From our California Material Girl, Carrie, after the whirling in her head slowed down 🙂
(To see the first two entries, see The Art of Fitting-Before and The Art of Fitting-In the Thick of It.

So, how does one feel after being enmeshed in fitting muslins for almost 4 days? Tired!
My head feels full of information that I didn’t even have time to get into notes. And I’m excited by all that I learned about how to fit patterns.
I still need to find time to take the adjustments from my muslins and adapt my tissue patterns according to the changes.
I brought 10 muslins with me to the training and all 10 came home fitted to me – first by another student, then reviewed, adjusted, and modified by Peggy.
I’m very happy with what I learned and am also happy to have 10 patterns fitted to me that I can use as a baseline going forward.

The training schedule is 80% hands on fitting. The other 20% is direct explanation and training from Peggy. There is no magic formula for fitting. Each wrinkle is unique to each individual, but Peggy has tried to create a common sense approach that breaks down the most common sources or reasons for wrinkles. I like that Peggy is all about taking a simple approach to fitting – what’s the fastest, easiest way to eliminate the wrinkles? Let’s not create a new arm hole shape that would require a new sleeve. Let’s not make several modifications to one garment – maybe we have the wrong size to start with etc.

After Day Two I think most people in the class felt frustrated with the learning process. Most of what we were doing to fit the muslins was still “wrong.” We were able to identify the wrinkles, but not always what was causing the wrinkle, so therefore, not fixing the wrinkle in the correct way. Day Three Peggy came in with a new class format and, in general, I could tell that by the end of the class we were starting to “get it.” Day Four, the last day, Peggy offered to start early and most people showed up early, already jumping in with a partner before Peggy even arrived. Each fitting was reviewed and corrected as needed by Peggy. She would often ask what the fitter saw before making an adjustment, then review what should be changed and why.

Overall, learning the fundamentals of fitting and the hands on experience is totally worth the cost of the class. Leaving the class with at least 9 fitted muslins- more if you have time to make more – is totally worth the cost of the class. If you want to become a fitting trainer and offer sewing classes – you won’t walk away with a packaged program or curriculum to do that. In my class about half of the ladies were interested in teaching fit classes. Peggy does share experiences and what works or doesn’t work from her personal experience and the experience of previous students.

So, am I a fitting expert now? No, but I have a really good set of tools in my tool box. From what I’ve heard and now experienced, it takes practice, practice, practice and I’m ready to jump in!

Thanks, Carrie. To find out more about Peggy’s class fitting class, click this link.