Sewing with Peggy Sagers of Silhouette Patterns

In the interests of open disclosure I am a Peggy fan girl. Long long ago one of the blogs I read mentioned this pattern company that produced inspiration / how to videos for their patterns (Silhouette Patterns) which came in B, C and D cup sizing. Whilst I can't credit the blog for the introduction, as my memory has faded, I do thank them from the bottom of my heart for introducing me to Peggy. Once I started watching the videos and bought a couple of patterns I was hooked. Don't be put off by the photographs on the front of the patterns look at the line drawings. The pattern styles suit me and I appreciate them being well drafted.

I have learnt so much from Peggy Sagers and her video tutorials (both free and on DVD). I have all of the DVDs as well as the Fit 2 Stitch PBS series one to six. Many of the patterns I sew are based on the fit I have achieved with a Silhouette Pattern. My sewing is much less hit and miss than it used to be as I know how much ease I like in a garment, have sleeves and their matching armhole templates which I generally use rather than the one in the pattern and so much more.

When organising my trip to the United States for the International Quilt Festival in Houston I planned to spend two nights in San Francisco as I wanted time to go to both Britex Fabrics and Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics as well as doing a bit of sight-seeing. Then towards the end of August I discovered that Peggy was holding a two-day workshop in Portland, Oregon the Friday and Saturday I would be in San Francisco. Fortunately I hadn't booked my internal flight and even better I could fly San Francisco to Portland to Houston for pretty much the same price as flying San Francisco to Houston. The logistics weren't ideal but it could be done and I was off to Portland.

The finished garment

Over the Christmas holidays I made another pair of Lana's jeans using the fitting knowledge gained in class. After making the Minnie Mouse jeans I sent Peggy the below photo. The before picture is my Lana's Caesar jeans made in April 2018. I was really happy with the fit when I made them but you can really see the difference the pattern changes made to the overall look of the jeans. Peggy responded to the photo with some advice to remove more inseam length to eliminate the wrinkling at the top of my thighs. I have a piece of fabric already selected to make another pair refining the fit further.

I was quite excited to notice in the after photo that I actually have a thigh gap. I will sleep much better at night now!!! Although I suspect it is an optical illusion.

There will be a blog post about the making of the Minnie Mouse jeans including the pattern alterations. I did intend to include the making in this post, but it was getting a bit long so thought it best to separate them.

The pre-class instructions

About a month before the class Peggy emailed information to help us get the most out of our two-days with her. Essentially her goal is to make it about what you need, be it fitting, sewing skill, pattern work, fabric choices, or something else. If what you are looking for is help with fitting there is information on the instruction page of the website for muslin preparation for each type of garment (blouse, skirt, dress, jacket, or pant). My initial intention was to make three muslins (woven top, jacket and trousers) with the trousers being my priority. This was well within the five muslin limit set for each student, to allow Peggy time to support everyone through the fitting process.

Unfortunately I was sick with a heavy cold the weekend before I left for America and none of my plans happened. So given that trousers were what I wanted help with most I just took pattern #3600 Ralph's Pant with me as well as the bits and pieces needed to make the muslin. This was an excellent plan because it really enabled me to get the most I was capable of out of the class.


Silhouette Patterns #3600 Ralph's Pant

The cold travelled with me to the States and I continued being sick all the way through the trip and the first week back in NZ. The cold probably lasted that long because I didn't give my body enough time to rest.

Making the muslin

If you really want to maximise your time with Peggy I wouldn't recommend my approach of tracing the pattern, cutting the calico, and basting the seams at the beginning of the class because it obviously limits the opportunity for fitting and learning. However, as my brain had limited capacity for learning it didn't really make a difference.

The trouser muslin was made with 1" seam allowances (normal ⅜" + ⅝" extra for fitting purposes) on outseams and inseams. I only had the normal ⅜" seam allowance for the front and back crotch and waist even though Peggy recommends all of these should have the extra seam allowance. The pattern has slant side pockets which for the muslin I just incorporated into the trouser front, as instructed.

The muslin was sewn together, leaving the opening to get the trousers on and off in the back crotch seam. The crotch curve was clipped so that it didn't alter the fit of the trousers.

Now we are ready to fit. Peggy tweaks the muslin, you sew the alterations then Peggy tweaks the pattern some more if necessary. If you make lots of alterations it can be better to make a second muslin. Lucky for me the number of changes weren't that great and I could stick with just making the one muslin, especially as it took me two days to achieve what you see here.

The tutor

As I have already said I am a fan girl. The class was very professionally run and Peggy was very organised. She even brought a sewing machine from Dallas for me to use in class, which was super helpful.

Peggy's training is not that of the home sewer so sometimes there are misunderstandings due to terminology and the home sewing wisdom we have learnt over the years. As a pattern maker who has worked in industry and uses mainly industry techniques in her sewing she finds some of our home sewing doctrines strange. For example, the FBA which she had never heard of and thinks is fundamentally wrong as you are altering length, circumference and depth to fix a depth fitting issue. I got the impression that many of the people in this class had done classes with Peggy previously and we all seemed to be in tune, familiar with each others sewing language.

I found Peggy to be a really knowledgeable, patient and giving tutor. She was able to manage the different needs of her students and was fair in sharing her time with us all. For the fitting stage we all got a turn at the beginning of class and then we wrote our names on a list as we were ready to be fitted again. Many of the class had brought multiple muslins for fitting and some had brought finished garments for critiquing and advice. It really was as interesting to see what Peggy was doing with other people's muslins as having her fit mine. I would do another class with Peggy in a heartbeat but hopefully next time I won't be sick.

The class

No photography is allowed in class to protect the privacy of the students. Given that we were wandering around in our muslins and not necessarily camera ready this was a very sensible approach. I did mean to take a picture of the classroom but photos for the blog are not something I think about when taking a class so I forgot. The class was held at the Portland Airport at Cascade Station Residence Inn by Marriott. The hotel staff were pleasant and it was a nice comfortable bed to rest in after a hard days sewing.

The details are a bit hazy but the class size was small (10 or 12 of us) which gave Peggy the opportunity to give plenty of attention to each of us. This class, driven by the attendees, was all about fitting but Peggy did give us other sewing tips and insights during our two days.

The class room was a good size to work in comfortably without encroaching on each other's space. The tables were a bit small if you wanted to cut out any fabric but we all managed it when necessary. Even though the room had a wall of windows I can't comment on how good it was for natural light as we kept the curtains closed so we could wander around partly clothed for the fitting sessions.

Despite taking what I thought I needed for the class I ended up using Jennifer's cotton calico for my muslin. Jennifer (my table mate) had purchased a whole roll of it from an Ikea in Europe a few years previously and was more than happy to share.

My fellow class mates were great, chatty but not too noisy and focused on what they wanted to achieve in class. I confess to not interacting a great deal with everyone, as I was trying to limit the spread of my foreign germs, which is a shame because it is always so interesting to meet others that share the same interest.

So if you ever have the opportunity to take a class with Peggy I would highly recommend it, or as a starting point watch her free videos on YouTube (the Silhouette Patterns website also has a place where past webcasts are listed). If you find you can't get enough then there is also a closed Silhouette Patterns Enthusiasts! Facebook group you can join to ask questions / seek advice or model your Silhouette Patterns creations.

Post class entertainment

Jennifer and her husband took me into Portland on Friday night for dinner at Deschutes Brewery. This was after some quality time spent at Powell's Books. A whole city block of books which of course meant I had to buy one (or two). Deschutes was the only place I took photographs during my two day visit. I'm really not a natural born picture taker.



Deschutes Brewery, with brightly coloured umbrellas hanging from the ceiling.

We travelled into the Pearl District from Cascade Station on the Metro. As an ad hoc social observation both the Metro in Portland and the Bart in San Francisco seem much more widely used by all levels of society than the bus in Houston. Cath and I really stand out on the bus in Houston. Yet Houston bus drivers are extremely courteous and helpful, the buses themselves are tidy and we certainly don't feel in any danger from our fellow passengers. I suppose when the whole city is geared around the car there is no impetus to use public transport.