Have you ever found yourself in the situation of having put a lot of passion, time, and money into making a garment only to get a result far below your expectations? Or are you afraid this will happen and it paralyzes your projects? Then this article is made for you!

We will see together how to avoid these situations by preparing your project in advance... That way, no more tears or frustration over wasted beautiful fabric and no more accumulation of pretty dormant fabrics you dare not cut... I'm sure some of you already recognize yourselves.  

 For that, I invite you to enter the world of toiles... let's go!

What is a toile?

The toile is a test version of a garment. It allows you to correct all errors, whether in size, ease, style... that you wouldn't want to see repeated in the beautiful fabric you will have chosen for the final version. 

The toile is ideally sewn in toile à patron, also called calico. Otherwise, it can be sewn in an inexpensive fabric with a similar drape to your final fabric. The most important thing is to choose a fabric that has the same characteristics as your final fabric; otherwise, your toile will be approximate and so will your final result. 

For example: If you are testing a t-shirt, you will obviously need to make your toile in a jersey with the same quality/elasticity and not in an old sheet. 

Why sew a toile?

As you understand, sewing a toile is somewhat like doing a test, but there are several other interesting reasons to make a toile:  

• validate the size, fit... of a commercial pattern (thanks to trying on the toile) 
• get familiar with the assembly technique of a garment you have never made before
• validate the creation of your own pattern 
• test style modifications on a pattern, e.g., adding a ruffle, changing sleeves,...
• make a study piece (we will come back to this)

Example:

Let's imagine you have already made a pattern that you really like, and you want to modify the sleeves to make balloon sleeves instead of classic ones. In this case, after making the changes to your pattern, you can quickly sew a toile to check the fit and volume of your sleeve. 

Or maybe you’ve never made a blouse and you’re afraid to start assembling the collar and button placket. The toile will help you get familiar with the technique and will allow you to validate the blouse size. 

How to sew it quickly?

Some of you might be thinking: "Are you crazy? I don’t even have time to sew, so if I add more steps..." I guarantee you that sewing a toile does not waste time but saves it! Yes, yes... I know it sounds paradoxical but it’s true. I didn’t make toiles before my patternmaking internship because I thought it was a waste of time... after the internship, I understood how important the toile was for making adjustments and achieving the right fit. I became a "toile addict" for every new model I sew or draft, I make my adjustments and it’s a real joy afterward to sew my garments (without headaches or frustration) since everything fits and falls perfectly. 

Back to the title of this paragraph, how to sew it quickly and lose as little time as possible at this stage?

The toile is not meant to be a perfect version of the future garment, so we will not do the same level of finishing as for the final version. 

For making a toile, we do not :

• does not cut facings or linings (unless that’s exactly what you want to test)
• does not sew hems
• does not place zippers and buttons (we close by pinning at the fitting)
• does not do embellishment details like ruffles (unless that’s exactly what you want to test)
• does not overlock

Having eliminated all that, the toile sews very quickly and all that’s left is to try it on...

Fitting: how to make modifications to your pattern?
Once the toile is sewn and tried on, it is necessary to make adjustments if there are any to be made.

What to check?:

• Ease: how do you feel in the toile? Is the ease sufficient, insufficient (do you feel tight), or too much (are you swimming in the toile)?
  Also try raising your arms, squatting... the point of a garment is still to live in it. 
  
  
• The stature: how do you feel about the length of the garment? Is it too short, too long, or just perfect based on what you like to wear? Also check the placement of the waistline. Does the waist seam fall at your natural waist?

•  Clips and seams: check if the clips or different seams are placed correctly according to your bust. Do they provide the right volume in the right place?

• Pleats, gathers, and yokes: check the placement and volume created by the pleats and/or gathers. Check the yokes. 

Once all these checks are done, what next? 

Modify your toile, you can:

• write, 
• draw, 
• measure on your toile, 
• sew or unpick seams (to adjust ease), 
• cut, 
• notch

Experiment to find the right changes to make and transfer to the pattern to sew your final version. 

Next, transfer the modifications to paper.

Finally, if there are "really" a lot of modifications to make, I recommend sewing a second toile before starting on the final version. For example, I am sewing a jumpsuit from an American brand and had to modify the crotch of the pants and the back ease (adding clips...). So I will make another toile to validate my changes before cutting into my beautiful fabric. 

Special cases: study pieces

We don’t think about it often enough, but you can also make a study piece to practice a particular technique.

For example, I was a bit afraid to start on the welt pocket directly on my final version, so I made a study piece; that is, I sewed only the parts needed to make the welt pocket. It could also be the collar of a shirt, a tear-proof slit, a fly... all the techniques that might intimidate you a little. 

These study pieces will give you confidence to execute these technical details on your final piece. They allow you to practice. 

I hope this article has convinced you of the benefits of making a toile. For me, it has become an essential step in most of my projects. 

Get your needles ready!