Ease Into It

Photo Credits: Vogue Sewing & Simplicity 8055

Hey Loves!

It’s Tip Tuesday, so let’s ease into this tip. LOL I can be so corny. Anyway, this week’s tip is all about ease.

Let me tell you a story. This adventurous young lady once made herself a pencil skirt out of a non-stretch fabric. She looked at the finished measurements and made the size with finished measurements as close to her measurements as possible. After spending much time matching patterns and sewing the skirt, she was proud of the finished product. It looked great! Well, looks were deceiving. She tried it on. It eased over her curves but she couldn’t move without feeling like all the stitches would pop. Her walk was more like a penguin shuffle. So, frustrating for a newbie!

Does that sound familiar? It is all too familiar for me, because that lady was me. I eventually learned what went wrong. By matching my measurements to the finished measurements, I totally eliminated the ease. Let’s talk a sec about ease.

What is ease?

There are two types of ease wearing ease and design ease.

Wearing ease – Extra inches added for your need for comfort and mobility. Wearing ease enables you to walk, sit, climb stairs, and even stretch without restraint.
Design ease – Extra fullness added by design to create the desired silhouette.

How do I determine my pattern’s ease?

Most patterns indicate the type of ease in the finished garment measurements section. Take a look at the example above. It includes both design and wearing ease totaling 5.5” (finished garment measurements minus body measurements).

Here’s a chart that shows standard wearing ease per my new favorite read, Vogue Sewing.

Body Part	Standard Ease (inches)
Bust	2.5 – 3.5
Waist	1
Hips	2.5 – 2.75

Here’s a chart that shows standard design ease per Vogue Sewing.

Fit	Standard Ease (inches)
Closely fitted	None
Fitted	Little to none
Semi-fitted	Up to 4 in the bust
Loosely fitted	Up to 8
Very loosely fitted	Over 8

I hope this helps you all as much as it helped me. Needless to say, I won’t be doing the penguin shuffle ever again.

Whatever your aspirations are, OWN IT in 2017!

Until next time, smooches!

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