<\/noscript><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nAfter one particularly expensive overbuying episode, I decided to ask for help on my blog. I asked my readers how they handle the situation and I discovered that most people were just as stumped as I was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, a few folks had systems \u2013 but even that wasn\u2019t a lot of help, because everyone\u2019s system was different. Of course, that makes sense, because \u201cthe skirt\u201d in the phrase, \u201cOoooh, that would make a beautiful skirt!\u201d was different for each woman. For one woman, \u201cthe skirt\u201d was usually some kind of fitted, knee-length business skirt in a size 6 and for another woman, \u201cthe skirt\u201d was almost always a mid-calf-length circle skirt in a size 14. Obviously, they would routinely buy different amounts of fabric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I was still stuck\u2026 I spent a few days mulling it over, when it finally occurred to me that I didn\u2019t have to guess. I owned lots of sewing patterns! I could actually CALCULATE the average amount of fabric that I would need for different types of clothes. I could go from wild-eyed guessing to estimating based on tables built from the fabric requirements of lots and lots of actual patterns!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My day job involves a lot of number crunching, so I was right at home setting up an Excel spreadsheet. And I may<\/i> have slight OCD tendencies, so it wasn\u2019t long before I had exhausted my own supply of sewing patterns and was downloading images of the backs of sewing pattern envelopes off the internet and entering those numbers too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast forward two years and about 10,000 sewing patterns<\/strong> \u2013 throw in the help of some good friends and lots of encouragement and constructive criticism from my blog readers \u2013 and the end result is a series of reference cards that will help anyone estimate how much fabric to buy \u2013 taking into consideration the width of the fabric and the size and style of the garment that you want to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf this sounds like the kind of thing that you would like to have with you when you are fabric shopping, you can learn more about the cards in this video:<\/p>\n\n\n\n