Scary 3D and sewing in Russian (Lekala patterns)

First of all, I moved in my new house (which is totally cute and adorable) and I HAVE A SEWING ROOM AGAIN :

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So I have been sewing! But in addition, I have been RUSSIAN sewing. I have jumped in the wonderful made to measure world of Lekala and I will have 2 reviews coming very very soon :This skirt (already done, just waiting to be photographed):

Nice huh? That skirt is a good example of their current offering, and the way they styled their newer patterns. Now get ready for old school Lekala with my other ongoing project, this dress :

OK OK I know what you are thinking... WHY ???

Well, because of the made to measure feature. I'm happy to report that It works EXTREMELY well (more on that below). After making the skirt (with super minimal alterations), I thought I should focus on a basic shapes to build a library of blocks with well-fitting patterns (by now you should know that I am a Fashion Incubator avid reader). So now in only 2 weeks (and no muslins), I have a basic pencil skirt pattern that finally accommodates the difference between hips and waist and a sheath dress pattern with short waist, wide hips, and narrow shoulders adjustments !

You may have an idea of how happy this makes me feel if like me you have been spending years of buying pattern making books, taking classes at FIT, reading blogs, grading for height and, of course, making countless muslins...

If you look at the lines, you can see that dress is nothing more than a basic sheath that I mat end up using endlessly!Even if it's a very basic shape, I believe that a short version in a nice print could be a cute cute dress. By chance (actually it has more to do with addiction to the silk section of Mood NY than with chance...), I am the happy owner an adorable Anna Sui print! Let's sew cake with frosting fabrics! The whole thing feels kind of 90's but hey, I grew up in the 90's.

If I was following a similar process to Sunni's "Focus on Fit", I think this is where I would start (or maybe with this dress eliminating the terribly cheap looking belt and the very classy front zipper...). And I would even go crazy and use 2 units and have the seam allowances included because I'm lazy and because blocks have seam allowances.

Now, if you want to join the fun and use the Russian patterns from Lekala (and not the american version), you NEED to read:

• Fehr Trade's blogpost and even more importantly (because I guess some things have changed on the website since 2011) :
• the AMAZINGLY AMAZING tutorial by steppenpuppy.

Once you read them this is my 2 additional cents: you need to do step 1 BEFORE step 2 on the registration page. I know I know... it sounds completely stupid not to. Sometimes you (ok, I... maybe it's only me) think that you can spare the extra step when really YOU CAN'T! Wait to receive the confimation of your PIN number (yes you need to wait... and it may take a few hours...). Then you can go as described by Fehr Trade and Steppenpuppy and use step 2 (second option) to register the credits you bought (done on softkey with a paypal account so you don't give your banking info to any russian website...).

The made to measure feature. What I can report after 2 patterns is that it works extremely well and ease is minimal !! For less than 2 dollars per pattern it is totally amazing.

One detail is that I feel that if you use the same measurement for hips with and without belly slightly projecting you will receive a blank email, so I put a minimal difference (1cm). Now get ready for the funniest and most hideous version of your body that you could ever imagine. This is mine:

So when you find a pattern that you like, you can click directly on this button (next to the order button)   and there you will enter the "string" that you received with your scary 3D body. Choose your printing options (for me it's pdf and letter), enter the email address you have been using for registration in step 1 and click "proceed with the order". Now tricky part (not really but I hesitated so...) choose the 3rd option : Payment from the user"s account (pin code 4 digits). Enter your PIN (the one from step 1) and you are done ! Your order may take has much as an hour to arrive in your mailbox so don't worry!

Finally you need to be pretty comfortable about sewing on your own, the Google translate of the instruction from Russian is... confusing to say the least! I will try to give more details about fit, use of seam allowances and other things in my review of the skirt.

I also want to report that I contacted the customer service: leko@lekala.info (twice... because of my refusal to submit and accomplish step 1 before step 2...). There is a big language barrier but they are very responsive, less than a day, and willing to help.

Have you tried lekala? What do you think about them?