How does the Luttterloh system work

Most of you reading this blog are 
deciding if Lutterloh is all it promises 

Or

You just bought the Lutterloh system 
and have no idea what to do first...

I didn't buy my first Lutterloh book at a sewing store class, or 

see a demo at the big sewing expo.  

No, I saw something on e-bay that was old and beautiful and interesting.

 I bid on it and won a book with several stacks of cards from 1940.

  

My knowledge of Lutterloh patterns has all been trial and error.

This learning is what I pass along to you... a journey I have taken
and added Ann, a fellow Lutterloh sewer, in.
  A pattern making, sewing journey. 

Lutterloh patterns started in West Germany in 1935.

Maria Aloisa Lutterloh started the business and
collected her fashions 

from several European fashion houses. 

The patterns were designed using the popular math formula

'The Golden ratio'

The idea of the body's shape being in balance
is a true principle

of mathematical balance.

Leonardo Di Vince used the Golden ratio
so do I when designing weaving patterns.

How does it work?

A pattern is made using an apportioning scale

H=full length of body

1/2 H=upper part of body

1/4 H=length of leg from ankle to knee

  from chin to navel

1/6 H=length of foot

1/8 H=length of head crown to chin bottom

1/10 H=face height and hand length

1/12=width of face

This is just a small sample of an apportioning scale

When you make a Lutterloh pattern 

with your tape and pin stuck in the hole

for the size of your bust
and then your hip you are using the system as a 

Graded system
meaning the pattern is enlarged in set amounts from
one size pattern to the next. 

The US pattern companies use this system.

They make a base pattern 
(much smaller than I am)
and grade it (make it larger in set portions)
until it is my size....

I had four daughters (yes one son) to sew for 
and we needed different size patterns for each. 

I could buy a pattern for each girl

or I could do my own pattern grading, which I did!  

Go crazy grading or spend too much money buying patterns.

(now there are multi-sizes in an envelope)

That still doesn't always work

 Brides maid dresses for my daughters wedding

took this many multi-size patterns to get 

all the girls a correct size! 
 Often you must use muli-pattern lines for larger hips 
or smaller bust and suddenly 
it's not a multi-size pattern.

If only I'd had a Lutterloh pattern book back then!  

Here are pj tops for a daughter and
her two children. 

Made in one hour with one pattern!

The Clear Truth of the Matter

If I buy a pattern or draft my own pattern
or make a much faster Lutterloh pattern

I get the same results.

YES!

Each system doesn't fit my body without help.

They never have whether I was skinny or round as I am now.

 The people I sew for have the same issue.

You can assume most everyone doesn't fit every pattern right off.

With that in mind I offer the idea that
  some skill in fitting will make the difference.

You just need to figure out your own shape and how it differs from
the patterns you like.....

then learn to adjust for those few issues.
For me it's a bust adjustment, a shoulder, and a length adjustment. 

The biggest problem I see when people try to fit
patterns on themselves is they do too much. 

Fitting is most successful when

you make small changes and only do one change at a time.  

Most people do too much.