Friday, May 22, 2009

Resizing...M5842?

Well, well, well, you see the lady on the package right...smiling, casually posing in her beautiful dress...just enjoying herself as she gracefully prances around in her summer dress....WELL GUESS WHAT!!!!...She is not smiling at all...she is mocking me in her menacing laughter...You can call me crazy but I know she is....for the past two days I have been fighting this pattern...re-sizing it so it will fit my chest...you know I have spent half of my childhood praying for these "fun bags" (no offence they were the first thing to come to mind) but now they are the major reasons why I have so much issues with fitting....(I still love them though)...

While shopping at Wal-Mart I decided to look into the fabric dept. for some inspiration ....I immediately thought of this combo when I saw pattern M5842...I knew I found a match and I had to get it...looking at the pattern size I knew I had to do some adjusting...NOTHING NEW HERE!....since adjustment is all I do anyway I was READY!!!!! ( I GUESS I WILL NEVER LEARN HUH?)


Well when I cut out the pattern I knew Immediately I was going to have to increase it in size...so I took out my books and read one of the ways to resolve this problem....I measured myself then the pattern .....I re-drew the pattern on paper and split the patter in four along the apex and made it four inches wider...Good I thought problem resolved guess what NO!!!!...I only managed to change the shape of the front bodice since I only concentrated on changing the bust area alone. I didn't do the under arms, so I had a crooked looking front which wasn't appealing...

















So I decided too make another copy but this time I will distribute the measurements evenly...in translation it only means I make it bigger....NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!! that didn't work either...it just distorted the whole front and threw everything out of whack....so finally





I went back to the first copy and slice the under arm open...this time adding a few inches to the arm hole....so far it fits allot better the only problem now is the shoulder seam....right now it's still too short but I will add two inches to it and sees what happens...if anything I will redraw another one and see how it comes out.....
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas, on how too adjust a pattern more efficiently? Because I am not sure if I am actually doing this right?
Thanks in advance...
A.S.
















7 comments:

knitmachinequeen (KMQ) said...

Ambitious sewer you need to add width but also length to accomodate your bust. The kind of adjustment you need to make will also involve changing the width of the "sash" as well as the skirt. What books do you have on alterations? If you let me know I will check to see if I have them and can tell you what pages to check. I'm actually an expert at this kinds of alterations but it is very hard to explain. It's more like if you could see it one time you'd get a better understanding.

Towanda said...

Check out Patternreview.com. They have a section on their message board about making FBA (full bust adjustment). One method that I like comes from Sandra Betzina's book Fast Fit. If you don't have it, I recommend it. Think about taking some on-line classes at Patternreview for making bodices, pants, etc. They are well worth the month. Check out this link: http://www.cedesign.com/familyphotos/sewing/info/index.html. This is Debbie Cook's site and she has a list of different ways to make FBAs.

Ambitious Sewer said...

Thankyou so much ladies!!!knitmachinequeen-I have notes from Sandra Betzina book Fasr Fit and it was very helpful...I obviously started along the right path until I started to do my own thing...lol.

Towanda-The site you recommend is awesome!!!!! thank you so much.

Sew-Ann said...

Post how the adjustments came out when you are done. I would love to see it.

Tany said...

I love this dress,it reminds me of this one by Derek Lam: http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/slideshow/S2008RTW-DLAM?event=show1622&designer=design_house190&trend=&iphoto=19

Susan said...

I just got a DVD a while back on making FBAs. I really need to watch it and give it a try.

Cennetta said...

Glad you got some help with the alterations. Please do post your final alterations. The pattern and fabric are a great combination. The dress is going to be pretty.