Ruth Collins is @Ithacamaven

Tuesday 30 August 2022: Ruth Collins is better known as Ithacamaven on Instagram and she created the Top Down Centre Out method to fit pants/trousers.

Ruth posts all the details about the Top Down Centre Out method on her Instagram account including updates about this method as she refines it.

Ruth discusses the basis of the Top Down Center Out method and what this method was designed to sewists achieve on their own.

At about the 10 minute mark, Ruth discusses the 5 steps of her Top Down Centre Out method.

Towards the end of the podcast, Ruth discusses how this pants fitting method caters the body curves and people’s fit preferences.

Ruth does discuss how making pants fit is also a part of ensuring you keep the style of the pants as well. Different styles will have shaping to keep within the pants you’re working on.

Ruth’s first article was published in Threads Magazine issue #218 and Stacey of @thecrookedhem is publishing a series of videos on her YouTube channel.

Make sure you head over to Miriam’s podcast as she’s been helping Ruth with communicating about Top Down Center Out pants fitting method.

Did you hear Stacey’s podcast about her Top Down Center Out videos?

Miriam is @mirzydotes

Tuesday 6 December 2022: Miriam has been helping Ruth Collins get the word out about top down center out method and it’s easy to understand why when you hear Miriam’s sewing story.

Miriam was encouraged to sew through 4H programs.

Miriam has a phD in English and she immediately realised Ruth is a scientist by how Ruth was communicating about Top Down Center Out method. She tells us about her experience of using a dress form to get good fitting clothes but this meant Miriam had to make the dress form fit her body shape.

You’ll hear how Miriam describes Top Down Center Out method as ‘body agnostic’.

With her friend Anne Marie, they have been helping Ruth to show how anyone can use Top Down Center Out method and get pants that fit.

A key point that Miriam raises is that sewists need to keep in mind the intended fit every designer builds into the patterns we are using when we are working on sewing clothes that fit.

As Miriam says, this is one method we can use to fit pants and if you feel this method doesn’t work for you there are a few other ways to make pants fit perfectly. As a sewist, we now have a bigger choice of pants fitting method at our disposal.

What to find the free resources and learn how to use Top Down Center Out method?

• Go to Ruth’s Instagram account to find out more about Top Down Center Out method.
• Stacey Taylor @thecrookedhem has now published 11 videos everyone can access for free to learn how to use Top Down Center Out method
• Follow #TopDownCenterOut on social media to see the increasing number of people now using this pants fitting method.

Stacey Taylor is @thecrookedhem

Tuesday 25 October 2022: Stacey Taylor known as The Crooked Hem on Instagram, has developed a series of free YouTube videos to help sewists use the Top Down Centre Out method, developed by Ruth Collins ithacamaven on Instagram.

Ruth Collins was on the podcast in August and discussed the 5 steps within the Top Down Centre Out pants fitting method.

Stacey has developed this series of Top Down Centre Out videos in consultation with Ruth so these free resources are always available and up to date.

Stacey is a trained molecular biologist, and this engrained discipline leads her to always document her work, cite my sources, and encourage open discourse. Stacey left the lab years ago but took these principles with her to other parts of her life, including her sewing practice.

She shares her work here with everyone openly in the hope that it might inspire others or helps people along their sewing journey.

When Stacey is not at her sewing machine, she’s in her garden or hiking in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her husband. Stacey has a Ph.D. in cancer biology, and she has worked as a scientist, teacher, and a technical writer. Today she is a product manager in the cancer diagnostics industry.

Top Down Center Out resources: –

Follow Stacey’s sewing blog: https://thecrookedhem.net
Follow Stacey on Instagram (@thecrookedhem): https://www.instagram.com/thecrookedhem/
Follow the Top Down Center Out hashtag on Instagram for fitting examples from hundreds of sewists: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tag…
Follow Ruth Collins on Instagram (@ithacamaven): https://www.instagram.com/ithacamaven/
Read the article describing the #TopDownCenterOut method in the Summer 2022 Issue 218 of Threads magazine: https://www.threadsmagazine.com/issue…

The #TopDownCenterOut method is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…