THis is a very popular pattern, and although most people have wanted to make the jacket, I really liked the dress. Notice I used the past tense. I'm not sure what went wrong here, but this thing looks like a sack on me. Here's what I did
I cut a 12 in the shoulders and tapered to a 14 at the underarm and 16 at the hip. I also enlarged the dart and added 1-1/4" to the front length to accommodate the dart. I raised the waist 1" on both the front and back. I also took a 3/4" CB when adding the zipper to take out some of the fullness. Because the bodice is lined on this thing, it was really hard to determine the fit before putting in the zipper.
I csn tell now that I did not need to go to a 14 at the underarm and that the 16 was probably close to right at the hips.
I have noticed in dress patterns before, that they always seem to hang better if I take an inch off the shoulder seam. Should I shorten the pattern above the bust and then lower the armhole? also, when I pull the pattern up like this, it hangs better, but then the dart points too high - how I wish this would be where the girls really are these days ;-)
The dress is too baggy under the bust as well. My waist is 30", which would mean a 16 in this pattern. It's too big.
Soooo - I need your help! This is a "wearable muslin" for the dress I wanted to make out of wool. Do I need to make a lot of alterations, or just bag the pattern and try to find something else? Is this style just not right for me? Please give me your advice, constructive criticism, thoughts. Thanks!
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Simplicity 3631
Posted by Nancy Winningham at 4:14 PM
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10 comments:
Your muslin does not look like the pattern. The dress has a lot of ease. First you need to remove some of the fullnes, next you may want to consider the waistline. Its a drop waistline, i am not sure that the lower waistline works for you. Last, check out wall st by day and sewer by night's blog. She made a version of that dress. I hope I was of some help.
Crumbs. I was going to cut that one in wool, but I'm definitely making a muslin first. I agree with Alethia, the dropped waistline isn't as flattering (I'm going to move it up based on that). Keep me posted- sorry I'm not much help!
Nancy, I would take some time to do another muslin for the top. I think you can do the dropped waistline, but you need to make sure the top follows your shape. The waistline does not appear to be sitting horizontal - higher at the front than the back. I would get the length even and then spend some time putting in front and back darts. If you look at the pattern photo, it is relatively snug in the top half.
KathrynT
I agree with the others, a dropped waist line might not be the right look for you (or for most of us reallly, a dropped waistline is genarally really hard to pull off). I notice some extra fabric in the mid back, I think you should get rid of that fabric by raising the back waist seam, put the extra fabric in there and chop of the reduce. Regarding lifting the shoulder seams for a good fit, it could be that you are simply high waisted/have a short upper body. That's the case for me. I raise the waist (and sometimes the bust darts) to compansate for this.
It looks too long in the bodice (at the front at least). I think the waist seam should come higher up on you and then the skirt would look right.
Its not far off though and I think could be really lovely.
I think you have hit the nail on the head but you can't see it. The dart is too low! Your girls are not that low and the dart should be right up there right next to the apex. When you pull the dress up it fits much better across the bust. Otherwise it looks pretty good :)
I am sorry that I cannot give you much advice as I am a newbie at all of this so I won't stick my penneth in just for the sake of it! I just wanted to wish you good luck with the fittings, I think it is worth persevering at least a little with it.
Catherine
I would hazard a guess that the model has a few binder clips in the back of the dress to make it "look" more fitted. That being said, I think you could wear the dropped waistline if everything above it was more fitted and followed your shape (as said by Kathryn T). Good luck.
Nancy
Every pattern I've seen with the darts on the front had a higher bodice, Now that i'm looking at the pattern, this is what doesn't look attractive to me at all, the fact that the bodice is so low, I'm hippy and this will totally not work for me. I can't wait to see the result, you were so smart to do a muslin, this one looks simple but obviously its not
I'm sending you an email because my comments are like a book!
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