross back at the armscye. You can also use pleats along the back like you see in a lot of coveralls to give even more room.

Classic back pleats for mobility in Closet Core’s Bianca Flight Suit pattern

Tip #3: Extra length for shrinkage

No matter how many times I pre-wash my fabric (mostly cotton and linen), I find my pants/coveralls/overalls still shrink a bit over time. My theory is that there is a lot of vertical length, especially in jumpsuits, so even if it only shrinks a tiny bit per inch, there’s a lot of inches there. And that adds up.

To mitigate the issue, I hem my jumpsuits an inch or two long and wear them cuffed for a while. After several washes, I re-hem if needed. For overalls with adjustable straps, add a few inches to your straps.

Tip #4: Determine waistband location during fitting

Whether you’re sewing from a commercial pattern or draping a pattern from scratch like I did, it’s really hard to know lengths and waistband placement before trying it on.

The method that works best for me is to do some testing without the waistband first. When I do this test, I make sure there’s enough ease so that the garment does not anchor at the waist (you can take this up later at the side seam, waist elastic, and/or waist darts after your fitting experiment if you want a closer fit.)

Depending on the waistband height and my fitting confidence level, I add an extra inch or two of length to both the top and bottom sections at the waist, pin them together, and try it on. I put on a loop of waistband elastic over the top (and pin) to hold the position of the waistband. Then I try sitting, reaching, squatting, etc. for a while and adjust. I check the crotch to make sure it doesn’t look baggy or MC Hammer-like.

Once I’m happy, I mark the final lengths and the waistband location, and anywhere I want to take up any ease in the waist girth. On the sewing table, I measure to verify it has the minimum vertical ease I mentioned in Tip #1. Ta-da! Perfect fit.

#5: Fly opening low enough to get on/off easily

I’ve screwed this up before and it’s not fun. Talk about some serious gymnastics to get in and out when you have to use the bathroom.

The trick here is to go as low as you can without bashing into the curved part of the crotch. Mark this on your muslin and test it before committing.

If you can sense a theme here, it’s having enough length. Nobody wants to be cut off in the crotch, be sporting high-water hems, or not be able to raise their arms. Custom made gives you a unique opportunity to have a jumpsuit that fits properly which most people can’t achieve with RTW.

Considering how little there is out there on the internet to help fit these types of garments, I hope this little cheat sheet helps you realize your jumpsuit dreams!! You can do it!

Are there a set of coveralls or a cute jumpsuit in your future? Let us know in the comments!

Happy sewing!

Top 10 supplies for draping

November 27, 2021 By Alison

If you’re new to draping or are just curious, one of the first questions you might be asking yourself is “what supplies and tools do I need to get started?”

Well it just so happens I’ve thought A LOT about this question. After teaching draping to home sewists first in-person and now online through the pandemic, I feel like we’ve really honed our course materials list down to the absolute essentials. I’m sharing this list with you to help you gather your supplies for your first draping adventure!

Stuff you already have

I’m assuming if you’re reading this post, you probably already like to sew garments! Lucky for you, this means you already have many of the basics needed for draping. Let’s start here!

#1 Sewing machine & basic sewing supplies. You’ll be testing your draped patterns by sewing up test garments.

#2 Pins. I like to use both flat head pins and ball headed pins. The flat heads are good for pinning semi-permanent twill tape markings on the form (like center front, back, bust, waist, etc.) without sticking up and getting caught on things. The ball headed pins are easier to grip when pinning your muslin drapes. If working on half-scale, I like using shorter length pins (e.g. size 17). Nice to have: a wrist pin cushion to keep those pins handy while you work.

#3 Measuring tape. Any kind will do but the retractable ones can also be used as a plumb bob for aligning vertical reference lines with gravity.

#4 Scissors. You will be cutting fabric and paper so you’ll need both kinds of scissors.

#5 Pencils and pens. Select a soft leaded non-mechanical pencil to mark your muslin. Additionally, having a few different colored pens or pencils available to mark successive adjustments can help you keep track of changes.

#6 Tracing wheel & wax tracing paper. Used to transfer your designs from the muslin drape to paper.

Stuff you might need to add to your arsenal

Some of these tools you may already have or can borrow. Materials like muslin and twill tape are generally good things to have on hand for other sewing and craft projects.

#7 Pinnable dress form. You can drape on almost any dress form as long as its surface is “pinnable” – meaning you can easily insert pins to hold up fabric, especially along center front and back and along key places like the bust and waist. Duct/paper tape forms and adjustable Dritz “dial-a-form” dress forms are unsuitable for this reason.

Full-sized or half-scale forms are both great for draping. Full-sized has the advance of being multi-use (fitting, styling, altering, etc.) On the other hand, half-scale has the advantages of requiring just 1/4 of the materials and being easier and faster to drape on (scaling up your draped patterns to full-size is pretty easy with just a cheap scanner/copier…I’ll share how to do this in a future post.)

#8 High quality muslin. Muslin with a softer hand will be easier to drape. Although I don’t generally buy fabric from Joann, I do like their premium quality muslin. Really any high quality muslin you can source will be fine. Using an inexpensive, stable light/medium cotton from your stash can also work too, just be mindful that prints and dark colors make it hard to mark when truing and writing notes. And I would definitely buy extra if possible for do overs – you can always use extras for later projects.

#9 Rulers. You need all the same rulers you’d normally use for altering patterns: a gridded sewing ruler, a french curve, and an L-square. A hip curve can also be useful for full-scale drafting.

#10 1/8″ or 1/4″ twill tape. Used for form marking. Black is best but other colors will work too. For full-scale forms, you could even get away with 3/8″ if needed.

Completely optional

Draping tape. This narrow, adhesive-backed tape is useful for marking style lines on the fly. Just be careful not to gum up your pins by pinning through it.

Rotary cutter and cutting mat. Useful for sewing test garments. I also like the cutting mat for checking right angles when pattern truing.

It’s amazing how familiar many of these tools and supplies may already be for you. I think that home sewists tend to put draping on a pedestal, only for professionals, but from what I’ve seen, it’s the exact opposite.

Give yourself permission to play with fabric, use your eyes and hands as your guide, and you’ll be amazed what you’ll learn! Indulge a little, you won’t regret it 😉

(p.s. If you’re having trouble sourcing these supplies, check out our Draping Starter Kit!)

My, don’t you look fabulous in Hello!Lucky 🔥

October 29, 2021 By Alison

If you’ve been lucky enough to create a custom Beatrice with us, you know that we don’t send our forms to their new homes naked – each one comes fashionably styled wearing our signature Beatrice themed scarf!

The dream

For years, I’ve had this dream of partnering up with amazing visual artists who also make handmade fashion to create one-of-a-kind versions of the Beatrice scarf. Each one would showcase original artwork by the artist and ship with every Beatrice for a limited time. Well, we finally found the perfect partner for our first one!

We’re super excited to announce our very first creative collaboration with Eunice James, co-founder and creative director of Hello!Lucky. Hello!Lucky is a woman-owned and operated design studio based in San Francisco that makes fun, pun-loving stuff for the young and young-at-heart including greeting cards, best-selling children’s books, and home and gift products.

Let me tell you – this collaboration was made to be! Earlier this year, I was preparing for one of my normal pre-scan consultations when I read the address on the confirmation email – it was a hellolucky.com address. Hmmm, could that be the same company that made our amazing illustrated custom letterpress wedding invitations a decade ago in SF??

I went digging way back into my email and sure enough, it was the same company! That’s right – one of the co-founders, Eunice James, was getting a custom Beatrice. What a small world it truly is!

We’re super lucky to have already interviewed Eunice on Made By Hand our live interview show. But I thought it would be fun to chat with her again to get the scoop behind her scarf design and the latest on what bright and beautiful things she’s cooking up for Halloween and beyond. 🤩

Tell us more about your scarf design and how it came to be.

I’ve been really obsessed with modern takes on psychedelic art à la Peter Max. I took up roller skating during the pandemic and there is something about the aesthetic and general vibe of skating that has been really influential of late. So it was a bit of a riff on that whole concept, with a couple of fierce leopards as the jumping off point!

What inspired you to get your hands on a Beatrice Form and how’s that going?

I have scoliosis so I’m quite lopsided and found it challenging to fit on a standard form so I was so excited when I discovered Beatrice. I got back into sewing during the pandemic and have reached a point where I’d love to start attempting to create pieces of my own design rather than just hacking together various existing patterns. Additionally, I love costuming and am really looking forward to using my Beatrice to really take those projects to the next level!

What gets you excited about sewing and making in general?

I have a serious addiction – particularly when it comes to costumes. I pretty much lose my mind every Halloween and have recently been doing dance workshops with https://www.cantstopthedrop.com/ – can fabulous dance costumes be far behind? I think not!

But really, I can barely resist any creative endeavor. I love learning new tricks and techniques, so, needless to say, sewing provides almost endless possibilities in terms of learning new techniques.

I just love being able to take raw materials to create something gorgeous, and better yet, useful (well, depending on your definition of useful! I just learned how to make fabulous tulle ruffs and Shakespearean collars and am just dying to explore all the possibilities there – the utility there is perhaps…questionable!)

What’s on your sewing table right now?

I’m just about to delve into thinking about how to create tarot-inspired circus dance costumes for a workshop (hello, tulle ruffs!). I just discovered https://www.hiwirecostumes.com/. Their blog has some rather dangerous rabbit holes to fall down, like how-to rhinestone a costume which has absolutely blown my mind in terms of inspiration, so I’m debating trying my hand at some vintage inspired leotards.

I just finished creating a Mushroom King costume for my son – so fun learning how to sew up these mushrooms.

Also contemplating whipping up a hacked version of True Bias’ Nova Jumpsuit and Pattern Fantastique’s Vali dress – I need more time in the day!

Any new creative projects in the works that you can share?

We have a new book – Bananas for You! coming out in December.

We’re also delving into animation! We’re working on a project with Jim Henson Company and Nickelodeon based on our book Kindness Rules – that’s a whole new frontier and we’re so excited to delve in! Additionally, there are puzzles and board games in the work, as well as a collection of home goods for kids in development.

Things are busy, so needless to say it’s pure torture having just received my Beatrice form – I can’t wait to get started on relearning the drafting skills I haven’t thought about in a decade or so!

If you’re excited to get your hands on one of these limited-edition scarves designed by Eunice, we’re co-hosting a giveaway with Hello!Lucky in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to our newsletter or IG for updates.

And of course, we’ll be shipping them with Beatrice Forms through the end of the year. Hope you enjoy them!

On my sewing table: Shawl Collar Coveralls

September 17, 2021 By Alison

People ask me, “hey Alison, what are you sewing right now?” Yes, another set of coveralls. Shocker. 😂

I’m playing with this idea of a more feminine take on coveralls, with maybe a gathered or pleated sleeve head. And a more tailored collar like a shawl collar. After all, our theme this month in the Beatrice Collective is Tailoring – why not bring a little of that action into my current project!

Reaching ease

I’m basing my draped custom pattern on a previous railroad striped coveralls I draped on my Beatrice. You might have seen me wear them during our Made by Hand live streams. I love the look BUT it doesn’t have a lot of extra room for reaching my arms up which I plan to address in this new version.

To figure out how to make it easier to reach and live in my new coveralls, I asked Gabby for advice in the Collective’s Whole Garment Lab, our bi-weekly free Zoom fitting help meet-up. She suggested I add 2″ of ease each to the front and back from high point shoulder through the crotch. I’m going to do my best to evenly distribute this “reaching ease” including through the armscyes.

Draping a shawl collar

Next up, I needed to create a shawl collar. Instead of buying a pattern with this detail or drafting from measurements, I opted to drape this collar style. Honestly, it’s a heck of a lot faster and I know from the get-go it will fit me and incorporate my original bodice block perfectly.

For a guide to drape the collar, I consulted Connie Amaden-Crawford’s The Art of Fashion Draping. Way back when I was rushing to complete my Fablibs look, I found this book super helpful for draping a notched collar.

To get my drape started, I traced off my front block onto a piece of muslin. I added some extra room above and to the right of CF for the shawl collar extension. Here’s how I laid it out:

Here’s my draped pattern as compared with a diagram from a flat pattern cutting book. The shapes are basically the same except (1) I didn’t have to do any math or drafting and (2) it fits. Win and win.

I’m pretty happy with the final result – not too shabby eh? Onwards to the new sleeves….