Sew Easy: #1, How to Measure For Your Dress

hello for the next few weeks I'll be here giving you basic sewing instructions so that you'll be able to make a simple wardrobe in each of the lessons I will cover a complete process so you need not feel discouraged or completely lost if you should happen to miss one or two sessions not only that but if you will pick up the printed lesson forms designed for each of our TV presentations you'll be able to fill in this information I also think it'll be easier for you if you will sew along with me and complete your dress as I make one for our model and now let's start our sew easy series this is mrs. Moore our model mrs. Moore is wearing a well fitted dress and I'd like to show you why we consider it a well fitted dress this is an outline of mrs. Moore's dress now I'd like to show you something the dotted lines on this overlay represents the crosswise threads of her dress and as you see at the hip at the bustline and the cap of the sleeve they should be straight across the threads down the center front of her dress should be straight with the body now let's look at the side seam this side seam should be straight down from the armpit if the seam swings to the front do you notice that the dress sticks out in front if it swings to the back the skirt will swing out in the back should be straight down now let's see how this applies to the dress itself Mrs. Moore could we see the fit of your dress now sure now you'll notice on her dress that the threads across the bust and the hip are straight and the threads across the cap of sleeve are straight now there's one other thing we need to look for when we're observing the fit of a dress and those are called fitting wrinkles now if I pull this green line down as it sometimes gets to be you'll find some very deep wrinkles right here under the bust line or if the shoulder doesn't fit properly let me pull this up and exaggerate it sometimes you'll find fitting wrinkles right up in here now those we want to avoid and of course a well fitted dress will also be comfortable in the so easy series I'm going to teach you how to make a dress and while you're making your dress I'm going to make one for our model mrs. Moore and of course the first place we'll all start is with taking measurements the first thing we need to do is take this belt off and just hold it then we're going to tie a cord around your waist so we can establish your waistline we'll tie that just snug enough to find the natural waistline so that's uncomfortable just fine now the card should find the natural waistline and if you want check it to bend over to the side your body has a natural crease right at your waistline when you check both sides huh thank goodness you have only one crease you know once I found a lady with two creases and then we didn't know what to do of course you're going to want to record all these measurements because you're going to be using them from time to time when you make your dress for convenience I've asked my neighbor to come in and record these for us to take the bust measurement pass the tape around the figure over the fullest part of the bust be sure this tape is straight and you'll want it just snug enough to stay in place and still loose enough that you can run your fingers and underneath it for ease now you may be wondering about my taking this measurement over this dress but it's perfect alright to take one over a lightweight cotton dress but smoothly fitted actually you're going to find some advantages before we get through with all these measurements the bust measure is 35 now for the waist pass the tape around right over this cord and this measurement is individual and it should be just as tight as you like to wear your dress is that about right yes the waist measure is 28 now for the hip measure down 7 inches and mark that place with a pin then repeat it on the other hip measure down seven inches and mark it with a pin pass the paper around the figure over these two pins be sure the tape is straight and that measurement is 39 the measurements we've just taken will be used when you decide on what size pattern you're going to buy now we continue to take the measurements that we're going to use when we determine whether or not you'll have to alter your pattern for we do want that perfect fit the first measurement we'll take is the shoulder seam if you have on a dress with a set in sleeve that fits as well as this one you can measure from the neckline out to the place where the sleeve sets into the armhole and that will be your right measurement if you should have on a cap sleeve however you'll have to establish this point by finding the socket bone out here so put your finger about where the socket bone should be and then if you'll raise your arm up and down you can easily find that spot and you'll measure from here up to the neckline now there's another thing you might want to consider at this point before you take that measurement that is if your shoulders are narrow in proportion to your hips or if they're narrow in proportion to a large muscle out here on your arm you might want to fudge just a little bit out here so that you'll get a little better figure proportion I think this one is alright as it is so we'll measure and the neckline is high point out to where the sleeve comes into the armhole and that is 4 and 3/4 inches the next measurement will be around the arm you put your tape measure on the fullest part of your arm just drop your arm naturally and take an easy measure and that is 11 and 3/4 then while we're right over here we'll take this underarm seam measurement and we'll need something that's about an inch wide so let me get a ruler place the ruler high up under the arm and then measure from the bottom of that ruler down to this chord and that's six and a fourth the next measurement will be from the high point at the shoulder down to the court or the waistline over the full part of the bust and that's 17 and that's an easy measurement also then sometimes we need this measurement from this high point of the shoulder down to the bustline itself and that is twelve and one more front measurement from the underarm seam across the full part of the bus to the underarm seam and that is twenty-one inches our next measurement is across the back shoulder we want to get a measurement right about in here across shoulder for comfort so a measure down four inches mark the spot with a pin and then measure from armhole seam across the pin to armhole seam now in order to allows the allow the ease that we need here for comfort would you pretend that you're taking a dish off of the shelf and that measures 16 we need one more back measurement from the high point of the neckline down to the waistline or to this cord and that is an easy measure the back waist measure is 15 now our last measurement will be the skirt length and this is the length of dresses you usually wear I think so now stand up Mary Lou and when she bends over again well you notice what happens to that skirt we can't possibly get the correct length that way I suggested at least here you might use a mirror in taking these measurements in fact you might like to look in a mirror all the time when somebody's taking your measurements all right then we'll measure the side seam from the cord to the hem and that is the left side it measures 29 inches Center measurement from the cord around the waist the bottom of the skirt that measures 29 the right side seam measures 29 perhaps you're wondering why I'm taking so many measurements of the skirt but we make the dress completely and so will you even to putting in the hem before you have to put that dress on and be measured so you'll need all four of these measurements that I'm taking on the skirt the center back is different it's 28 and a half our model is something quite unusual in that she has three measurements the same and one there's a half an inch different but for your first dress take all four of these measurements after watching me take these measurements you shouldn't have any trouble taking them and you will find that accurate measurements are the key to a well fitting dress if you take these measurements and follow the methods I'm going to demonstrate you will end up with a dress that fits the very first time you try it on next time we'll take one more step toward the goal of a dress that fits I will help you pick out a pattern type that will suit your figure