fractions and sticky tape

Today I get to play with fractions. My nemesis. Ok so it might not be that bad but it's not far. At school I got on with mathematics quite well. It never really made me giddy but I could do it. But fractions and percentages always made me cry. On the inside at least. However I must face this demon today. As I mentioned yesterday I am grading a pattern down for a friend. Looking at it I should be able to do it just fine. My first thought was that there was a lot of darts and things to move around. Actually there are only 2 pleats at the front on each side. All the darts in my version of the pattern are there due to the FBA I had to do. So already it is easier than I though. I need to take 5 inches off the pattern overall which means taking 1.25 of each pattern piece (2 back pieces and the front cut on the fold = 4). The tutorial I am using gives you a breakdown of how much of the overall grade you need to take of each line you cut through the pattern. After a bit a squinting at a ruler (bless the rulers that are broken down into 16ths of an inch) I have a measurement for each line. It's a tad frustrating that I have to reduce the pattern over the vertical as well as the horizontal as the pattern is currently long enough. If I only alter it over the horizontal the arm and neck holes will be wrong though. So I'll be grading the whole thing down by 5 inches and then lengthening the bodice/waistband as needed. My intention is to get this done this evening and then get a mock up made so I can take it with me tomorrow when we go fabric shopping. Ideally we will go either to S~'s house or mine and do a fitting to make any further alterations. I know this pattern backwards and it takes me a whole day to sew based on my pattern. With less darts it should go even quicker. I reckon a week of evening sewing should do it. We are just adding a circle skirt to it which is a doddle compared to the 8 panelled skirt the pattern calls for. I am quite hopeful about this and it will be a great learning experience for me. Tomorrow we are going fabric shopping for it and I am very excited. As I am not allowed to buy any more fabric of my own until I've used up all I have I'll be living vicariously through S~. I need to figure out how much fabric we will need for the skirt as I'm sure it will be more than the pattern envelope says with it being bigger.

Once I've got the pattern sorted tonight I am hoping to have enough time left to finished sewing my red and white spotty dress. I'd like to wear that tomorrow if I can. I need to buy some low heels as I have no heeled shoes suitable for shopping in. A scouring the charity shops it is. Until then I'll have to find some flat shoes in my shoe box. If I don't get that one done then it will be the red "I used to be a duvet" dress.

You know what, I really need to do a post showing all my sewing so far. I was a member of Wardrobe Refashion and I now post at the Thrifty Garderobe and I am rubbish at actually posting pics of the sewing I do. Maybe a bit of a recap with pics is in order. How about it folks, would you like to see what I have sewn and how much I have improved?

19:11
I have completed the grading and am feeling quite chuffed with myself. It's not perfect by any means but there is quite a bit of ease in this pattern so I envisaged a bit more fitting being needed anyway. After tea I'll be making a rough toile to get S~ to try on. Then on to the spotty dress for me. But first let there be home made pizza. Mmmm.