Mulling it over

Today

Being rather hesitant about hacking straight into my beautiful piece of sari silk, I decided to do a mock up of the jacket I'm making in plain fabric first. I persuaded Paul to check my measurements (my back neck-waist measurement is a whole three inches shorter than the average for my size!) before cutting out the paper pattern.

"Do you know", I said to Paul "when I was learning cutting we used to make a basic "body"out of calico which we then used as the template for all patterns. It was called a "mull"".

In My Day

I didn't start out knowing how to do all this. Back in the '60's I used to measure myself then cut out the fabric to the shape I wanted. I became very observant of how clothes were constructed, but had no idea about allowances and easing and other technical terms. Somehow the clothes I put together hung together - perhaps because dress shapes then were just straight shift and I never attempted jackets or anything clever.

When I went to the West Sussex College of Art to learn theatre design, I began to learn more about how to turn an idea into a beautifully fitting work of art. For this we went to the fashion department, where a very precise and helpful woman taught me the right way to take measurements, how to allow for the movement of the body and how to respect and use the grain and weave of the cloth. "Dressmaking" she told us "is all about how to make a flat piece of fabric fit the curved shape of the body."

I learnt that, for a hem to hang straight, it must be cut curved, and how to allow for the slope of the shoulders at the back so that the garment didn't rise up. I was fascinated - this is what I'd been missing all those years ago, when I'd just made it up as I went along,

When that part of the training was considered over for the more generalised theatre design students, I went back and begged to be taught some tailoring. So the teacher patiently showed me how to steam, stretch and shape heavy wool and canvas interfacings to give the perfect jacket or coat. I made a coat, too, using an old army blanket that came from God knows where, which I wore for some years. I learnt how to make a bound buttonholes (I was not so good at worked ones and have been grateful for the automation that my sewing machine gave me).

I never entered the world of theatre design but have lost count of the number of garments I have made since, for myself, children, family, friends and others, sometimes for payment, sometimes for love. My greatest reward is to see people actually wearing the clothes I've made them.

I've just remembered the name of that teacher; it was Mrs Mull!

What I have now is a hankering for a proper adjustable dressmakers' dummy. Anyone got one hanging about?