Greetings, CQ members and friends. For the next several weeks I’ll be blogging about my experiences with Crafters Quarters’ awesome pattern drafting software. While many of you folks think of CQ as a place for creating all sorts of fiber arts and mixed media projects, it’s also a phenomenal resource for those who sew clothing and home dec items: huge cutting tables, dress forms, sewing machines, and of course this software used by the fashion industry to create clothing lines for women, men, and children.

Like most people, my measurements don’t match the ones used by the ready-to-wear (RTW) industry. For example, most women’s garments are designed for ladies with a B-cup bust, and a height of around 5′4″. Darts — if they exist at all — rarely point to the apex of the bust, and the overall length is either too short or too long. No wonder we don’t look as good in our clothing as we could! And good looks aside, there’s the matter of comfort. Did you ever wonder why it’s often hard to move your arms in a low-priced t-shirt? It’s because on RTW tees, the back and the front armhole shapes are the same, rather than deeper in back. Without that extra depth, you get that locked-in feeling. (And you thought it was all in your head!)

So today, I am sitting in front of a computer with Jensi Rogers at my side. She’s walking me through the process of setting up an account and plugging in my measurements. Not just the usual bust, waist and hips, but also a slew of additional body specs that will hopefully make the final pattern we print out match my body rather than some NYC waif-model who would look good in anything — even a potato sack.

Keep tuned in to read my updates as I complete the “drafting” process and then move on to cutting. If you’d like to be alerted to when new posts are made, feel free to follow my Tweets. You can send me a question or comment there and I’ll try to respond here on the blog.

And now…back to the computer!