Fit And Sew Custom Jeans – Book Review

I bought this book, Fit and Sew Custom Jeans, a couple of years ago and I refer to it often. It is a Palmer Pletsch book written by Helen Bartley. It is a terrific book if you, like me, love to make your own jeans!

What’s in the book

The book basically ranges from the history and hardware of jeans making to inspiration, care tips and templates. This is a very comprehensive book that will have something for everyone.

One of the things I really like about this book is that there is so much information included that’s easy to understand. I also appreciate that there is such a variety of fit models and examples included. So no matter what your shape and size, there is information you can use. There is also a chapter (and ideas) for sewing men’s jeans.

Who is this for?

I would say this is for anyone who is interested in sewing their own jeans. If you are a beginner to making your own, it is a great source of information and inspiration. If you are more experienced, you will find the fitting advice and creative ideas to be excellent.

A page from Fit and Sew Custom Jeans book

I’ve made many pairs of my own jeans and its something I really enjoy. Once you get a pattern to fit you really well, it’s a easy to “hack” the pattern and make changes to it. You can end up with different looks from the same pattern.

My Conclusions

I really like this book. It is not only informational, but inspirational as well. There is so much advice on fitting, of course, since it is a Palmer/Pletsch publication. As I mentioned before, this is one of the few fitting books that has fit models of different sizes. That’s important so that you can get a visual idea of what an alteration may look like on you. The information in the book is easy to understand which I really appreciate too.

Here is the link to video review that I made for this book if you’d like to see that also.

https://youtu.be/M7quJBfDSm4?si=zTRCs3aucw4t73jl

I Used Two Patterns To Make One Dress

For my latest Minerva project, I used two patterns to make one dress. I took the dress portion from one and added the sleeves from the other.

Pattern envelopes — Vogue 8847 & Butterick 6446

The Fabric

For this project, I was gifted this very nice, lightweight fabric. It’s called John Kaldor soft crepe and it’s 100% polyester. The fabric has a gorgeous drape and is very soft like the name says.

This fabric washes and dries really well. I love the vibrant print of it as well. It’s perfect for summer!

The Patterns

I’ve had both of these patterns since around 2012 and 2015. I l For this particular look, I wanted a bell-shaped, flowy sleeve. As the heat and humidity rises when we get into summer, there was no way I was going to make a long-sleeve dress.

The Dress

The Very Easy Vogue pattern is quite easy and quick to sew. While it wasn’t really necessary, I did pay attention to the direction of the fabric when I laid out the pattern. It’s a very loose fitting dress with gathers in the back and front yokes. There are no buttons or zippers, so you can simply pull it over your head.

The dress has inseam pockets too!

woman wearing yellow floral dress with her hands in pockets

Because the dress is very loose, the belt really helps to cinch in the waist. By the way, there were no issues with adding sleeves in from a different patten. The sleeves from the Butterick pattern fit perfectly into the Vogue dress.

Conclusion

While I am a little bit concerned about how comfortable the dress will be when the weather gets hot, I think it will be fine to wear. I am always cold in the summer when I’m indoors and the air conditioning is blasting!

I am so glad I used two patterns to make one dress. The end result is just what I had in mind.

If you’d like te see the video of this project, you can view that here.

Style Arc Olivia Dress

If you ever want a super simple, quick and easy summer dress pattern, the Style Arc Olivia dress may be the perfect one for you.

The Pattern

This is a pattern I actually got for free when I purchased other Style Arc patterns. If you aren’t familiar, Style Arc usually has a couple of choices for a specific free/bonus pattern of the month. You chose one when you’ve purchased a pattern (or patterns) from them.

As you can see from the picture above, the Olivia dress is rated Easy. Be sure to check their size chart at Style Arc if you are interested in purchasing their patterns. The sizing may be a bit different from what you are used to. Olivia is designed for woven fabrics and includes a belt pattern.

My Dress

For the dress I made, I used some fabric I purchased locally at G Street Fabrics. It’s part of the Robert Kaufman “Florence” collection and can be found here. This is basically a quilting cotton with a really pretty print. A print like this is the perfect thing to pair with a simply designed pattern. The “star” of the outfit becomes the print when there’s few details or design elements.

Back view of woman wearing Style Arc Olivia dress

This is a pattern that comes together quickly. The only change made to the pattern for this was to lengthen the bodice by about an inch. I find that often when I have dress patterns that include waistline elastic, it hits me in the rib cage which is uncomfortable for me. I might make one without this alteration just to see how it is.

One future change I will definitely make is to add pockets! Having a place to put your hands (or keys, or a tissue) is just really convenient. They are always missed when they aren’t there-I don’t know what to do with my hands.

The Style Arc Olivia dress features a scoop neck without any buttons or zippers. That’s another thing that makes this so quick and easy to make. You can just pull it over your head and that’s it!

If you’d like to see another easy spring/summer dress pattern, you can take a look at this post . This is a perfect time to start planning your wardrobe for the upcoming season. For me (and those of us in this hemisphere) that means summer.

If you’d like to check out the video review I did, here it is…