Rosealare's Toile...

I wouldn't normally show you the toiles that I make when I'm doing a dress for someone who I can't have fittings with in person. They're just plain, and not finished, so they don't look like anything much. They're an absolutely vital stage in the dressmaking process though, so I thought I'd show one to you for a change.

(Please excuse the photos. The viewfinder screen and the flash seem to be playing up now. Grr.)

The pattern is Butterick 5028, and the finished article is going to be made with Rosealare's knitting fabric!. It's Liberty cotton lawn, and it's gorgeously soft.

Rosealare has sent her measurements to me, and I've made the toile in the closest pattern size, with a few minor alterations such as raising the V at the back so that her bra strap doesn't show. The dark stitching around the neck, hem and armholes is to show where the finished edges of the garments will be. This gives a better feel for the fit of the shoulders and the neckline.

The next stage is for me to post the toile to Rosealare, and then she can try it on and tell me all the different ways that it doesn't fit! This is the scary part, as the customer needs to believe that the finished garment really will fit perfectly, and that the whole point of the toile is to make the necessary changes so that can happen. It's very easy to be demoralised when you try on a toile which doesn't fit, and panic that everything's going to be horrible. This is why I don't enjoy doing postal fittings very much - it's difficult to reassure someone when you're a long distance apart, and can't just pop in a pin and show them the difference in a mirror straight away.

Usually the toile needs to go back and forth between us a couple of times, until the fit is absolutely spot on. At that point I will take my scissors to the final fabric, and be sure that the finished article will fit properly.

There's a postal strike on at the moment, so I'm not sure how long it'll take for Rosealare and I to go back and forth with the postal stages of the project. I can't wait to get the fiddly fitting bits done though, and show you the finished knitting dress!