Lutterloh system

After many years I came across the German system my mother had in the

60's, I was surprised to find it still exists. So I had to buy it and have begun sewing with it again, really fun. But I can't seem to figure out if you use both bust and hip measurement for making skirts. I made one skirt where I used just the hip measurement, but if following the video instructions strictly, you would think that the waist dots should be made according to your bust measurement. Anyone know definitively what you're supposed to do when drafting a skirt. Thanks.
Reply to
deek490
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Dear Deek,

You use the hip measurement. The waist is made smaller by your waist measurement--it has nothing to do with the bust measurement.

Teri

Reply to
gpjteri

Thanks, Teri, that takes care of a nagging question. Do you have any experience with working with pleats? Some of the patterns have actual drafted pleat pieces and then others give approximations.

Reply to
Dee

I recall one of my students using precious lace to make a pleated skirt. She didn't ask before cutting, and couldn't figure out why the pleats splayed over the hips. She used the waist measurement. Your pleats should hang flat over the hips, so start with the hip measurement, determine how much is needed for each pleat and how many pleats. Remember to add extra for the closure. I usually allow an extra pleat's worth, so that the last pleat will have a fold-back, and the first pleat will meet the edge of the fold-back for an invisible closing.

Teri

Reply to
gpjteri

I pleat the paper and draw the pattern on it.

When I don't just pleat a rectangle onto the band. bodice, or whatever.

Or, my nightshirt: I folded the fabric in half, put the pattern against the selvages, nipped off the corner according to the shape of the armhole, and pleated the full width of the flannel (minus what was cut away for the armhole) onto the yoke.

The sleeves for the nightshirt: I put the pattern at one edge of half the fabric, with the corner on the selvage and the top tangent to a line about an inch from the torn edge, marked one side of the arch at the top, blended it into the torn edge, moved the pattern to the other edge and repeated, cut on the marked line (which left a great deal of torn edge in the middle), then pleated the sleeve into the armhole instead of easing it in. I've done the same thing, but gathered instead of pleated, to make a short, very wide summer-shift sleeve.

You have to follow the original pattern outside the notches to make it fit under the arm, but there is a great deal of leeway in the pleated part in the middle. But it does need a bit more cap height to balance the fullness.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

That's a big help, thanks. I have a dress I want to make for my daughter's wedding that has pleats around the base of the dress and just was not sure about how to get it pleated perfectly for the skirt circumference. The pattern only shows the pleat widths and an approximation for the total size of the pattern piece. Pleating the paper first to fit will do the trick. Thanks so much.

Dee

Reply to
Dee

Here's another trick for a pleated ruffle:

Mark the hem into as many parts as you want pleats.

Put the same number of marks on the ruffle, spacing them farther apart. You can use how full you want the ruffle to be to decide how far apart to make the marks, or you can divide all the ruffle you've got into as many parts as you have marks. (This is *much* easier if the number is a power of two, so that you can mark by repeatedly folding in half.)

Pin together at the marks, with pins at right angles to the edges.

Fold at each pin. Smooth the folds and stick a pin near the edge, and one well away to make the fold stay folded.

Add seam-line pins as required and pull out pins that cross the seam line. Stitch.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

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