What is it? -All right, we’ve decided to do a little fashion sewing.  Cool.  We’ve visited our local shop and poured over the pattern catalogs or perhaps searched favorite sites on the internet.  In either case we’ve found a pattern that’s just what we’re looking for.  We’ve reviewed the instructions on the back of the pattern envelope and acquired all of the required notions as well as the correct yardage of that killer fabric that will really make our project pop.  Keep in mind we’ll also want to make it something that we’ll really enjoy wearing.  Something both fashionable and comfortable.  So where do we start?  We start with the pattern.  Right out of the envelope it’s nothing more that large sheets of tightly folded pattern paper.  We loosely cut the major sections apart to make them easy to manipulate and maybe even iron them to smooth away all of the folds (remember, no steam).  Now we can easily identify the pattern lines and instructions.  Chances are we purchased a pattern that suits several sizes.  We’ll need to locate the size we need on the pattern and then precisely cut along those indicated lines to remove that section from the larger sheet of pattern paper.  It’s important to realize though, that the pattern indicates general sizes that fit the average proportions for each size.  But the truth is, no one is average.  What that means to us is that while overall we might be a “medium”, some parts of us might be a little “extra-medium” while other parts of us might be more of a “slim-medium”.  Okay, so how do we make those adjustments, the ones that will make our project look great and really fit well so we feel like a million bucks?  It’s easy enough to make those measurements and mark them on our pattern.  But how do we connect the dots?  Let’s take it a step further.  What if we want to change the neck line?  How about arm holes?  Perhaps we need to adjust a hip line or the hem line.  How can we modify our pattern to satisfy our own personal measurements or perhaps enable our own creative design inclinations?  Drum roll here please…  And the answer is Clover Curve Ruler with Mini Ruler.

How do I share it? -Clover’s Curve Ruler and Mini Ruler is a set of rulers complete with a French Curve, Hip Curve and Mini Ruler.  But you don’t sell them.  You sell the creative fashion experience.  And these tools are perfect for fashion design.  Offer a garment construction class where the students can use them to make a simple project.  Once they experience the ease and the creative potential of the process enabled by these curves, they’ll fill in all the remaining blanks themselves, envisioning further, more complex, more personally motivated projects.  Enthused students are your best advertising.  Word will spread and you’ll have fashion sewing fans for life.