Fitting Q&A with Christine Groom

Christine Groom is the designer behind Zig Zag Designs by Christine and a fitting expert. She spoke to the Bay Area Sewists Meetup group last fall, answering numerous questions I compiled in advance of the meetup. As the organizer of the group, I solicited questions from Bay Area Sewists members and included several questions of my own. Christine answered many of the questions in advance of the meetup, which are below. She said a lot more during the meetup, which was not recorded. But at least we have these answers, which provide a lot of insight and advice on fitting. I’m thrilled to include this conversation as part of my Q&A blog series. Thank you, Christine, for your generosity in sharing your expertise with us!

When did you start sewing and who taught you to sew?
My mother sewed and altered most of my clothes. I was always hanging by her side as she did, so she taught me to sew at 8 years of age. By the sixth grade, I was making most of my own clothes

What was the first garment you sewed?
My mother taught me to sew those pre-printed pattern items of the day; stuffed things, and household items like aprons. For my first garments she had me sewing children’s clothes for the missionaries at our church; nightgowns mostly

Designing patterns

How did you get started designing patterns?
I guess it all started with my paper doll at about the same age as I started sewing. It’s funny when I look at her now because she was hand-drawn by me and looks a lot like my mother did. I still have her and her paper garments today. Otherwise, I’ve always looked at commercial patterns as the ‘bones’ of where I was going with my projects. Swapping out sleeves, collars, pockets, adding ruffles, flare and my own style was common. Officially though, I released the Rosita Jacket near the end of 2016.

What inspires your patterns?
I’m classically inclined so my favorite designer references are Coco Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Lauren with a little Allessandro Michele and Johnny Was thrown in. I keep and maintain a design board with elements that interest me; a silhouette, collar, neckline, sleeve, cuff, closures, anything and everything.  Whenever I am sewing or designing I spend a few minutes looking at the board and try to incorporate one or more of the elements into the new project.

Sewing advice

What’s the best sewing advice you’ve received?
Make a sample of everything you are about to do; interfacing, buttonholes, regular and decorative stitches, etc. Go outside the boundaries of your knowledge and experience to see if something interesting happens and of course to avoid the pitfalls.

Fitting experience

How did you get into fitting? 
I’ve always been kind of nerd about fit. I hate tugging at my own clothes and have always admired how the well-dressed appear in their tailored clothes without a dragline, pucker, or pull anywhere.  

What has been your most challenging fitting experience?
I have two memorable experiences: The first was when I was student assisting the Techniques of Fit class at Canada College. I was assigned a mature woman who had Parkinson’s and could only control half of her body at a time and with great effort. We had a good time together and were able to get her fit within an inch of accurate. She was thrilled to have a sloper she could work with

The second was a client with side to side scoliosis, having four different upper body quadrants front and back. This effort took us several attempts, little by little, to develop a working sloper. Once we were finished and happy with the fit we both took a good hard look at the pattern pieces with amazement. They didn’t look like anything we had ever seen before. She still uses and designs with that sloper today.

How does your fitting experience influence your pattern design?
Great question. Besides style, my primary goal with each pattern is to design in easy fitting access through style lines.

Favorite fitting books

Do you have any favorite fitting books?
My first book on fitting is Sandra Betzina’s Fast Fit. She really does a good job covering most of the population’s main fitting problems and how to solve them. This is the book that got me hooked and craving more information

My go-to books are from: Canada College’s course, “Techniques of Fit;” Fitting and Pattern Alteration, second Edition by Elizabeth Leichty, Judith Rasband, and Della Pottberg-Steineckert; Kenneth D. King’s The Trouser Draft (2003).

Important measurements

What are the most important measurements to pay attention to besides bust, waists, and hip?

• Shoulder slope
• Crotch Length and Curve

Common fitting issues

What are the most common fitting issues you’ve encountered?

• Fitting the shoulders; front and back
• Fitting the bust; location and fullness
• Fleshy asymmetries  

What advice do you have for people who are trying to fit themselves? Should they have a dress form? What are the alternatives to a dress form?
A dress form that represents your body is a very good start. Keep in mind it doesn’t move so it helps with length and width fitting but not how you will wear the garment.

Your own body is the best form. Just be sure to wear the same supporting undergarments that you intend to wear underneath the finished garment every time you are fitting

Use a three-way mirror to assess your fit. Make a mental note of the change(s) you think you need, remove the garment and pin in the changes, try it back on for further evaluation and repeat until you think you’ve got it right. Baste in the change and try on again.

Always be sure to transfer your changes to your pattern so the next time you make it you won’t have to do this again.

Half-size dress form

Is a half-size dress form truly accurate to double the pattern size for full-size pattern?
Yes

Advice for working with a pattern

Is there a way to approach patterns in such a way that you can work toward the optimum fit with the fewest number of toiles, lowest cost, least time/redos, etc? (e.g. I once sewed up some pants following the directions, with back pockets first. Then got to the end and realized I wanted to deepen the darts — but the pockets were now in the way – wished I had thought to save them for last).

• First time through a new pattern, I find tissue fitting is critical.
• If you have a favorite pattern company, stick to their offerings. The fit changes you make on one pattern will most likely be the same on the next pattern.
• When trying a new style, baste the garment together until you have worked through all the fitting issues.
• Sampling on leftover fabric is critical to success. 
• Practice stitch length and style. 
• Try different interfacing and hem tapes

Fitting issues

How do you fit for round, narrow shoulders?
This is a compound problem requiring two steps. Working through it in my mind, I think I would address the upper rounded back problem first and make sure the shoulder seams align properly from the ear to the shoulder joint. Then I would adjust the cross back and cross front to fit the narrow shoulders.

How do you adjust the shoulder/arm scye for a petite (under 5 feet) woman who, nonetheless, has muscular shoulders and upper arms and forward shoulders. In other words, the vertical distance between shoulder line and underarm is “short” but the circumference needed for the shoulder and upper arm is larger.

Using a two-piece sleeve would be the easiest way to get a good fit. (Reference page 210 for Larger Shoulder Joint in Fitting & Pattern Alteration.)

What is the best way to alter a jacket pattern for a size that “fits perfectly” except that it’s too tight across the back of the arms when you extend your arms forward?
Sounds like you need an adjustment for a “wider upper back.” I would recommend starting by increasing the width at the back armhole, without changing the shoulder seam or underarm seam. If more width is needed after this adjustment then continue adding width at the underarm side seam with no change at the waist. (This change will affect your sleeve so be sure to add the same width adjustment that you added to the underarm side seam to the sleeve’s underarm seam.)

Bust adjustments

How do you make bust adjustments for breasts that are less perky due to breastfeeding, breast cancer, and general aging? How do you move the dart lower without affecting the side seams or leaving armhole gaps? And how do you fix armhole gaps that result from moving the bust dart? 
As we age I feel it’s important to embrace our physical changes. Every wrinkle on our face is because we smiled and hopefully often. I do not have children of my own and so when I am fitting women who have had them and who have survived cancer, etc., I think how wonderful a child was born and how thankful I am for modern medicine that saves so many lives.

Lowering a dart is best achieved by drawing a rectangle, perpendicular to the grainline, around the entire dart, cutting out the rectangle and relocating it to the desired position. Fill in the hole left by the cut out with more paper

Armhole gaps could be resulting from a shallow chest, which is common after having children or simply from aging, or the problem may exist because there is a need for a larger dart.  

For a larger dart requirement, you can increase your dart take up with a larger bust adjustment. Or Sandra Betzina has an interesting and easy solution in her book Fast Fit page 169. She suggests easing in the gap by running a basting stitch, pulling in the excess, and then sewing it to a stable piece of twill tape to hold it in place.

For a shallow chest, try on the garment, pinch out the excess across the cross-chest, you should end up with a wedge (or banana shape), modify your pattern to take out the excess.

How do you deal with excess fabric in the high bust area?
This is most likely a shallow chest problem. Please see answer above.

Neckline fitting

Sometimes a neckline sits away from the body. How can I tell before I sew it up, that this might happen? This usually happens with a boat neck or wider necklines.
Tissue fitting beforehand will help with this issue. Cut out your bodice pattern on the cutting lines. Pin the front and back bodice together at the shoulder and side seams on the stitching lines to only to about within 2 “ of the underarm so that you can try it on. Omit the sleeves, collars etc. just the F&B bodice are all you need. Try on the tissue pattern over a close-fitting undergarment such as a tank top, carefully pinning the center front and shoulder seam accurately to yourself. Pinch out the gap at the neckline and pin in place. Make the adjustment to your pattern by folding out the pinned amount as a wedge starting from the neckline and ending at the hem. 

How do you adjust a neckline that’s too wide and shows bra straps?
Two options; redraft the neckline by adding extra paper and using a french curve, add in the amount of extra coverage you desire. Or the problem may be similar to the answer in the question above, where it may be there is a gap problem in the neckline.

Trouser fitting issues

How do you shorten the rise on pants patterns so the waist isn’t too high? How do you measure the rise and adjust the rise on pants?
The best and quickest way to modify a crotch problem is to refer to a pair of pants you think fit you well. You can measure the front and back curves, compare to your pattern making notes of the changes you need. Then you need to evaluate is the problem a straight across the F&B to the side seams or is it a crotch seam problem only, not affecting the side seam lengths.

If it is a straight across problem, draw a line perpendicular to the grainline and fold out the amount you want to decrease F&B

If it is a crotch length problem only then draw a line perpendicular to the grainline and fold out a wedge where at the crotch line you have removed the amount desired and at the side seam you have ‘0’ change

Any tips for adjusting pants patterns when your waist is 2 sizes smaller than the butt?
I have a similar problem. I start with using a pattern that fits my hips and upper thighs, use a marker to blend to a smaller size from the hip up to the desired waist measurement at both the side and crotch seams. Use the hip-width size from the hips down to the hem. You may not get a perfect fit with the first attempt so use a muslin fabric you are willing to part with.

Fitting pants is a time-consuming project that is well worth all the effort. Once you have a fitting pattern use it as your sloper for all future patterns.

Adjusting for height

What is the best way to enlarge a pattern for height, for a child’s pattern who is growing taller but not wider.
It depends on where the length is occurring. Evaluate where the length problem is and how much needs to be added at each of these locations: torso, hip to knee, knee to ankle, arm.

Draw a line perpendicular to the grainline on the pattern, cut through the line, add paper equalling the desired amount of length to increase at each location, blend and smooth out the cutting and stitching lines.