Odd Ball Question

[kellydofc]

Hi Heather,
I have a quick question. Several years ago I made a corset with waist size F using the old hand drawn pattern. At some point I lost that pattern so when the time came to make a new corset I bought a new pattern and made my new corset with a waist size F again. Some how the new corset came out an inch and a half smaller at the waist and now it's way to small, the gap at the back is about 6". I was wondering was there a change in the pattern sizing and should I be using a waist size G or do I just need to lace this corset up and wear it hoping it will stretch out the 3" I need it to?

[Heather]

Well, I did change the size labels, but not the actual pattern. So this may be the problem you are seeing.

Originally, the sizing started at AA up to size M. (there is a long story about why that happened, but short story is, I just made it that way to fix a problem that cropped up at the end of the process.) When I redrafted the pattern, I had the opportunity to fix the problem the way it should have been fixed the first time around, and changed the sizing labels to A-N, to better match the standard sizing scale of the rest of the Truly Victorian pattern line.

So if you cut a F fpr a 27" waist before, you would now cut the G for the same 27" waist.

[Soundbrigade]

Excuse me for hijacking the thread, but how come the sizes are from AA to M, and not in US/EU standard sizes?

[Heather]

When I first came out with my pattern line, I did use the standard US sizing for patterns. The problem was that no one would choose their correct size; they just chose the size they thought they should be.

US pattern sizing has nothing to do with what is offered as ready-to-wear fashions. The fashion designers have made their sizes larger over the years, to appease the vanity of customers, but pattern sizing has remained constant. If you wear a 10 off the rack, you most likely wear a 14 or 16 in pattern sizing. Pretty much everyone chose the 10, not the 16, and then complained that the sizes ran small. I had good friend who is very experienced with sewing, look that the size chart, refuse to cut the size called for, and then got mad the pattern didn't fit.

To solve the problem of preconceived sizing, I changed the sizing label to letters, rather than numbers. This forces people to use their actual measurements to choose a size, and there is no stigma attached to the various sizes.

[Soundbrigade]

I certainly get the point and I have to, when I read your answer, agree with you to 200%.
I have in some cases noticed that there seems to be a kind of "inflation" in sizes, where a (real) size 14 suddenly has become a (pattern) size 12 etc ...

[MaryGode]

It doesn't help that the Big 4 companies' patterns are awash with ease. Look at the measurement chart, cut an 18, it fits like a sack, take in so much I should have cut a 14. It's not dressmaking, it's crazy-making!