Perhaps my title is a touch over dramatic, but you start losing your marbles when you're still trying to fit a basic darted bodice after 6 months. What you see before you are 5 failed bodice muslins/toiles and various oddly fitting sleeves. It's a depressing sight.
It all started with my bearded dudes dress back in October which has a darted bodice. Although I happily wear it I'm aware it doesn't fit that well across my back and shoulders. Thankfully nobody sees that under my cardigan. After failing to make a successful second version I decided to purchase Christine Haynes' Emery pattern after seeing so many lovely versions online. I cut a size 8 as my measurements matched fairly well but yet again I was cursed with the mysterious baggy back which pulled the whole bodice backwards and awkward fitting sleeves where I couldn't lift my arms.
Please note this is *not* a dig at Christine Haynes' pattern. It's unrealistic to expect a pattern to fit everybody perfectly straight from the packet as we're all born with different shaped/sized bodies. I'm just frustrated by my lack of fitting knowledge and how to adjust for my own body quirks.
By the end of January I purchased Fit For Real People after seeing various recommendations online. I poured over it for days, gleaning every piece of fitting advice. THERE ARE SO MANY POSSIBLE ALTERATIONS IT IS MIND BOGGLING!
Failed alteration attempts. I used washi tape at one point to stabilise my curves for tissue fitting as I couldn't find scotch tape. Hipster bodice fitting.
Armed with the knowledge that I should cut according to my high bust measurement, not my full bust, and tissue fit myself as much as possible before cutting into fabric I cut a size 6 and tried the following adjustments:
- 2" (overall) full bust adjustment - this created massive darts which looked oddly pouchy. I considered splitting the bust dart but it made my brain hurt.
- curved the vertical bust darts to minimise the odd bagginess below the bust.
- lengthened the bodice by 5/8" - I've done this on all my dresses so far. Standard alteration.
- 1/2" erect back/sway back adjustment - this stopped my side seams from swinging forward.
- 1/2" narrow back adjustment - this seemed to cure some of the weird back wrinkling but caused new problems...
- now the shoulder area was far too small for my massive man shoulders. I spent most of March pondering whether I had a narrow back yet large shoulders (WTF?!) and made various attempts at redrawing and widening the armholes.... which in turn created new problems with the sleeves as they no longer matched the size or shape of the armhole.
- widened my sleeve cap significantly to accommodate upper arm chub and match my new armhole curve. Annoyingly, Fit For Real People doesn't appear to address how to alter sleeve caps to match the new curve of an armhole after widening the shoulders on a bodice. It was all a bit trial and error. Mostly error.
- 1/4" high round back adjustment - this helped massively with the "pulling backwards" feeling. I don't know whether I have a larger than average upper back curve due to excessive close work (which is entirely plausible) or whether I just have overly prominent shoulder blades as I tend to naturally stand with my shoulders pushed back, creating a substantial back bump. When I hunch my shoulders forward on a bodice without this alteration, it seems to fit.... weird.
- deepened each back neck dart by 1/4" to fix neckline gaping. Neckdarts are awesome for weird upper backs. Good thinking, Christine Haynes.
- the armhole fitting was still totally weird with a lot of wrinkling/stress at the armpit so I cut across the bodice in the middle of the armhole, both on the front and back, and opened it up by 1/4" in case I needed more space due to being slightly taller than average. This did not work and only made the pouchiness on the bodice front even weirder.
Last week I came to the conclusion that the size 6 bodice was not working at all. It was a horrific combination of too baggy and too tight (although on the whole the back was fitting better than beard dress) so I scrapped it and went back to a size 8. I have applied the adjustments which were successful on previous muslins (erect back, high round back, deepened neck darts) and miraculously I have a bodice which fits reasonably well.
Doris modelling the latest one armed bodice.
I could probably still tweak the sleeve cap for better arm movement, but I think there's only so much I can do to aid arm movement as I'm working with a woven fabric with zero stretch.
IT FITS MY BACK!!!! WOOP! I'm good to go.
I know Fit For Real People says to fit according to your back/high bust and adjust according, but this really didn't seem to work for me, not on this pattern anyway. I'd rather have something which roughly fits my shoulders and bust and adjust the rest accordingly. I halved my alterations by cutting a size bigger.
Well done if you got to the end of all that. I wasn't sure whether to post my Emery fitting issues, but if it helps somebody else in a similar situation then I'll be delighted.
So, sewing peeps, have you ever been completely stumped by a fitting issue? Let's share fitting woes!
So, sewing peeps, have you ever been completely stumped by a fitting issue? Let's share fitting woes!