Lutterloh

UPDATE:
I think I figured out my sizing problem!  And it is such a beginner's mistake that I am almost ashamed to admit it.  But fear not, dear reader, I am here to put aside my pride and let you in on a life-changing revelation.

I took my measurements wrong, but it is worse than that sounds.  I know that I pulled the tape quite tight when taking my measurements and I rounded down to the lower even number when I landed on an odd number.  I am used to working with Big 4 patterns and they always have so much extra built in ease (for my taste, anyway) that I thought this was the way to go.  So I just took my standard tape measure and remeasured.  I had a difference of 12cm to what my previous measurements were.  That's almost 5", folks!  How could I be off by so much?!  Well, now here's the embarassing part; I used the Lutterloh tape measure the first time I took my measurements and even though I KNEW that the zero wasn't at the beginning of the tape, I just automatically measured from the beginning of the tape.  For the love of Maude!  Clearly the measurements I took were way out in left field.

Now I can hear you wondering, gentle reader, how I could have been so far off my measurements and not know it.  I do sew for myself quite a bit, and should be familiar with my own measurements, right?  Well, I work and think in inches and know my measurements that way, but I measured in metric because that's what the system uses and that's the only option their tape measure has.  So to me it was just a number that didn't really mean anything.

To take it one step further I just compared pinhole spots on the tape from the old measurements to the correct ones, measured my pattern again and did some math, and long story short the correct measurements would have given me size-for-size across the bust and 3" of ease at the waist.  Looking at the pattern pic that sounds about right to me.

So now I think I will make myself a new pattern with the corrected measurements and make another top in a comparable fabric.  Let's see if it looks more like the pattern pic.  I'll report back.

UPDATE 2:  Second trial is posted here.

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I was generously gifted a Lutterloh pattern drafting system by my aunt on her recent visit, and I spent a very long day in the sewing room yesterday trying my first Lutterloh pattern. I went with a sleeveless knit top. It went better than I expected, although I may have to do some more tweaking. I used my high bust measurement as recommended by many online folks because apparently using your full bust can leave too much fabric at the shoulders. I was using leftover fabric from another project (leggings for my daughter) to make a muslin so I decided the easiest way to test drive it would be to just make it. I could see from tissue fitting the pattern I would need to add 2" to the length to get the waist line onto my waist, which is my usual pattern adjustment. Other than that I just sewed it up. It is a tighter fit than in the pattern pic. That could be because I used my high bust measurement or it could be that I am not as slim as the model! It could also be the fabric; I used a very lightweight poly-lycra knit. I have a little bit of ease at the waist but it is smooth across the bust and at the armholes with negative ease. It does have bust darts and they turned out to be in the correct position for me (I did measure that before cutting out). I usually have to lower them an inch with big 4 patterns. I'm thinking that if I use a woven fabric I will need to do a full bust adjustment. I think I could use a stretch cotton weave to make this top if I added a side zip. The pattern called for facings but I always use banding with my knit tops so I just went with that. That did give me more of a crew neck that the pattern has, but it looks fine.  I was more concerned with testing the fit.

So all in all I am happy with my results. I have a wearable muslin and enjoyed the process of figuring out the pattern.  There are quite a few jeans patterns in the book and when I look closely I can see variations in the style and fit, so I may give one of those a try.  Also they have a leggings pattern which has curves on the legs as opposed to the straight line from crotch seam to ankle that the pattern I made from an online tutorial has, so that one is on my list as well. But next up, I am researching pegged skirts to make a matching skirt from the leftover fabric for my flowered peplum top.  There is a flounced skirt in the Lutterloh book; I can probably use the pencil skirt part of that (without the flounce) as I think it is pegged.  Oh, and they have a peplum top with a pencil skirt; I wonder if it was pegged?  Off to go look 😁

I am having fun with this system, so thank you again Aunt Geraldine xx