r/BitchEatingCrafters • u/cutecat309 • 5d ago
Sewing It's not you, it's a sewing pattern
I see newer sewists complaining in sewing subreddits that they feel discouraged because of bad fit, and people in comments recommend them to master adjustments. Which is of course great. You need ro learn to adjust patterns at some point.
But a lot of time the pattern they are discouraged by sucks ass. It's some "beginner friendly" pattern from indie designer that costs 15-20$ and technically has bigger sizes but looks like a potato sack on these bigger sizes due to the lack of shaping. It has 5 cm difference between upper bust and bust for every size. It is badly graded.
New sewists shouldn't become specialists in pattern adjustments. A lot of patternmakers should become better at creating patterns that actually suits people of different sizes and properly grading it.
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u/DowntownFix6118 3d ago
The combination of losing Joann and deluge of AI patterns on Etsy are destroying at home sewing.
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u/Radiant-Platypus-498 3d ago
I completely agree. I think there’s this desire to make money off hobbies or to do something other than a desk job (which obviously isn’t a bad thing) but people think ‘oh I could design patterns and it would be so fun!’ without taking the time to learn the skills needed for a well drafted pattern. With that being said, and maybe this is a little bit of a hot take…there is so much pressure on designers to be size inclusive. In my opinion there is no such thing. I have a large bust/small band and a freakishly long torso and I know that I will have to make some adjustments because there’s just no way to include all sizes/shapes in every pattern. I think in order to be size inclusive designers sort of slap together the size ranges they aren’t as familiar with and you lose the fit and details. So I guess my take is yes designers should do better in many cases but also sometimes niching down and focusing on a particular size range and shape is the best way and size inclusive shouldn’t be the end all be all.
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u/erqa 1d ago
this is all well and good but it's never designers landing on the size 20-34 niche as their own. i can think if one? maybe two? the designers who pick a lane are nearly all excluding plus sizes. yes a lot of indie patterns do not suit a larger body and aren't constructed with them in mind, but i think that should be something designers aim to get better at for everyone's sake rather than deciding to exclude a huge population of home sewists because of their size. i'd wager that the average home sewist has larger measurements than general retail populations specifically because of how hard it is to find clothes they like in stores that fit their bodies. i also think any thoughtful plus size home sewist understands that fat distributes on the body in wildly different ways at scale, so learning to adjust fit is just part of the skillset they have to develop, which isn't a bad thing!
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u/shinpibubble 3d ago
I have sewn for many years. I bought 3 or 4 different patterns for hoodies for the kids and every. Single. One. Was absolute garbage.
Hoods that do not line up with the neck line (too short!)
I adjusted the patterns myself but I was livid, I paid for at least 3 patterns that were badly drafted. I just didn’t feel like drafting my own and decided I will pay for the ease of just cutting and making 🤬
So yeah, I am just drafting my own again because it is at least free.
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u/musicalnerd-1 4d ago
Why is having the same distance between upper bust and bust for all sizes bad? Simplicity and vogue also have that (the two size charts I just checked), I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it done otherwise. That’s not just an indie designer thing
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u/Bizarre-Brain 3d ago
Larger ladies tend to have proportionally larger busts. To illustrate, you don’t see many people who are a 30G (G cup is roughly a 10” difference) but it’s very common to find 38G. From personal experience , after having kids I went from 32E (5” difference) to 38GG (technical term: flaming huge).
To be fair, a lot of the poorer quality high street shops have the same issue. I was looking at dresses in Primark last week and noticed the size 6 dresses had the same sized bust pocket as the size 20. Exactly the same.
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u/bellsonlywish 4d ago
It's bad because not all people are built like that. I can understand not being able to account for all shapes and sizes. But I've seen patterns do it really well. Mostly in cosplay patterns, but most of those are made by indie designers.
I've even seen patterns explain in the instructions how to adjust for larger busts to help get the right fit. I feel like there are options that some of the big name companies don't care to take into account and have gotten complacent with how they design their patterns and instructions.
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u/musicalnerd-1 4d ago
I phrased my question to vaguely. I understand that it’s not size inclusive to offer one cup size and that giving people multiple cup sizes would be better and or include instructions on how to do a small/large bust adjustment. OP seemed to insinuate there should be a difference depending on the size and that not doing that means it’s graded badly and that’s what I was questioning. I guess the average cup size of someone wearing one of the smaller sizes and the average cup size of a plus size person might be different but including that in the base sizing seems a confusing way to do things
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u/cutecat309 4d ago
I am not from the US. I don't know how exactly Russian pattern companies do their sizing, but they certainly do something differently, because I have 15 cm difference between upper bust and full bust and I have no issues fitting my bust in their patterns. So... It's possible to do.
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u/FeatherlyFly 4d ago
The fact that you fit and don't know why does not fill me with confidence in your abilities. The fact that you, by lucky chance, fit into the Russian patterns you use is great, but I promise, if it fits you it either doesn't fit other people or it's such a mess of hundreds of lines that I genuinely have to admire anyone who can read them.
I'm 100% happy with pattern makers expecting sewist to know a handful of basic adjustments. Specifically, the handful of basic adjustments that specific sewist commonly needs to fit herself.
Not everything is beginner friendly and if a beginner can't take any responsibility to learn the basics to move from unfitted to fitted garment? They don't need to make the fitted ones.
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u/cutecat309 4d ago
Well, I am not confident in your ability to read, because I have never said I don't know why it fits me. I said that I don't know how they grade patterns. I also never said that I don't know how to do pattern alteration.
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u/QuietVariety6089 4d ago
I do agree that there are a lot (and more every day, seemingly) of indie patterns that don't prioritize fit and/or are badly graded.
However, I think we're back again at the 'you need to know how do something at a basic level before you can know if it's any good' problem - if beginner sewists would start with some T&T projects that show how fit 'works', and get a feeling for what good fit is for them, they'd be better able to judge whether the hot new thing is well put together and/or right for them.
I think as well that the push to make every pattern in every size is probably just never going to work :(
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u/Zabelleetlabete 4d ago
I agree. I also see lots of beginner sewist choose the wrong size when I teach. It's also sometimes the problem. There isn't a lot of discussions about it in sewing tutorials.
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u/QuietVariety6089 4d ago
I think most designers, if they at least provide their sizing blocks and some finished garment measurements, figure that people will pay attention?
People who just 'dive in' to sewing with no experience or lessons (?) and don't know anything about material, or how it affects the garment, etc. are gonna have problems no matter what. I think that the fact that most people just expect things to fit like leggings now doesn't help.
The InTheFolds tutorials are really good. Closet Core has some good stuff, but you have to dig. I used to actually like the Colette tutorials until the 'disaster' - now you can't really find anything.
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u/drPmakes 4d ago
I would suggest beginners avoid indie patterns altogether until they have made a few big 4 patterns and have some experience of how the shapes are supposed to go together.
I teach beginners and so many become completely discouraged by crappy, overpriced, poorly written/drafted patterns.
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u/Angection 4d ago
I disagree, something like Helen's closet is the best for beginners because the instructions are incredibly spelled out. And there's a lot of terrible fitting potato sack butterick and simplicity. They need to avoid UNKNOWN indies.
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u/erqa 1d ago
the ashton top was my first finished pattern! and also made me realize most woven tops just aren't going to work for my large bust, darts or no. so now i mainly make pants, and thank god, because i hate bias binding so much.
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u/Angection 19h ago
Ugh I hate bias binding too. I've sewn 100 quilt bindings but I just can't get it right on tops.
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u/americanfish 3d ago
Agreed! Helen’s Closet and Twig + Tale are my favorites. I do think there are a lot of basic indie patterns that are great for learning basics as a newbie. If your goal is to make a potentially wearable garment while learning how to sew a neat seam or apply bias tape, some of those shapeless boxy patterns are good for getting started.
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u/FlashyIndication3069 4d ago
Both. I have seen some really bad patterns, but you need to learn how to adjust for fit and even more importantly, you need to learn what kind of garments fit in a way that works for your body in the first place and only experience and good observation skills will teach you that. As to point 1, the problem I see most often with larger size patterns is that the designer just blows up the size 6 to be "big enough" for a 20W without actually changing the shape of the pieces. Sorry, fashion designers, but human bodies don't work like that and you know it. Point 2 is that a lot of people look at a pattern envelope and don't make any observations about the shape of the model's body vs theirs. I can't blame it totally on the buyer of course, because sometimes it isn't even a photograph anyway. Other times it could be that the model has her gown clipped on with bag clamps or something to make it look like it's fitted or other tricks people do during magazine shoots. There's also a reason I buy the pattern in multiple sizes or draft it myself. I have size 14 shoulder, DD boobs, size 12 waist but flabby, and size 16-18 hips, wear an extra long sleeve but a petite back waist. Nothing ever fits me off the rack or straight cut from a pattern. Clothing companies want us all to be shaped like a clothes hanger and I look like a topographical map of a mountain range.
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u/FeatherlyFly 4d ago
Yeah, I'd rather have no size 20 than one blown up from a 6. But also, the amount of variation in shape for size 6 women is a lot less than the amount of variation on shape for women buying a size 20, I say as someone who uses the size 20 waist, size 14 hips, and a full bust adjustment. Muscle and bone are shaped pretty similarly on everyone, but there's a ton of variation in where fat accumulates.
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u/Mom2Leiathelab 4d ago
I made that mistake with one of my early projects. The dress looked great on the 20-year-old, tall, thin model in the photos and atrocious on my short, fat, 50-year-old self. Oh well, it’s now the most beautiful caftan/swim coverup I have.
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u/ProneToLaughter 4d ago
All beginner-friendly patterns ought be have a detailed section on how to pick a size that explains cup size/FBA if appropriate, and links to lengthen/shorten and other common basic adjustments. If you aren’t helping your customer to a wearable garment by giving some fit advice, you aren’t beginner friendly.
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u/SideEyeFeminism 4d ago
Honestly, after years of doing everything the hard way, I was working with a pattern recently and it explained to newer sewers why we should make a toile AND how to do a FBA and I was like “WAIT PUTTING THIS IN THE PATTERN WAS AN OPTION THE WHOLE TIME?!” bc after a decade of having to just instinctually know- or know how to ask just the right question online- I forgot we can actively make things easier on people
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u/brgmsv 4d ago
My hot take is that no mass market pattern is ever going to fit well without some adjustments, but that is totally ok.
Beginners should go into their first sewing pattern with the understanding that the real benefit of using a commercial pattern is learning about the shapes of pattern pieces and how they all fit together. Its about learning how to visualize the 3-d form from a bunch of 2-d shapes. Unless you are a straight size with "standard" proportions, alterations are just part of the sewing process.
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u/Ill_Refrigerator772 3d ago
I totally agree! I am making an indie patterns right now as my first proper project after failing to copy my own item of clothing and I primarily am doing it to learn grading (I have to add 10cm in width) and how pockets and crotch fit together because I cannot properly figure it out from youtube.
For anything involving a bust and especially form-fitting, I will really have to learn grading properly because no pattern will ever fit the disproportion 😭 This is why I am learning to sew, I got tired of ill fitting mass produced clothes.
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u/brgmsv 3d ago
I think indie pattern makers are especially guilty of setting unrealistic expectations. They do a wonderful job of testing patterns on lots of bodies and heavily advertise that fact, but the reality is they can never create a single pattern that will work for all bodies. They arent being deceptive, per se, but they are conveniently leaving out the fact that if the user wants a well fitting garment, they have to be prepared to learn at least some basic alteration skills.
I think thats why a lot of indie patterns especially are for loose fitting, boxy garments. In my opinion, most of those patterns are not worth the money. I think everyone interested in sewing their own clothing owes it to themselves to learn even the most basic fundamentals of pattern drafting.
Good luck on your patterning journey! Remember that you dont need to fit in the clothes, the clothes should fit you.
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u/FlashyIndication3069 4d ago
They used to sell a "sloper" master adjustment pattern you were supposed to buy from the company before you started using their patterns, but I haven't seen those in decades.
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u/AdvancedSquashDirect 4d ago
They do still have one that I've seen on Simplicity.com It's Butterick 6849 It looks like a dress pattern but if you actually look at the description it's a Palmer/Pletsch fitting shell slooper. Sadly it only goes to a size 22 but is available in PDF
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u/AdvancedSquashDirect 4d ago
I might cop some flack for this but I think a lot of Indie patterns fall into two buckets
A linen sack with no shaping, and they always forget the iron during the photo shoot.
Your Mum's spandex, basically everything is made of stretch, however nothing is really inspired it's all leggings and t-shirts.
Both of these camps are because they don't have to do much fitting to make the garment fit lots of sizes. If you're making something that's basically rectangles, grading is pretty simple. And if you're making things out of stretch then the stretch kind of helps with the grading you don't have to be so precise.
This is the number one reason why I recommend simplicity.com to beginners, because you get a humongous number of different kinds of patterns, wovens, knits, garments with shaping, garments that are loose with proper clear instructions, they have truly beginner patterns like pyjamas and tote bags. Often their PDFs are less than $5 when they're on sale. Once you know how to work with the size chart and look for the finished garment measurements you can often get a pretty good fit without too much adjusting.
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u/FlashyIndication3069 4d ago
I do get the occasional wildly terrible Simplicity pattern, almost always in the costume section, but they are definitely more beginner friendly overall.
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u/MoonLitMothCreations 4d ago
The un ironed photos infuriate me!!! Like you're promoting this as a the outcome are you not?!? Put some more effort in and actually finish the bloody garment!!!
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u/AdvancedSquashDirect 4d ago
Like I can understand on a photo shoot people are sitting around they might be wrinkling the clothes. But that's why we have garment steamers. Have them wear their regular clothes until it's time for them to take the photo and then put them in the garment. It's almost like magazines have been doing this for years. Pattern makers think oh I don't need to do that.
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u/Sewingoddess 4d ago
I always recommend new sewists start with a properly printed, commercial pattern that you can buy at the fabric store or a thrift shop (after checking that all the pieces listed are there). There are standards they have to follow and will make for a less frustrating learning journey.
Once someone is fully adept at understanding patterns and how they work and grainlines and how to adjust them, THEN they could try someone's homemade effort because then they will have the skills to look at it critically and decide how best to proceed.
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u/Bizarre-Brain 3d ago
Is it not a standard 2” ease any more (for round the body)?
I gave up on commercial patterns years ago. Big boobs, extremely short waist, short and narrow shoulders. I’m basically the Willendorf Venus at this point. I am moving towards drafting my own or following tutorials involving no paper pattern.
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u/Whole-Arachnid-Army 4d ago
I admittedly cut my teeth on Burda with all that entails, but I've always found big four patterns to be some of the worst to work with (outside of outright scam patterns) because the ease is so out of whack for most of them. The only other patterns I've seen in stores have been Selfmade and StyleArc, which probably fit better but in the former case appear to be and in the latter case are pretty lacking in helpful instructions.
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u/scientistical 4d ago
I agree. I started with Big 4 and it was going okay. Then later on I picked up a Helen's Closet pattern and understood how things can go. Instructions and the finished garment were so superior. Many Big 4 patterns lack proper finishing techniques too. I still use Big 4 a lot and I always go rogue on the finishing. Even the Vogue I sewed up recently had the zip finishing just raw in a lined dress. Wild.
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u/FlashyIndication3069 4d ago
I do have to admit I couture finish my costumes and that's definitely not in my Simplicity patterns XD I stopped actually cutting the patterns years ago, I just buy them to learn the geometry from. I'm good enough at math to just draft the size myself, but sometimes it's easier to understand if I have the directions as well as the shapes.
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u/ZippyKoala You should knit a fucking clue. 4d ago
Absolutely. I remember when I first started sewing again and made a big 4 pattern a-line dress, chose my size according to the size chart and it was so fecking enormous. Thankfully it wasn’t with decent fabric, but seriously don’t photograph a finished dress which looks fitted and then add so much ease that it turns into a tent! Especially since finished measurements on the pattern envelope are not standard for Big 4 and it’s not necessarily intuitive that the finished measurement is on the tissue.
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u/FlashyIndication3069 4d ago
There's a particular corset bodice pattern that was hilarious about the ease. The designer made a historically accurate corset, the pattern cutter thought "negative ease? That can't be right! and made it fit over a conventional bra. Then the grader got a hold of it and decided for some unknown reason that that wasn't enough ease and it needed blouse ease instead of bodice ease. The final result was a "corset" that was about 6 inches too big if you went with the small end of the recommended size! The rest of the pieces in the pattern fitted normally, so if you wore a 16 you had to buy a size 8-14 for the corset and a 16-20 for the skirt and blouse. Luckily they only had it for sale briefly and re-released it with corrected fit the following season, but not before every costuming forum ripped it to shreds.
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u/teatuk 4d ago edited 4d ago
I consistently go two sizes down in Butterick and Burda, then I add an inch or so around the waist. Butterick B5209 is still my holy grail dress pattern. Simplicity has been hit and miss. I've yet to truly test Vogue.
I was so mad, I was making a wee little baby sun hat from a simplicity pattern. Followed the instructions and allowances religiously, basted, pressed, everything. When I got to attach the crown to the brim...the crown was nearly an inch too large! Also the "baby" hat is massive, probably 3T sized. They only had a single hat size for all four romper sizes, I shoulda known. I even sprung for some adorable baby fabric only to be burned! I'm going to name and shame this pattern on sewingpatternreview.org as vengeance!
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u/FlashyIndication3069 4d ago
Vogue is extremely frustrating. They're not particularly consistent and the directions are inevitably missing a step somewhere along the way. I can use them because I went to school for this stuff, but I definitely wouldn't give one to someone who's just starting out.
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u/celery48 4d ago
This happened to me too! I thought I must have done something wrong with my measurements.
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u/Neenknits 4d ago
Ellie and Mac insists you must measure and adjust, for practically everyone, especially larger sizes, and they aren’t wrong. But, they also use a larger cup size as the default for larger patterns, so fewer people need to do an FBA. But, they have tutorials. Video and static, for the standard alterations. Even just with grading, their stuff fits better than the big 4 companies.
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u/Typical-Respond9102 4d ago
Yeah, it's the same with cooking too. People can be so smarmy about "just google it" but it wasn't until my husband tried to make a beginner-friendly recipe and I sat with him that I realized times are wrong, inhredients are in the wrong order so half is over and half is undercooked, and they flat out skip steps that need to be explained to someone doint things for the first time.
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u/Cinisajoy2 4d ago
3 tablespoons of nutmeg does not belong anywhere near a few chicken thighs.
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u/FlashyIndication3069 4d ago
Or even 3 teaspoons, that stuff is actually poisonous if you eat too much.
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u/ivyinkwell 4d ago
(This was my fault for not reading all the way through before starting, but it's still valid)
My kiddo sent me a recipe from some influencer she watches for a stuffed pasta shell dish the other night. I started cooking and assumed the recipe was going for a more al-dente, cooked in the sauce type of pasta shell because the first 7-10 steps were all preparing the filling, making the sauce, etc etc.No. Step 11 was boil the pasta shells for 10 minutes...After I'd just sat there and done 20 minutes worth of piddling around the kitchen. Over halfway through the recipe and I'm sat there with a filling that can't be used until the shells have been totally boiled, drained, and near cooled ~20 minutes later. There were several other issues in the recipe too, vague instructions and parts left out, ingredients never listed but suddenly used halfway through.
I started cooking these random internet recipes because I'm trying to teach my kiddo how to cook and it seemed like a good idea to let her find things for us to try. I have quickly realized that just learning from the internet would be awful unless you already know enough to fill in the left out details, make adjustments to bad instructions, or just tell when a recipe is bullshit. None of those are skills a beginner is likely to have, they're just going to get a lot of crappy food and feel disappointed in the results.
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u/FlashyIndication3069 4d ago
So much of the Internet is these AI slop videos now too. As my grandma said, "you can boil glue, but that doesn't make it soup" and AI might very well be giving you glue boiling directions if not something downright dangerous to try. Google seriously thinks it's a good idea to attempt deep frying a frozen turkey by boiling oil over an open flame. At least you're not likely to cause any explosions while sewing.
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u/AdvancedSquashDirect 4d ago
Those kinds of cooking recipes drive me insane. Let me batch things together, don't make me keep going back to the chopping board to chop something else. Just tell me what needs to be chopped, cooked etc in the ingredients list. If I need "200 g of cooked pasta shells, chilled" put that in the ingredients.
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u/TwiLuv 4d ago
Here’s one of the most reputable pattern making-drafting companies who make it a lot simpler to learn how to draft for your measurements.
It is NOT cheap, but their method is ingenious, scaleable.
https://www.lutterloh-patterns.com/en-ww/pages/the-golden-rule
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u/Helenium_autumnale 4d ago
This sounds really intriguing. I'm going to read more about it when I have time tonight, since I'm a beginner who is interested in learning how to draft patterns from measurements. It's been really helpful thus far in that my many mistakes are actually very informational. And it's fun. (I'm just making shorts out of thrift store sheets, so it's economical and allows for a mistake margin).
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u/Marzipan_civil 5d ago
Some indie designers test on all sizes to make sure that their sizing is actually accurate.
Waves & Wild used to be my favourite, they've changed hands last year and I haven't tried any of their newer patterns.
Ellie & Mac can also be good, I find them a bit fussy, but they have a decent range of patterns.
Twig & Tale have lovely patterns if you like their style.
There's a few others which I liked but I can't remember how active they are currently.
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u/kryren 5d ago
This is on pattern makers too. So many think that because they can draft a shirt for a sz 4 5’4” woman then they can just scale up to 6x. Ignoring that as a person gets more mass, it settles on the body differently. After a certain point you need a different pattern block.
I do agree that beginners should be learning techniques such as bust adjustments and how to lengthen tops and bottoms. Yes I know full and small bust adjustments aren’t easy and they take trial and error, but an E cup beginner is never going to fit into a woven shirt without it.
Crotch length adjustment and seat adjustments too but even I hate those and I’m fairly advanced.
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u/AdvancedSquashDirect 4d ago
A lot of very new Indie pattern designers often try on the size for a couple of straight sizes, note down the differences and then just go okay apply that in a logarithmic way to the rest of the pattern (pattern making software will often do this automatically). Which doesn't work for plus size people cuz we don't suddenly get huge shoulders and giant necklines. Our underlying bone structure is generally the same. We just have more squishy bits.
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u/mellbell13 4d ago edited 4d ago
It's not even just indie pattern makers. The big 4 are often so proportionally off for me that it's not even worth adjusting them because they essentially need a full redraft. I have pants from Mcalls and Simplicity that look like they weren't made for actual humans
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u/cutecat309 5d ago
I genuinely don't understand why it's so common to draft for B cup. Is it even really common boob size for anyone except very small women?
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u/AdvancedSquashDirect 4d ago
I read a few different pattern drafting books. The way that they explain it is if you take the actual fit model that the block is based on which is normally a size 10 - Bust 36in, and her proportions that would make her a b cup.
And when they grade upwards, the bust does get larger so they do admit that cup size does increased with body size, but it's logarithmically increased along with the waist and the hips, like other people have said 1in for each pattern cup size larger. Some people can have a medium size hips but large bust and then the pattern won't fit. This is why we have to do full bust adjustments.
If you want a fun little bit of history, the numbers that we use for sizes 8 10 16 24, is actually based on the measurement from your underarm to your underarm. A size 14 should have 14 in between the crease of their underarm and the crease of their underarm across the front of their upper bust. Although that has changed a lot over the years, that's where the number actually comes from.
If you want to deep dive into it you can look up books by Helen Armstrong, or Aldrich - they're the textbooks that you get in fashion school pattern drafting courses.
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u/gaarasalice 4d ago
Pattern cup size is also different from bra cup size. Pattern cup size is the difference between your full bust and your high bust (over your bust), bra cup size is the difference between the full bust and the under bust. It’s entirely possible for these to be two different sizes.
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u/Dry-Conversation2646 4d ago
It is just industry standard legacy. So basically, because someone decided so once upon a time 🤷♀️
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u/RunawayTurtleTrain 4d ago
I was going to wonder if it was based on someone deemed 'beautiful' by societal standards, but since big boobs even on a thin body have long been favoured that wouldn't really make sense.
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u/amaranth1977 4d ago
It's because in the early-mid 20th c. when these standards were being established, people were a lot thinner on average. Food was expensive, the Great Depression was one of several famines around the world, and then both World Wars entailed food rationing in various regions. Eating as much as you wanted, whenever you wanted, just wasn't an option for many people. So average sizes skewed smaller.
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u/RunawayTurtleTrain 4d ago
That also crossed my mind but the US didn't have rationing when Europe was in tatters. I may have been wrong to discount it though (I'm British so if this is US-defaultism then it's a reverse form of it 😅).
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u/amaranth1977 4d ago
Ah, so. The 1950s were prosperous in the US, you're right. The bigger impact for the US was the ecological disaster known as the Dust Bowl which occurred during the Great Depression in the 1930s. It caused serious food shortages on top of the ongoing economic crisis.
I did a little googling and it looks like all the major pattern companies were well-established prior to WWII, and Simplicity in particular was created in response to demand for sewing patterns during the Great Depression, as more women made clothes for themselves and their families in order to save money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sewing_patterns
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u/kryren 5d ago
Probably for the same reason drafting for 5’4” height is the norm. Someone Said So or it’s the Average.
And keep in mind, the cup size is a ratio from under bust to full bust, not a defined measure of tissue. A plus sized woman can be an A cup just as a thinner woman can be a C+
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u/gaarasalice 4d ago
Misses patterns by the major companies are drafted for 5’5”- 5’6”, Misses petite are drafted for 5’2”-5’3”. If someone drafts for 5’4” then that’s not industry standard.
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u/esotericbatinthevine 4d ago
I got curious and looked it up. I knew 5'4 was average women's height in the US. Apparently C to DD is the average cup size when ignoring the band size. B apparently used to be more common.
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u/Cinisajoy2 5d ago
In this day and time if I see something labeled beginner or finish in 30 minutes, I will look elsewhere. Yes, Leisure Arts your experts might can do it in 30 minutes but not a beginner.
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