Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sewing and design

How to design a stuffed animal?

apfel — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:06:01 -0800

Sewingfilter: Please show me how to design a stuffed animal for my young niece. She wants a doggie doll, but I've never done anything with a snout before. I've tried, unsuccessfully, to design a pattern on my own. I've botched several attempts and am running low on scraps. I have a specific idea in mind but I can't seem to transfer it to fabric.

Specifically, I want to design a dog shaped ragdoll. Dog head, human body. Something simple, classy, similar in shape to this but with a long, upturned snout. The 3D aspect is throwing me off. I can't seem to get the crest/top of the snout to match up with the sides of the face. Usually the head comes out too fat and the nose comes out too thin.

Can any crafty design veterans recommend how to approach this project? Or at least good resources online on making your own pattern? None of my searches have brought up much.

I appreciate any help you guys are willing to throw at me.

My Beau Wants to Design Menswear

ao4047 — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 17:17:22 -0800

My boyfriend wants to experiment with designing menswear - both casual and formal (he's had experience sewing wedding dresses). Looking for:

Standard books/design he should look at (incl pattern-making books) - what are the 'canon' books/ideas?
Online resources for menswear design and construction
Favorite fabric stores in Chicago (preferably not in the suburbs)

Sewing in Seattle

Jawn — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:43:32 -0800

Sewing jobs in Seattle? I'm heading up to Seattle tomorrow for a vacation/job-hunt. I've done nothing but tend bar since I turned 21 and would like to move into a different field, ideally sewing as it has been a hobby of mine for some time now. Something on the design side of things would be even better. I'd eventually like to start my own clothing line but am not in any position to do that at this time (I'm broke). Ideally I'd like to work at Utilikilts and will be visiting them when I'm up there, but who knows how that will go and I'd like some other options. So the question is, does anyone know of any clothing maufacturers/designers in the area that I might try while I'm up there? Thanks.

When you can take the bobbin from my hand, it will be time for you to sew.

Vervain — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:48:26 -0800

I want to improve my sewing kung-fu. But where to start? I've owned my mother's old Husqvarna Viking for years, and while I have a basic enough grasp of how it functions, I have yet to really do anything significant with it--mending, minor alterations, simple projects like curtains and pillow shams, and one improvised Mona Lisa costume that turned out middling-to-awful. This was all well and good, but...

Flash forward to two weeks ago, where I found myself digging through a not-small-mall's plus-sized offerings, which were uniformly crap. (I was looking for a dress to wear to an upcoming wedding.) It might've been a lack of sleep or an overdose of Project Runway, but after the nth rack of tacky polyester garbage, something snapped. I'm now bound and determined to learn to sew, and the incomplete set of Time-Life sewing books I somehow inherited along with Mom's machine just aren't going to cut it. (Sorry.)

Much as I would like to go from zero to couture in a week, I know I have to start somewhere. My question(s) for you: what books do you recommend for beginning/intermediate/advanced sewing skills, especially those relating to pattern alteration or design? What, if anything, do you feel you need to learn in a classroom setting? Were there any projects that you found especially helpful for the acquisition and honing of skills? And what additions (e.g. specialty feet, duct tape double) to the basic sewing setup did you find most helpful?