Buffi Jashanmal - Buffis Dress Design: Sew 30 Fun Styles: Make It, Own It, Rock It

Have you ever wished you could sit down with a dress designer and learn her secrets? Well, nows your chance! Ive been designing clothes for 10 years, and I teach classes in how to sew creatively. In this book, Ill share what I know about basic patternmaking and sewing techniques. Ill do my best to make this easy for you, and throw in designer and industry knowledge to back up the process. Even if you are totally new to sewing, fear not. You will learn how to make great wearable pieces that are totally unique, with customizing and styling tips throughout the book to keep you inspired and thinking for yourself. Heres a rundown of whats waiting for you:

It doesnt matter if you dont know warp from weft; all will be explained here. Plus, Ill give you some suggestions for fabrics that are fun to work with, so fabric shopping isnt quite so overwhelming. And while youre browsing the store, check out the materials that are listed in this chapter. Once youre stocked up on the right tools, youll be able to tackle the projects with ease. Have a good read through this section and get familiar with your new best friends!

This section is your foundation for the whole dressmaking process. Be sure to fill in the size charts on page with your measurements, and keep a copy with your sewing tools. You can compare your specs against the measurements of the slopers in the back of this book, and from there see if you want to make any alterations. With clear information on slopers, patterns, and drafts, youll easily be able to follow the patternmaking instructions. Here is where you will learn how to adjust the slopers provided to create a custom fit.

These three chapters each use a different but very basic dress template, known as a sloper. Ill teach you to manipulate the slopers to make various dresses using that one silhouette. The three slopers included in this book are all timeless and extremely useful for all your dressmaking needs. They include:

• the shift dress
• the sheath dress
• the princess seam dress

Each dress is broken up into three basic variations, with guidelines on each sloper to show you where to cut for each variation. These are:

• set-in sleeve
• raglan sleeve
• strapless

And guess what? Each of those three variations has three options:

• Make It. Learn the basics and make your sloper with basic sewing and apply new patternmaking skills.
• Own It. Play with these simple yet totally effective customizing skills.
• Rock It. Take patternmaking and sewing to the next level; for those who already have sewing and patternmaking experience, or for those who have learned the basics by making the simpler versions of each dress.

Are you counting? That makes nine dresses for each sloper, for a total of 27 dress projects plus three bonus projects in chapter 6. Whatever your level of experience, youll find ideas for something new and inspiring to sew for yourself!

This is where you take what youve learned and apply it to remake vintage clothing. Once you have the basic skills, its so easy to take something youve found in a thrift store and adapt it into something fab! We are all about going green these days, so dont just buy vintage, make it your own! There is something hugely satisfying about having reworked a garment.

Dont miss out on this gem! If you have never touched a sewing machine (maybe yours is still in the box under the stairs), take it out, dust it off, and get ready to learn skills that will serve you for life. All the basics are covered here, including making bias tape, installing zippers, and finishing raw edges. Youll be making dresses in no time at all! If youre already experienced, this section can serve as a reminder for any techniques where you feel a bit rusty.

All the slopers that you need are supplied as downloadable pdfs (see ). Slopers, sized from XS to XL. It is best to keep these sloper pages intact, so dont cut them; follow the instructions in chapter 2 for customizing them as needed and tracing them onto cardstock. Since each sloper piece has three sleeve options set-in, raglan, and strapless some of the tops have been separated from the bottoms of the slopers to avoid too many overlapping lines. Follow the marks on the slopers to match up and trace the correct sleeve version for the project you are making.

A sloper is a basic pattern template that represents the shape and size of your body. It is used as the starting point for making garments with consistent fit. Learn more about slopers in .

1. Download your selected sloper(s).
2. Open the PDF(s) with the latest version of Adobe Reader .
3. Print on 8 11" paper at 100%. Do not scale or fit any of the pages. You must print the document at actual size (see the test square to ensure your printer is accurate). Each sloper will print on multiple pages that you will tile and tape together.
4. Examine the sloper pages. The first page of each PDF shows a mini overview of the whole sloper (with the page divisions shown in gray lines). Uppercase letters identify each page.
5. Cut off or fold on the margins all the printed pages along the gray lines.
6. Lay out the pages on a large, flat surface or on the floor using the overview page as a guide, and line up the diamond symbols along the page edges.
7. Tape the pages together tightly along the edges once you have confirmed they are in the correct order.
8. Trim off all the excess paper along the outer black border of the fully assembled sloper. Refer to for instructions on customizing and using your sloper.

   To print these instructions, go to whol.st/sloper-inst .

To print all of the slopers, go to whol.st/slopers-all . To print individual slopers, select from and click on the items in the list below.

• Raglan Sleeve
• Set-in Sleeve

• Shift, Front Bottom
• Shift, Back Bottom
• Shift, Front & Back Top, Raglan
• Shift, Front & Back Top, Set-in & Sleeveless

• Sheath, Front Bottom
• Sheath, Back Bottom
• Sheath, Front & Back Top, Raglan
• Sheath, Front & Back Top, Set-in & Sleeveless

• Princess Seam, Center Front
• Princess Seam, Center Back
• Princess Seam, Side Front Bottom
• Princess Seam, Side Back Bottom
• Princess Seam, Side Front & Back Top, Raglan
• Princess Seam, Side Front & Back Top, Set-in & Sleeveless