The Fair Fit Method Sewing + Design - How We Sew and Customize 2 Garments in Each Course

The Fair Fit Method is a year long curriculum in which you will make several garments and learn a multitude of fashion design concepts. The projects are planned so that as you create a garment, you learn a new skillset with each one, and each garment helps you advance to the next. I wanted to share my personal process of design and adaptation that I've used for the last 7 years in my creative practice. 

In every course you make 2 garments in order to practice and learn the Fair Fit Method sewing processes to create one of a kind garments. This kind of sewing is not the kind used in commercial cut and sew patterns, or ready to wear for that matter. Rather they are exclusive approaches that I have invented and practice in my personal creative work.

We do make a "muslin" and this garment is used to learn your drape, fit, and proportion. It is sewn in my raw finish method and unlike a conventional muslin you still get a wearable garment from all that work. This method also enables you to see and make your pattern alterations much more easily.

Once you learn your body proportion, fit, and make your first skirt and then your first dress, you can continue to customize the design in shape and style in later courses in the program. The pattern is like a set of fashion legos, there are several additional blocks for more advanced designs, like customized sleeves, bodices, necklines, and skirts. This way you can continue to innovate and use unique combinations as you progress through the curriculum, collecting new blocks with each course.

Learn and Make the Fair Fit Dress - Here is a version of a raw finish garment that will be your wearable muslin that helps you learn draping, fit and proportion.

The courses do build on each other, so you do have prerequisites. Students will learn how to make the skirt first, and then apply those lessons in the dress course. After completing the dress course, you can learn the advanced sewing options and pattern customizations. In the Fair Fit Method courses, I have outlined my process and plan to help creative sewists grow and try out the methods before  too many customizations are given to you all at once.

To advance and increase your skill set requires steps completed one at a time, and that’s why this is a curriculum, not just courses, and not just a sewing pattern. Rather the Fair Fit Method is my design program and a plan to advance your skill set with different forms of sewing and construction. My hope is that by learning these new approaches that you will grow your skills into intermediate and advanced approaches to sewing and design.

An example of a Fair Fit Dress, Raw Finish Version with the Circle Skirt and Band Pattern Blocks.

Another example of a Fair Fit Dress, Raw Finish Version with the A-line Skirt and Band Pattern Block added to the hem.

In every class we make 2 garments to provide you the opportunity to design further and apply what you have learned and to take your second garment to new areas of exploration. You may want to work with different blocks, apply the pattern alteration you learned, and decide to use a different kind of sewing.

In your second garment, you can change the find of fabric you are using, play with pattern and print, color block, repurpose, or use interesting methods of topstitching and sewn lines. If you choose to progress through the courses, you will learn a new method of sewing each time.

Making two garments allows you to try out more ways you can play with the pattern. The fragmented and small parts of each piece makes the Fair Fit patterns ideal for repurpose, free motion quilting, piece work, and many more contemporary takes on classical craft processes. 

By participating in the Fair Fit Method courses, you will be making a collection of garments. I have found when working with students of the Fair Fit Method that as soon as you make one dress, I hope you have the inspiration to jump into the next. 

Want to bring more design to the garments you sew too? In my email newsletter, I send articles to teach you sewing practices to create clothing that is meaningful to you. Sign up to receive email lessons on garment design, the latest blog posts and video tutorials, and all the latest class announcements and promotions.

Would you like to learn more? I've written many posts on the method and the pattern variations. See below for more posts in this series.

Photography by Carolynn Amy Siebert and Lily Brooks and the other named photographers from the article. All Images ©Andrea Eastin Fair Fit TM and are used exclusively for fairfitstudio.com. Never use or post images or my writing without my written permission.