V8648 - adjustments.

I let Dom choose my next project and this is the one he chose. I also let him choose the view, as I was stuck between the blue version and the red checked version. He chose the red checked version, which I'm happy with as I like the sleeves :)

So onto the pattern adjustments. I've started to record the adjustments I make on the amazing notepad that I won in Nina's giveaway at The Vintage Family.

Now in case you can't make out my crazy scrawling, I took photos of the pattern pieces before and after so I could explain the steps I made. I started with a size 14.

The side bodice front. As you can see I've made an FBA. I tissue fitted the front and determined that I needed about an inch extra. It needed to be added to the side piece not the front piece, so following Fit For Real People I ended up with the piece shown above. This also added an inch to the waist, which was perfect as I need the extra room.

The back piece. I think I have a narrow back. I always seem to have too much fabric in the back and the armhole goes too far into my armpit. So I made a 1.5cm narrow back adjustment. I'm not sure if this will be enough, but its a start. If it seems to help, but the back is still gaping then I'll do another adjustment and record how much I needed. You can also see that I added an inch to the side so I'd have enough room in the waist. The narrow back adjustment changed the armhole and shoulder seam, so I measured the new shoulder seam and adjusted the front shoulder seam so it matched. Then I measured how much the back sleeve piece needed to be altered to fit this new armhole. I needed to raise the sleeve cap by 1cm as that was how much the shoulder seam had been reduced by. I also needed to take 1.5cm of of the underarm seam on the back sleeve piece so it matched the underarm bit of the back piece.

I just realised I forgot to take a photo of the actual front piece (not the side front piece, which is shown above as the FBA piece). All I did to it was add length to it in the corresponding place and amounts so that it matched the side front piece.

The waist peices. Yep, I'm really short waisted. I shortened them by 2 inches. Then added the inch to side pieces so that they matched the bodice pieces. This means that the waist is now a size 18 (instead of the 14 that I started with). So as for the skirt, I'll just cut the 18 out so it matches the waist seam.

This took me 3 days, working for an hour or two a day. Yes I am slow. But working on the floor is uncomfortable, and I get pins and needles in my feet every half an hour so have to shake it off! lol It's really hard to explain what I did without showing you in person. Hopefully you have a vague understanding :) Writing it down also helps fix it in my head so I don't forget. The notepad helped a lot as it meant I didn't forget to do things to other pieces. For example, I'm sure I would have forgotten to add the extra to the sleeve cap if I hadn't written it down!

I'll cut out a muslin soon, and test the alterations I made. I hope that if I need to make any more alterations, they are only minor so I can go straight onto the real thing :) And of course I'll share photos with you lovely lot.

More later!

Ashley x