Petite Plus Wrap dress review

I am home now after a week in Winnipeg to visit my mother and other family there. I went to Christmas concerts, swim meets, and did a little sewing/alterations for my mom.

She is an 85 year old petite plus and updating some clothes for her involved the same series of alterations - shorten, bring in the sleeves to account for narrow shoulders etc. As always larger sizes seem to be designed as if a person was large everywhere, and neckline and shoulder fit is a challenge.

It is interesting to me that exactly what I had to do to make her purchased clothes fit are already built into the Petite Plus patterns.

I made this wrap dress for her, which she likes, in the unwrapped version. We like the fit in the neck and shoulders and the fact that the V neck does stay close to the body. In addition to being drafted for a short, fuller figure this pattern has some fitting features I liked:

• Three piece sleeve. Next version I am going to take advantage of this and narrow her sleeve from the bicep down, the three seams make custom sleeve fit easy.
• Back neck darts.
• Optional front and back French darts. I left these in the back to give the dress more shape but left them out to accommodate her waistline.

Here are the pictures. 

I think my mom is a pretty sharp 85 year old (she has never coloured her hair) but then again as the person actively involved in raising my 14 year old niece (including 6:00 a.m. runs to the pool most mornings) she leads the life of someone about 30 years younger and it shows.

(She would want to add that after seeing these pictures she is off for a new bra-fitting - welcome to the world of revealing blog photos Mom).

 

I am pretty impressed with this pattern and am even thinking of playing around with a down-sized version for myself. This is a great basic.

On other news I am finishing up my term and thinking about all I have to do in the new year. My resolution is to find more time for myself and I am not sure how I am going to accomplish that yet.

I have also decided to do SWAP this year and that will be the focus of my sewing for a while. Might make for some dull blogging but I think this might be a good year for a Useful SWAP.

In the meantime, I am back and wish you all the best as we count down to the busy season.

Back in business

I more or less deplaned from New York and went right into class and marking.

I am happy to report that the heavy lifting marking wise is now done. 

More than happy.

I have a week of classes and then have decided to go and see my family and mom in Winnipeg before Christmas. 

I want to see my niece and nephew's Christmas concert, to see another niece in a swim meet and maybe help my mom a bit with pre-Christmas stuff. We are also going out to the small town I lived in as a child where we will be having dinner with my best friend from Grade 8. She looked me up last summer and we picked up where we left off.

What does it say about two women who are still the same as they were in Grade 8?

She has spent her working life as a parole officer, and I have spent mine living in different places and doing a variety of things. It appears not to have changed either of us.

This is either a good or bad thing and I am not sure it really matters.

I have a lot to do before I go and this weekend I am catching up on family sewing.

900 baby wipes to sew for my daughter's up coming Christmas fair where her business has a booth.

I also want to start some dresses for my mother. It makes sense that I have them nearly done to take for a fitting.

My Vogue order hasn't arrived but I have found this pattern that I think she will like:

It's a new pattern from Petite Plus and I am pretty interested to make it. For those of you who are not familiar with this pattern line they are drafted for a fuller bust and tummy and narrow shoulders in mostly plus or getting there sizes. And of course petite sizes, I forgot about that. 

This more or less describes my 5'2" mother.

It is really hard for this figure type and particularly older ladies to find patterns. I hope we can get a TNT for her here. Although it says "wrap" there is also a non-wrapping option and that's what we will be using. I have two nice pieces of ponte that will work.

I have had a look carefully at the patterns and note that some of these might even fit me. I am about 8" past a petite but many of the figure characteristics apply and of course nothing is as easy as lengthening. 

My plan is to make this for my mother and put it on myself and to try to imagine it longer. I will let you know how that goes.

There are a few things about the website for this company that are note-worthy. 

First there is a page called Pattern Extenders that has free downloadable patterns for details like collars, how to adjust a pattern for maternity wear etc. There is also this free pattern for a basic shift that might be a way to test the drafting to see if it works for your individual pattern adjustment issues:

There is also a really excellent Custom Fit page with sensible advice for common fit adjustments like large arms, bust adjustments, and shoulder fitting, which is key.

Finally I should point out that there is a current Independent Pattern contest running for those of you who sew with these patterns:

The rules and application form are here.

Tomorrow I am going to share the startling discover about collars I made at the F.I.T. Ivy League exhibition, but right now I have a sewing room calling.