Saturday 31 August 2013

How to Fit a Jacket with Cynthia Guffey

Steps to Exquisitely Comfortable Fit - The Jacket
April 2012 ~ I attended the "Original Sewing & Quilt Expo" in Worcester and took every Cynthia Guffey class available.
She is amazing and I became one of her biggest fans.
She is truly an expert and she has such a full of life type personality.

I bought pretty much every book, pattern  and DVD she had.
She also had some gorgeous raw silk fabric. I bought some but haven't used it yet.
Periodically I will check to see if Cynthia has new patterns or DVD's.
I was pleasantly surprised when I found that she was now doing on line classes
on dailycrafttv. She has three classes.
I posted it on the facebook sewing group, because I just had to share this great find, of  course.
 Carolyn - from Dairy of a Sewing Fanatic and I decided we would each take a class and review it.
I purchased How to Fit a Jacket and Carolyn is reviewing Seven Core Sewing Skills.
I do plan on purchasing the other two.
Cynthia is joined with Marlene Ingraham, the founder of  Original Sewing & Quilt Expo. 
Together they made a great team.
 Cynthia  is working with real people, not a dress form and a pattern that has princess seams.
She addresses fitting issues, wrinkles, that occur on garments, where they originate from and how to solve them.
She shows these issues on the "mock up" and makes the corrections on the paper pattern.
Some of the issues she covers are:
Shoulder width ~  sometimes you think your problems are armhole issues but can actually be a shoulder width issue.
Shoulder Slope ~ when garment is pulling away from neckline /shoulder area. Looks too big ~ so to fix we "nip" it just a little . That is bad ;)
I saw her do this alteration at Expo, but forgot about it. The paper alteration may surprise you.


Center back to Side Seam ~ side seam pulls toward the front- hem drops lower in the back. caused by back hip issues.
Upper Back Curve ~ an alteration that is often overlooked and seldom addressed and will solve many fitting issues.
When Cynthia did my fitting at Expo, this same alteration is what she did on me but for protruding shoulder blades. An alteration I did not realize I needed to do.
Bust line ~ Full bust adjustment
One of her models is a petite model and Cynthia addresses fitting/alteration issues when having to decrease.



The class was a pleasure to watch. Cynthia has a true passion for what she does and it shows.  (At some points It was like being right there in one of her classes at Expo. I was expecting her to share a recipe at any moment. That is what she did everyday. She would Give us one of her favorite recipes and tell us to "write this down"!)
In summary this  class addresses many jacket, (or upper body) fitting issues that we have and she sees the fitting/alteration issues through from mock up to paper. She makes the fitting and corrections seem simple so we can achieve  that custom look we want.
After taking her classes at Expo, I remember feeling that her methods, her way of teaching, her passion and just her overall personality  inspired you!
Still applies.
She gives you all the information.
You just want to do it ~  and  do it  right.
I have seen most of the jackets on display in this video.
They are gorgeous!
The baby blue coloured jacket has her signature "Guffey Seam" .
An inset seam which is in her "Exterior Seams" part 1 DVD.
I am anxious to take Cynthia's other two classes, which I also bought :)
 Have a great day!

Ann 

13 comments:

KellysSewing said...

Thank you for this review. Sounds as if the class covers a lot of issues!

Kat said...

Great review, Ann! I think I'm going to have to buy her jacket class before beginning an asymmetrical jacket for my daughter. She wants it in leather, and for the price of leather there can be no mistakes. I want her to have a perfect fit.

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Ann ~ I linked to your review in mine! I'm glad to know that this one is as great as the one I watched. However, I knew it would be. I'm so happy she did these and that you shared this information! I'm also thrilled that I'm on vacay this week so I can watch them all at my leisure!

Thanks again!!!

Mary Beth said...

Hey, Ann, I bought the Skills class as soon as I read Carolyn's review today and now, yes indeedy, I will buy and watch the other two classes. Thanks for your review. I had met Cynthia but never had a class with her. What a great class and I love her Southern style.

Unknown said...

It sounds like you had a lot of fun! Thank you for this review and link. I'm planning to make a jacket this winter and I suspect this will come in very handy indeed!

Vicki said...

Sounds interesting. Next time I am complaining there is nothing on TV, I will watch this. Great price.

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

Ooh, I have some classes with her in October at the Birmingham expo - I may have to get these too!

Sewingadicta said...

This looks like a very complete sewing class! It's great to have people who share Their sewing skills for us. I'm glad you came back to the world of blogger, dear friend.

Lisa Laree said...

Love - Love - Love Cynthia Guffey! Thanks for the links...when I land on the other side of the data base migration and can call my life my own again, I'll be checking them out!

Diana said...

I bought these Saturday. I love them! Did you get my Email,Ann about Sept 3rd. (tomorrow)?

Audrey said...

I am a big Cynthia Guffey fan and take many of her full day and shorter classes at the annual Sewing Expos in VA and MD. I also have a lot of her DVDs. I did not know about dailycrafttv or her classes there. Thanks for posting the information.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the info on the jacket class. At $9.99, it's a bargain, and I can watch it repeatedly. (The one complaint I have about Cynthia's Expo classes is that she doesn't provide handouts, so you need to take detailed notes and draw diagrams.) I remember the first year I attended the Cleveland Expo and saw her work, which was so beautiful it actually brought tears to my eyes. I ran to the registration desk and traded in all the tickets I had for other classes for tickets to hers.

vapecigas said...

Are you still worried about quitting smoking? Try Orcas Pod Kit,Steam Crave RDTA and Artery Starter Kit. There is no secondhand smoke and no impact on health. You can choose the nicotine content according to the schedule and the price is cheap and the quality is guaranteed.