One 6-hour class

Sewing your own clothes is satisfying and practical. Drafting your own patterns goes one step further and puts the entire design process in your hands. Cal will teach you how to draft a pattern for a simple woven top that can easily be customized in myriad ways. As a shorter, loose-fitting top it’s a “Boxy Tee”, but make it longer with a bit more ease in a fabric with good drape like linen, and it’s a “Drapy Tunic”. This is a perfect intro to pattern-drafting if you’ve been wanting to dip your toe in the water, and the sewing couldn’t be simpler. This basic t-shirt shape makes a lovely “blank canvas” pattern to use as a foundation for all sorts of techniques: piecing, quilting, embroidering, dyeing, eco-printing… and of course you can combine and layer the treatments to create the most special garments.

We all have fat quarters or other smallish cuts of precious fabrics, too small to use for garments - until now! You can play around with different seam placements and piece together smaller scraps of fabric, placing some of those treasured morsels front and center.

In this workshop, we’ll begin by drafting the basic pattern to your measurements, then cut + sew a quick muslin (fit sample) to check fit, and tweak the pattern if necessary. Next you’ll either continue by turning your sample into a *wearable muslin*, or cut a new one, perhaps adding extra seams or pockets. Beginner stitchers will keep it fairly simple, and those with more advanced skills can customize to their hearts’ content. Everyone will leave with a shirt that reflects their personality and ideas to make endless variations!

Please have at least advanced-beginner sewing skills, with a few simple projects under your belt.

This class will be off-site at a location accessed by a flight of stairs. Class fee is $245 and includes lunch. Your place will be reserved with a $125 deposit now. The balance will be due by April 6. Students are expected to be vaccinated and boosted. We’re watching the Covid situation and if necessary will require testing and/or masks.

You’ll need about 4 yards of woven fabric as well as some paper and pattern drafting supplies. A full list will be provided after you register.

Cal Patch has been a maker since she was a Girl Scout in the seventies. She sews, crochets, spins, embroiders, knits, prints, makes patterns, dyes… hence the name of her clothing label: *hodge dodge*. Cal has been teaching the textile arts sine 2000, at shops and retreats across North America, and now offers online workshops in pattern drafting, sewing, and crochet via Creativebug. After seventeen years of being a New York City dweller, Cal now resides in the Catskills where she is becoming a crafty farmer and growing her handmade wardrobe. Her first book, Design-It-Yourself Clothes, Patternmaking Simplified, was published by Potter Craft. You can see what she’s up to at http://calpatch.com