This pattern grading thing is going to get the best of me, I swear. You know I've been working on grading up vintage patterns for a while now and I've run into problems now and again. I bought two sizes of the same pattern to compare the grading, looked up measurement charts on the internet, pulled down a book I'd borrowed from my mom, and I realized something: although the bust, waist, and hip measurements change from era to era, the grading is the same.
Yep, they're all graded the same way. Ah-ha!
Well, they're all graded the same way when you get up to my size, anyways. And it turns out that I haven't been using that way. I've been doing it incorrectly. First I tried using a method popular on the web and referenced all over the place, but that method isn't all that precise and it doesn't really explain what to do when grading over huge sizes. Then I tried using a method that is probably the correct way to grade but not is what is used by the pattern companies. As a result, I was having a hard time getting the bust to fit properly. And the whole time, I needed to use the method in my mom's book to grade the pattern up to the right bust size and then adjust the waist and hip.
So of course I'm aching to go ahead and trace up a pattern and grade it... so why haven't I started doing that? Sigh. I just can't decide on *which* pattern I should use. I've got so many, and so many that I want to work with. Being paralyzed by indecision is not a new feeling for me - there is such a thing as too much choice. I guess I just need to pick one, any one, and work on it. And then hopefully not have the same problem choosing fabric as I'm having choosing a pattern. :) I have lots of gorgeous fabric and I worry that I'll waste awesome fabric on a pattern for which it won't work.
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