Hello Mrs. Chancey,

I contacted you a while ago about your recommendations for making the swing dress nursing friendly. I documented the process in a photo tutorial on my blog, which I hope will be useful to other nursing moms. Thanks again for your suggestions and also the lovely pattern! I have some finishing touches to put on the dress and then I plan to share some photos on the forum.

Laura

Laura’s tutorial is fantastic and so easy. Pop over to http://quietudeblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-make-s-swing-dress-nursing.html for all the details! (Thank you, Laura, for letting me re-post here!)

I get this from Birch Street Clothing, which sells it at a special discount (buy two rolls, get one roll free!) Click HERE to go directly to the product page.

Hold on! Don’t throw that pattern out yet! Don’t consign that dress to the dustbin! It’s simply time to learn some of the tricks of the trade for fitting patterns to suit your personal shape.

All of us are built differently. Even if we fit into a standard “size” on the pattern chart, we may find that the final results are less than flattering because we failed to take into account one or more unique features of our own body type. This page is here to help you identify those features and modify any pattern to better suit your figure type.

Culprit #1: The “Ballerina” Neckline

Let’s start with one of the more common fitting problems on the Regency Gown pattern (or any Regency Era pattern, for that matter!). You love the look of the ultra-high empire waist, but when you put the gown on, the “waistline” hits you across the middle of the bust, as shown in the illustration below.

Does this mean the Regency style cannot flatter you? Not at all! It simply means that you have what I call a “ballerina” neckline. Ballerinas have that regal, swanlike neck from years of perfect posture and practice. Whereas the average bust point on most of us is about 10″-10.5″ down from the shoulder, the ballerina has an elongated collarbone/neckline area, and her bust point hits closer to 12″ from the shoulder. (You don’t have to be a real ballerina to experience this, by the way; you might have just been born with this figure type.) Because of the elongated neckline, a typical Regency “waistline” is going to cut you right across the center of the bust or make it very uncomfortable for you to raise your arms even the slightest fraction. Fortunately, the remedy is extremely simple, and, thanks to one of my customers, I have photos to show you how it is done!

In the first photo below, you see two Regency gown bodices. The one on the right was created first, and the wearer found it too short (she has that regal ballerina neckline!). She wrote me to ask if there was a mistake in the pattern pieces, since the gown just wouldn’t work as-is.

I explained “ballerina syndrome” and confirmed that the solution she had come up with (lengthening her bodice pieces to accommodate her lower bust point) was absolutely correct. As you can see in the photo below, she ended up adding two inches to each piece.

She then removed the small bodice (upper photo, right) and replaced it with the longer bodice (upper photo, left). Voila! A perfect fit, as you can see below:

So, if you’ve got that beautiful ballerina neckline, enjoy it! Just modify your pattern pieces to suit your lower bust point, and you’ll be able to create a bodice that flatters your unique neckline without compromising the empire style of the period.

Culprit #2: The Short-Waisted Silhouette

This is a problem I was born with, so I can empathize! Those of us who are short-waisted have a nape-to-waist measurement less than 15.5″. The natural waistline of just about any off-the-rack dress hits us right across the hipline and makes us look dumpy. Or, because we are so short-waisted, we have a higher bust point than average, meaning that what might be a modest neckline on someone else is pretty much “show and tell” on us! So here are two problems we can tackle.

The short-waisted problem isn’t going to affect the high empire waistline of the Regency Era (in fact, this is one style that totally flatters the short-waisted gal). We’ll discuss the waistline problem as it relates to the Edwardian/Titanic Era styles in a moment. The main problem we short-waisted ladies experience with Regency Era dresses is the neckline. Now, I know the necklines of the era (particularly for evening gowns) were meant to be low, but I prefer mine higher (as did Jane Austen) and created the pattern to have a far more modest neckline than the more daring French styles of the period. But even this neckline is going to appear decollete’ on a short-waisted gal with a higher bust point. Or perhaps you’re not short-waisted but would like to create a neckline that works better for winter wear and hits higher up (nearer the collarbone). It’s extremely easy to make this change.

First of all, measure to decide where you want your neckline to hit once it is sewn. You can measure from the top of your shoulder to the bottom of the neckline. Compare this measurement to the actual pattern piece (measuring from the “cross” on the pattern’s shoulder area to the bottom of the neckline for your size). Let’s say you want to add two inches total. Make a note of this.

When you cut out your bodice toile (see the “Final Reminder” below), leave the neckline until last. Go ahead and cut around the bottom and sides of the pattern piece, all the way up to the shoulder, as shown below:

Now, lift the pattern piece and reposition it so that the neckline curve hits (as in our example) two inches higher, as illustrated below:

The dotted lines show the repositioned pattern piece.

Cut around this raised neckline curve, smoothly joining it to the shoulder at the top. You can repeat this process for the back neckline as well if you wish. As you can see, this is extremely simple and requires no special grading techniques or mathematical equations! You’re just using the neckline curve as-is from the pattern piece, raising it to hit where you prefer it to hit (always remember to include the 5/8″ seam, since that amount will be “lost” when you sew the bodice to the lining around the neckline). Piece of cake! And you can, of course, get really creative and try out different neckline shapes (less square, wider, narrower, etc.).

Okay, now let’s tackle short-waisted problem #2, which is going to occur on just about any pattern with a natural waistline. My 1910s Tea Gown pattern has a slightly raised waistline, but it will tend to hit short-waisted ladies right on the natural waistline. If you want it slightly raised, you’ll need to alter the pattern as I’ll show below. For the Edwardian Walking Jacket, “Beatrix” Jacket, Edwardian Apron, and 1914 Afternoon Dress, you are also going to need to make alterations to shorten the pattern pieces so the final outfit will hit you at your natural waistline.

If you have the most recent version of the Edwardian Apron pattern (2003 or later), you already have the “Miss Petite” lines drawn on the pattern pieces in the appropriate spots. You’ll just fold the pattern to raise the waistline. This is the same technique you can use on all of the other patterns that hit at the natural waistline. In the illustrations below, I’ll show you where to fold any jacket pattern piece and where to fold the 1910s Tea Gown and 1914 Afternoon Dress patterns.

Below is an illustration of the center back piece of the “Beatrix” Jacket pattern:

Before you alter any pieces, compare your nape-to-waist measurement with the nape-to-waist measurement on the center back piece of the pattern. I designed the jacket patterns to hit the natural waistline of an average gal (around 16-16.5″). Let’s say your nape-to-waist measurement is 15″. You’ll need to subtract 1.5″ from the pattern pieces to get a correct fit. To do this, you will simply fold the pattern pieces down right above the waistline at the same point on each piece. The fold will be 3/4″ deep (taking up a total of 1.5″). Here’s what you’ll see when you’ve folded your piece properly:

Make sure you are folding horizontally (at a 45-degree angle from the “straight grain” arrow marking) all the way across the pattern piece. Repeat this on each pattern piece. When you’ve finished, cut out your toile from the adjusted pieces for a try-on. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the delightfully tailored look that results — no more bagging and bunching above the hipline!

To alter the waistline of a dress bodice, you’re going to do essentially the same thing (only you won’t have as many pattern pieces to change!). For the 1910s Tea Gown, which has a one-piece bodice back/front, you’ll fold both the “upper” and “lower” portions of the bodice pattern piece like this:

For the 1914 Afternoon Dress, you’ll fold the back piece and the front piece. You can fold the back piece anywhere below the armhole, but you’ll want to check the positioning of the fold on the front piece so that you don’t interfere with the curving line of the bottom of the bodice (where the gathers go):

This is truly all there is to it! You won’t need to change your skirt pieces at all, since the hipline will automatically be raised when the skirt is sewn to the adjusted bodice. But what a difference in fit can be made with this simple adjustment! You won’t have “bodice hangover” or awkward wrinkles and puckers just above the waistline, and the hipline of the skirt is not going to be too tight.

Culprit #3: The Long-Waisted Silhouette

This is simply the reverse of the problem discussed above. Instead of finding that something hits you below the natural waistline, on you it rides up, leaving you looking like a little girl who is outgrowing her dress! The solution for this problem is just as easy as the one for the short-waisted gal.

Instead of folding your pattern pieces down to shorten them, you’re going to slash them horizontally and spread them to add the appropriate amount of length. You’ll need to compare your nape-to-waist measurement with the nape-to-waist measurement on the pattern pieces in question. If your measurement is 17″, and the pattern’s measurement is 16″, you’ll be adding an inch.

Using the illustrations above as a guideline, slash horizontally across your pattern pieces where the short-waisted gal would be folding hers. Now spread the slashes so they are an inch apart (for example). Tape pattern paper or interfacing behind the slash lines, making sure you keep the slash at one inch all the way across:

Nothing to it, right? Make the same change on all bodice pieces, and you’ve got your personalized pattern ready to go. Cut out a toile and check the fit to be sure the waistline hits you just where you want it to (and remember you’ll have a seam allowance at the bottom of any dress bodice piece, so be sure to account for the “loss” of the seam allowance).

Now, you may wonder why I didn’t just go ahead and put lengthening/shortening lines on all the pattern pieces to make things simple. The answer is that there was no way to do this without creating “clutter”–having lines running across other pattern markings (like the nursing slits on the 1914 dress or the darts on the 1910s Tea Gown). I probably should have included instructions for lengthening and shortening in the pattern instructions, but it didn’t cross my mind at the time, so I’m doing penance by posting all the details here on the site!

Culprit #4: Shoulders of All Shapes and Sizes

This is one area that is, perhaps, more prone to variation than almost any other! There are ladies with square shoulders, ladies with sloping shoulders, ladies with narrow shoulders, ladies with wide shoulders, and ladies with every kind of shoulder type between. A lot can depend on posture, but many times we’re just born with the shoulders we have and cannot do anything to change them (save adding shoulder pads!). A pattern that fits one gal beautifully through the shoulders might be too tight or too loose on another gal who is the same “size.” Time to make some adjustments!

One word before I begin: When I started designing patterns, I made a conscious decision not to widen shoulders dramatically on the larger sizes (18+). This is because I kept finding that “standard” patterns assumed that a gal with a 44″ bustline had linebacker shoulders! This is definitely not always the case. Just because someone has a larger bustline does not mean her shoulders are exponentially wider! But computer-drafted patterns merrily add width as they add to the bustline, leaving many gals with gowns that fall off the shoulders or look bunched and unflattering at the armhole. I wanted to avoid this from the get-go, so I did not “supersize” shoulder width on my larger sizes. Instead, I assumed that most gals will still have average shoulder widths. This does mean that some ladies who do have broader shoulders will need to make some modifications (as I’ll explain), but the majority will not have to change anything. If you fall into the former category, this section is for you.

If your shoulders are wide or more angular than they are rounded, you may find that the sleeves of a gown or jacket (particularly cap sleeves) are just too tight, making you want to go stoop-shouldered. All you need to do is to add width to the bodice front and back pieces at the shoulder (or to the jacket pieces which make up the outermost edge of the shoulder). To add width, you’ll slash your pattern pieces vertically, then horizontally at the bottom of the armhole, like this:

You will not need to slash down the entire length of the pattern piece unless you want more room in your side seams as well. Instead, you’re just going to move the top of the shoulder and armhole out a bit. Spread the pieces to accommodate your wider shoulderline (you will already have tried on a toile and discovered the problem, of course!).

Tape paper or interfacing behind the slash, and there’s your new pattern piece, ready to go! Make up a new toile to double-check the shoulder area. As you see in the illustration above, I’ve also drawn a dotted line to show where you might want to trim down the armhole curve. Try on the new piece first to determine if you need to do this. (If the front of the bodice puckers or pulls along the armhole edge, you need to trim it down. Just remember to leave yourself the 5/8″ for the seam allowance!)

Obviously, if you are very narrow in the shoulders, you can simply reverse this process to prevent the bodice from slipping off your shoulders. Instead of spreading, you can slash and move the shoulder area towards the bodice (rather than away from it), overlapping the pattern piece and taping the slashed piece down. Again, it’s best to do this after you’ve tried on your toile, since you’ll know just how much farther in the shoulders of the bodice need to go.

If you’ve got sloping shoulders and find that your bodices with wide necklines keep slipping down, there are a couple of remedies. One is simpler and doesn’t involve altering the pattern at all. The second remedy means adjusting the slope of the shoulder seam to help the bodice stay put.

If you find that the shoulder width is fine on your bodice (the edge of the armhole hits the edge of your shoulder), yet your bodice tends to keep sliding off, try this easy solution first. If you’re wearing a conventional brassiere or even underpinnings with straps beneath your outfit, you can create lingerie straps to secure the shoulders of your outfits to your underthings, thereby anchoring the bodice in place (though it will still slide if your brassiere slips off your shoulders, too!). Here is a picture of a lingerie strap seen from the inside of the bodice at the shoulder:

As you can see, the strap goes across the brassiere strap and snaps on the other side.

You can make the strap out of embroidery floss or heavy-duty quilting thread. Here’s how: Thread your needle, doubling the thread to make it substantial enough. Take a couple of intitial stitches into the lining material at the top of the shoulder to anchor the thread. Now take one stitch and pull until you have a loop wide enough to reach through with two fingers. Put your fingers in the loop and grab the “free” thread hanging down from the needle. Pull this until the first thread loop closes and you are left holding a new loop (from the “free” thread you grabbed). Repeat this over and over until you have created a “chain” of thread wide enough to go over your brassiere (or corset) strap. When the chain is wide enough, run your needle through the loop twice and pull it tight to knot it. Now take one half of a snap and sew it to the end of the chain (you really only need to sew into two of the holes out of the four; just make sure you create a strong attachment). Finally, take the other half of the snap and sew it to the opposite side of the shoulder lining (the “chain” of thread should be pulled flat against the lining–not too loose, or your undergarment’s strap will have wiggle room).

Here is the thread “chain” ready to be snapped in place.

Whenever you wear your outfit, you can secure the shoulders to your undergarment straps, and this will prevent slippage. Custom garments from my grandmother’s day (1940s and 1950s) all had these to prevent lingerie from peeking out of necklines or sliding down into sleeves. I’ve found these little straps also work wonderfully for gals with sloping shoulders. If your brassiere or other undergarment strap is tight to the shoulder and doesn’t tend to slide down, the shoulder of your dress will stay put when you snap the lingerie strap to it. Piece of cake!

Now, if the method above just isn’t for you (if your lingerie slides just as much as your garment, in other words), it’s time to check your shoulder seam angles and adjust them. Here’s a period illustration of a garment that has shoulders too squared for a slope-shouldered lady:

Up to this point we’ve been talking about garments that have a wider neckline, but you can see how this illustration will apply to tailored garments like the Edwardian Walking Jacket and the “Beatrix” Jacket. In the case of a garment with a narrower neckline, you won’t be dealing with the problem of slippage but with the problem of odd wrinkling or puckering, as the illustration above shows. The woman with sloped shoulders essentially has “too much” material in the shoulder area of her garment. Either she buys huge shoulder pads, or she learns to adjust her pattern pieces to fit her unique shape. I think the latter option is easiest and best, personally.

It is very easy to make adjustments for sloped shoulders. When you first try on your toile, you should put it on wrong side out so that all the seams are accessible. Stand tall, but don’t try to overcompensate for your sloping shoulders by shrugging or assuming an uncomfortable posture. Instead, let your gracefully rounded shoulders relax right where they belong! This is when you’ll see the puckering pictured above. To correct this problem, you are simply going to create a new stitching line below the current shoulder seam, like this:

Having a helper is key, since trying to do this on yourself will not work (you’ll have to raise your shoulder in order to place pins!). Have your helper pin the new seamline to match the slope of your shoulder. You’ll know the new line is right when the puckers or wrinkles vanish. After you have the new seamline basted in place, you can trim off the excess material above it, leaving your 5/8″ seam allowance and simply following the new diagonal line. Be sure you alter your master pattern piece to reflect this new shoulder seam angle. Then you won’t need to adjust future outfits from the same pattern. If you’re working on a pattern for a garment with a wide neckline (like the Regency Gown), you’ll find that the adjusted seam prevents the neckline from slipping down your shoulders. Voila’!

Now, if you’re square in the shoulders, you’ll find you have excess material and puckering across the collarbone, as this period illustration shows:

Your remedy is similar to the one for the gal with the sloping shoulders. Put your toile on wrong side out and have your helper at the ready with pins. Pin baste a new seamline along a different angle, like this:

Changing the angle will be especially helpful on tailored jackets, but you’ll also find garments with wide necklines more comfortable, because the neckline won’t have a tendency to pucker or gap at the sides. It really is easy, and you’ll be delighted to see a garment that might have looked dumpy or just plain unflattering shed its ugly duckling status and behave beautifully!

Culprit #5: Arms and Armbands

Armholes too tight or binding when you move? Sleevebands cutting off circulation? This problem can show up in armholes if you are broad-shouldered, so check #4 first. If you’re not especially broad in the shoulders (more of an average 15.5″ across), then you might just have what I call “bread-kneading biceps.” After years of baking bread, my mother’s upper arms are beautifully rounded (really muscular!). Mine are getting that way, but she has 27 years on me, so I’m not having to adjust armholes just yet. If you try on a toile and find that the armholes are too tight for comfort, there are a couple of things you can do to correct the problem. And if your sleevebands are too close for comfort, read on below. We’ll cover those, too.

First of all, when you try on a bodice toile, keep in mind that you do not have sleeves sewn into your armholes yet. Adding sleeves is going to take up a 5/8″ seam all the way around the armhole, which will give you that much more room. I also recommend clipping the curves at the bottom of each armhole after you’ve inserted the sleeves, like this:

This is going to loosen up the armholes quite a bit and make them much more comfortable than they are during the toile stage. If, however, you have already done this and still find the armholes too binding, you will want to trim the armholes down to suit. This is very easy to do, but I recommend having someone help you, since it is easier to gauge how much needs to be cut off while you are wearing the toile. Have a friend mark the areas of the armhole that need to be trimmed with pins while you are wearing the toile. When you remove the toile, your armholes will look something like this:

Now trim along the pinned lines, easing carefully back into the front (or back) armhole curves as you go (so you don’t reduce the shoulder width unless you intend to do so):

Be sure to transfer this new armhole curve marking onto your master pattern pieces as well so you won’t have to repeat this process again if you use the pattern to create another outfit.

When you sew your sleeves in, you’ll have plenty of room to move.

Now let’s assume the armholes are fine, but your sleevebands (on the Regency Gown with short sleeves, for instance) are too tight. The problem here is cutting sleevebands according to your “size” on the pattern piece. As I noted on the revised Regency pattern (2003), the sleeveband piece is just a guideline. There is no such thing as a “standard” sleeveband measurement, since all of us have different biceps (whether or not we knead bread!). It is best to measure around your flexed bicep before you ever cut out your sleevebands. Take that measurement, then add half an inch to an inch for comfort and 1 1/4″ for the seam allowance (that’s 5/8″ times two). So, assuming your flexed bicep measures 13″, you’ll add a total of 2 1/4″ for a fairly “forgiving” sleeveband or 1 3/4″ for a more fitted sleeveband. You can baste the sleeveband ends together and try one sleeveband on for size prior to making your sleeves just to be sure of the fit. Nothing to it!

Culprit #6: Darts Missing the Mark

No, this isn’t about Cupid and his little arrows! Almost every woman on the planet is going to have to adjust the bustline darts on a fitted bodice pattern (like the 1910s Tea Gown or my upcoming Romantic Dress pattern). If you don’t double-check these with a toile first, you may end up with darts that hit too high or too low on the bustline or darts that are too far to one side of the center bust point. Fixing this problem involves trying on a toile in front of a mirror (or with a helper) and figuring out exactly where the darts need to be positioned on the bodice front in order to match your own unique bustline. There are very few gals out there who can make up a darted bodice as-is and find the darts are perfectly positioned, so don’t despair if you need to make changes.

The 1910s Tea Gown pattern has darts that are stitched and not cut out, while the Spencer jacket pattern has cut out darts. For the 1910s pattern, you can go ahead and baste your darts in place to double-check them, but for the Spencer pattern, you’ll want to mark the darts with pins and not cut them out (or you can baste along the dotted stitching lines and leave them uncut). You will obviously want to try on your toile over top of the undergarments you intend to wear with your outfit. This may mean a regular brassiere, but if you’re striving for accuracy and have a corset or set of stays (and a chemise underneath), you definitely want to have those on prior to trying the toile. With the darts either pinned or basted in place, try on the toile (having a helper is a bonus), pinning the bodice closed (and pinning the inset in place on the 1910s Tea Gown). Now check to make sure your darts hit you properly both vertically and horizontally. On the 1910s Tea Gown, the darts should come at the center of the bust point and not go up over the bust point (a corset will, of course, raise the bust point slightly). On the Spencer jacket, which has two darts on either side of the bodice front, the darts should hit just to the side of the bust point and not go up over it. Properly placed darts will look like this:

The darts end at the bust point, and the space between the two darts is centered upon the bust point.

If you find the darts are too long (and therefore hit you too high), you’ll just need to mark how much lower the topmost point of the dart should hit and adjust accordingly. If the dart hits too far over to one side of the bust point, simply note how far it needs to move and reposition the dart marking(s) on the original pattern. After you’ve made any adjustments, change your toile and try it on again. Perfectly placed darts make all the difference in the world on a fitted bodice, as you’ll see!

Always make a toile of the bodice to try on prior to cutting into your fashion material! If you’ve never used a particular pattern before, it is simply vital to create that muslin mock-up and try it on before you take your scissors to your garment material. I know I say it in the pattern instructions, but it bears repeating here. Making a toile will save you endless heartache, because you can identify unique fitting problems and solve them before you “ruin” the beautiful fabric you’ve chosen for your final outfit. This is especially true of patterns with fitted bodices and/or waistlines. What fits a “standard” mannequin perfectly on my end isn’t always going to look good on you in the flesh! You might be one of the lucky ones who just hits the “standard” mark in every major area (bust, waist, hips), but it’s better to find out before you cut into that fashion material. It’s never a “waste” to throw out a toile and start over. Muslin is cheap, and learning on the toile is far less painful than learning on the final outfit!

Cheers,

This section is here to help you alter any pattern to give you a beautiful fit every time. [Note: Illustrations on this page show the Regency Gown bodice, but the steps given will work on any bodice. If you’re making a bodice with darts rather than gathers, you’ll just check the fit by pinning in the darts rather than pulling up basting stitches to gather.

Making a Toile

I cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of making a toile for a try-on before you cut out your fashion fabric. A toile is simply a garment or partial garment constructed from muslin or another inexpensive material. In this case, you’ll need to make a bodice for your fittingóno need to add sleeves or anything else. Baste together the pieces, then enlist the aid of a helper to pin the bodice closed in back (the overlap should be 1″ to allow for the seam allowance and overlap on the final gown). Do note that it is vital that you try on your toile over the undergarments you intend to wear beneath your gown!

But What About My Size?

My general rule of thumb for Miss Petite is this: If your bustline measurement indicates that you need a size 10, you should make your toile in a size 8. Just go a size down from whatever your bustline measurement indicates and create your toile from that size. Then you can proceed to the step-by-step instructions for fitting your toile. This will help you circumvent many narrow shoulder fitting issues from the get-go.

Fitting and Making Adjustments

1. Once your toile is basted together, put it on over your undergarments and have a helper pin it closed in back as explained above. Standing in front of a mirror, check to make sure the side seams of the bodice come directly below the underarm (if you are wearing a set of stays or a petticoat beneath, you can actually pin the side seam of the toile to the side seam of the undergarment to anchor it). Also check to make sure the armholes are comfortable (keeping in mind theyíll be larger once the sleeves are sewn in). Going down a size may mean you need to trim out a wee bit at the bottom of your armhole. If you do cut down the armholes, be sure to use a sleeve in the next size up.
2. Now take a good look at the shoulders of the bodice. The outside edge should extend past your shoulders by 5/8î (the seam allowance for the sleeve). If the shoulders are drooping or falling down, youíll need to adjust them by bringing them in closer to the neckline. For now, just write down how far toward your neck the shoulders need to move. When you are ready to make the change to your master pattern, you will create an ìLî-shaped slash like the one shown in ìAî below, then move the entire armhole area in toward the neckline to take up the amount youíve noted (ìBî). Repeat this step for the bodice back piece. (Making these changes will also take up any slack in the neckline if you have gaping issues there.)
3. Before you check the fit of the bustline, it is best to go ahead and make a new toile with the changed shoulder area. If you didnít have to make any changes to the shoulder, then just continue on. Pull up the basting stitches below the bustline on each side to take in the fullness that will be gathered into the skirt front when you make your gown. Now check to make sure there is room enough in the bodice to accommodate your bosom. Essentially, there should be no pulling horizontally across the bust, and the bodice should be long enough so that the bottom hits you below the bustline, leaving enough room for your seam allowance and a comfortable fit. If there is any pulling or binding horizontally, you will add to your side seam as shown in ìAî below. If the bodice seems too short, note down how much length you need to add to it (this is also true for ladies with a low bust point, by the way). Change your master pattern as shown below.
4. Finally, take a good look at your neckline to make sure you like where it is hitting you. Do keep in mind that you will ìloseî 5/8î all the way around the neckline of your gown when it is sewn to the lining. You can make changes to the neckline of your master pattern by simply following the curve line indicated, marking it either higher or lower, depending on your own needs:
5. Once youíve got your master pattern marked and adjusted, go ahead and cut out the lining of your gown and sew it together. Use this as your final toile to check the fit one last time. If youíre happy with what you see, congratulations! Youíre ready to start on your gown. If you find youíre still running into some fitting concerns, be sure to visit Why Doesn’t This Look Like the Pattern Cover? for additional fitting helps for ladies of all shapes and sizes. No one has a ìstandardî body, so fitting a toile to create a master pattern is a big accomplishment that will guarantee success in all your sewing endeavors!

Enjoy Your New Creations!

The Tools of the Trade

Before you begin, I recommend that you have the following tools at hand:

• Cardboard cutting surface with one-inch grid (available at any fabric store)
• French curve(s) — plastic curves to help you trace your armholes, necklines and other curves (you can get these from Sew True)
• Swedish interfacing (available at Birch Street Clothing) or heavy-duty pattern paper (like vellum)
• Tracing paper (available by the roll from architectural supply stores)
• Sharpie markers for tracing
• Pins
• Scissors

Getting Started: The Bodice

First, let’s start with a bodice front. If you want to enlarge the bodice, first trace the bodice piece onto Swedish interfacing or sturdy tracing paper, so you have a piece you can slash for resizing. To size up to the 14, slash the bodice front like this:

Notice that you are splitting down the center of the underarm, the center of the shoulder and the center of the neckline/bust. You will split the back bodice piece in exactly the same manner. Now, the difference between size 12 and size 14 in the bust area is two inches (12 is 34″; 14 is 36″). You want to add evenly to the front and back bodice pieces, which means adding a total of one inch to each piece. Now half that again, since you are adding to only one half of the bodice, and that means you have a total of 1/2″ to add to the bodice front and back pieces. Here is what the pattern piece will look like when you spread it apart:

In your typical Simplicity pattern, the computer splits up the half inch and adds 1/3 of it at each place where the pattern has been split. I do not recommend this! This method often creates a very bad fit, particularly in the shoulder area. The biggest complaint I hear from women over a size 22 is that shoulders on most modern patterns are way too wide for their size. Just because someone’s bustline is larger does not mean she has linebacker shoulders! So my suggestion is that you size the shoulders up only slightly and only for size 18 or 20 (then just keep that new width for the rest of the big sizes unless you do happen to be particularly broad in the shoulders). Same with sizing down — just make them smaller for sizes 10 and under — and only slightly smaller. I’d recommend that you add nothing to the shoulder split to go from size 12 to size 14 (or 16). Instead, add 1/4″ to the bust split and 1/4″ to the underarm split. For size 18, add 1/8″ to the shoulder split, then 1/8″ to the underarm split and 1/4″ to the bust split. Most women find they need more room in the bust — not in the shoulder area.
To draw the newly sized pattern piece, first roll out your tracing paper (not interfacing) on your grid board. Pin the starter pattern piece (in your starting size) to the tracing paper, using your grid lines to help you keep things straight, like this:

Now trace around it so you have your first piece “set in stone.”

Now split your first pattern piece and spread it as I explained above to go up to your next size:

Here’s a close-up so you can see the 1/4″ spread:

Now trace all the way around the spread piece, omitting the shoulder for now, and you end up with this:

Here’s a close-up of how the shoulder and neckline will look:

Now, most patterns add about an eighth of an inch to a quarter of an inch to the top of the shoulder and the neckline, since you assume that larger sizes need more room in the bustline and will need more length in the bodice front. Even this small amount at the shoulder adds a helpful amount to the overall fit of the bodice. Now, you add to the neckline because you added to the shoulder — if you didn’t add to the neckline, it would be lower, and you don’t want to do that.
So, adding to the shoulder looks like this:

Adding to the neckline looks like this:

Okay, let’s go ahead and size down before we talk about some other issues around the neckline and shoulder area.
Pin your split pattern down again, this time overlapping where you had spread the pattern last time, like this:

Here’s a close-up of that overlap:

Trace around this pattern, then “shrink” the shoulder and neckline, so your final pattern looks like this:

Okay, now you’re probably wondering about that shoulder area. The shoulder “moves” a bit with each size, as you can see. You end up with a jumble of lines running from the neckline to the shoulder as you go. If you’ve looked at my patterns (and practically any other pattern on the market), you know that I have one smooth line running from the neckline to the shoulder for all sizes together. That’s because doing things “by the numbers” (which is what a computer design program is going to do) always turns out patterns like that. What you want to learn to do is to smoothly blend the pattern pieces together so that you don’t have a neckline that is “all over the map.” The first way to learn to do this is to trace each new pattern size individually (not on top of the last one). When you have all the pattern sizes traced out, you can lay them down, one on top of the other (largest on the bottom, smallest on the top) and line up the neckline edges so they meet. Then you trace your master pattern off this conglomeration, and it will look something like this:

After you’ve been working on pattern sizing for a while, you’ll just get an eye for how sizing works, and you will not even need to split patterns any longer. You will be able to trace your master piece, then add to it at the appropriate places (armhole, shoulder, side seam, neckline). Splitting patterns and spreading will be your “training wheels” until you become confident enough to just draw out the new sizes using your measuring tape and french curves!

Special Help for Long- and Short-Waisted Ladies

If you are as short-waisted as I am (15″ from nape to waist), you already know that the waistline of just about every average pattern hits you on the hipline. To correct this, there is usually a “Miss Petite” line across the pattern to show you where you can shorten the bodice (or lengthen it if you’re long-waisted). You can do this on any pattern with or without the “Miss Petite” line. Just pick a spot about two inches above the waistline and draw a horizontal line across the pattern, like this:

If you are short-waisted, you can just fold the pattern down at this spot to match your waistline (plus 5/8″ for a seam allowance). If you are long-waisted, you just slash and spread like you’ve been doing above.

For bodices of unusual shapes, like the one in my 1940s “Swing” Dress pattern, you’ll need to tweak a few lines after folding down the bodice. I’ve illustrated this below:

This image shows the bodice as-is with the lengthen/shorten line across the center in red (you can click any of these images for a larger version):

In the next image, you see the bodice folded down to accommodate a short waist. I’ve circled the “problem” area this creates:

As you can see, the long line of the bodice front no longer matches. To fix this, simply use a straightedge to redraw the line so that it runs smoothly from above the shorten line to the lower point:

As you see, this shaves off that problem line that is sticking out, but you still have the continuous line of the bodice front from top to bottom. For the bodice back, you’ll do the same thing. First, here’s the bodice back with the fold line in red and the arrow pointing down to show that you’ll fold the bodice down the required amount for your nape-to-waist measurement:

The next image shows the bodice shortened, and I’ve again circled the “problem” area:

The size lines no longer match up at the side seam, so you’ll once again grab your ruler and simply smooth them back out:

That’s it! Always start at the top and work your way down to keep the sizing accurate, since the size just below the armohole hasn’t been altered in any way by shortening the bodice. By the time you reach the bottom of the bodice side seam, your new line matches up perfectly.

Further Tips for Making a Child’s Pattern

To shrink an adult pattern down to fit a child, you will slash and spread not only vertically, but horizontally, as shown here:

The armhole of an adult pattern is going to be far too large for a child, so you will need to shrink it by overlapping the pattern at the upper line (you can fold, but I think it is easier to slash and overlap). To determine the correct depth of the armhole, measure the child from the top of the shoulder down to her underarm “seam.” An easier way to do this is to find a garment that fits the child nicely (a tailored shirt or dress with a comfy armhole), then measure that from the shoulder seam down around to the underarm seam. Add 5/8″ to the shoulder and side seam for your seam allowance, and there is your front armscye (armhole) measurement. You can repeat this for the back, then just double-check to make sure the side seams of the bodice front and back match correctly. Use your french curve to redraw the armhole curve (which will look a bit funny after you’ve overlapped the bodice at this point!). The old armhole will be a guide to help you see where the new curve needs to go…only the new curve will be a miniature of the old.
The rest of the adult bodice is going to be too long-waisted for a small child as well, so that’s where you’ll use the other vertical line. Just shorten the bodice as you would for a short-waisted woman, taking up as much as is necessary to place the waistline at the child’s waist (or empire waist, as the case may be), plus 5/8″ for your seam allowance. Ta-da!

Make Muslin Your Best Friend!

Now, obviously, testing pattern pieces in muslin plays a very important role here. You want to test your new pattern pieces and fit them to a properly sized mannequin (or yourself or the person for whom the new pattern was made). You sometimes discover fitting quirks (like shoulders that are too wide for the average) when you do this, and you can adjust the toile to fit. When the toile is to your liking, you take it apart and trace it as your final pattern piece.

The Rest of the Pattern

Okay, I can close up this section with a few quick instructions on sleeves and skirts. Skirts are easiest to size up, particularly if you are just using a basic two-piece skirt (front and back). You don’t need to split the skirt at all, just add the appropriate amount to the side seam, like this:

Obviously, your french curves will be your best friend on hipline curves!

Now, for a gored skirt, you only need to add to the gores that have the side seams (side front and side back, usually) until you get up around size 22. At that point, it is a good idea to distribute the amount you’ll be adding evenly between the side seam gore and the center front gore (so the center front doesn’t look ridiculously small in comparison).

Now, if you are one size in the bust or waist and another in the hips, you’ll need to “grade” between sizes in order to make the skirt (particularly a more fitted skirt) work properly. This is not at all difficult. Here’s an example using my Regency Gown pattern. Let’s suppose you measure at a size 20 in the bust for this empire-waist style, but you measure at 24 in the hips. My original pattern goes up to size 18, but you can use the 18-26 supplement to give you the larger bodice. From there, you just need to draft the skirt, sizing up from the original. First, measure out from the 18 and mark a line for a 20 “waist”:

Now go down to the hip and measure out to the correct amount for a size 24:

Now use a hipline curve tool to connect the 20 waist to the 24 hip, smoothly transitioning between the two, then following the 24 all the way down to the hem:

What about resizing sleeves?

For sleeves, you split the pattern piece in three to spread it, like this:

You will add to the sleeve only the amount that was added to the side seam of the bodice, since only the armhole enlargement affects the sleeve. Measure that amount (say 1/4″) and divide it into thirds. You need the least amount added at the curve and the most at the underarm/sleeve seams. On the smallest sizes (6-12), you really don’t need to add to the curve at all — you can just add 1/8″ at the splits on each underarm curve. For the larger pieces where you’ve added more to the armhole of the bodice, you can add 1/8″ to the curve, then divide the rest of the amount evenly between the splits at the underarm curves. These rules apply to any kind of sleeve — long, short, fitted, puffed. Whatever you added to the bodice armhole must be added to the sleeve. Obviously, you can get away with fudging a puffed sleeve, but that won’t work on a fitted sleeve! And, obviously, if you’re making a child’s sleeve out of an adult sleeve, you’ll need to slash horizontally as well as vertically to shrink the sleeve overall.

That is it! It really isn’t hard at all — just work. I freely admit that this is the part of pattern drafting I like the least. It is just “grunt work.” But once you have your final pattern, the sense of accomplishment is immense! There is nothing like a custom-fitted pattern to take your sewing to new heights of accomplishment!

Darts

Here are three pictures of a Regency gown made with a darted bodice (no gathers). This makes for a smooth fit across the front, though you will have to watch how you taper the darts so that you don’t end up with “points!” I apologize for the wrinkled gown in these photos. I will retake the pictures as soon as I am fully unpacked here in Alabama and able to devote more time to ironing! Okay, now to make your darts:

To begin with, let’s figure out how big your darts will need to be. This may sound complicated at first, but once you’ve walked it through, you’ll see that it is all just common sense. In the first illustration below, you see a bodice front and skirt front opened out and measured all the way across. For the purposes of this lesson, I’ve used a size 16. Now, when you take these measurements, you’ll be measuring from the side seam to the center front of each pattern piece (bodice and skirt), since the pattern piece is only one half (placed on the fold). For instance, the measurement from the side seam to the center front of the size 16 bodice is 12″. Double that (as if the piece was folded out) and you get 24″ as I’ve shown below.

Step One: Measuring

Here you can see that the bodice is 24″ all the way across, and the skirt front is 19 3/4″. Usually this difference would be eliminated when you pulled up the gathers in the bodice and pinned the bodice to the skirt. But we want to make darts instead of gathers, and we still need to make sure the 24″ bodice fits perfectly onto the 19 3/4″ skirt. We have a 4 1/2″ difference. This means that we can have two darts that take up 2 1/4″ of material at the widest point (at the bottom). That means that the dart, when folded over and stitched, will be 1 1/8″ wide at the bottom. In my second illustration below, you can see the what the darts should look like. You can simply draw them in, centering them on the gathering lines already marked on the pattern piece (since those come directly beneath the bustline). The little triangle of fabric beneath makes for a nicer dart that doesn’t “eat” into your bodice fabric.

Step Two: Setting the Dart

Determining the height of your darts is a bit tricky, but the best way to do it is to go ahead and cut out a muslin bodice and pin the bottom of each dart together. Try the bodice on with the underthings you intend to wear and mark where you want the top of the dart to hit (generally it should come to the middle of the bust). Once you have it marked, make sure you note that marking on your new master pattern so you won’t have to measure each time. That’s all there is to it! A little experimentation will save lots of frustration and give you a beautiful fitted look!

“Fan” Gathers

This style of bodice came in during the late Regency and continued into the 1830s-1860s. In the first illustration below, you can see what the finished bodice will look like. The gathers (or pleats, if you like) are centered and create a beautiful “fan”-like effect.

The “Fan” Bodice

Creating a bodice with center front gathers does not require any changes to the gown pattern. You can just run the gathers across from one side bustline gather mark to the other. But to achieve a real “fan” look, you do have to alter the pattern piece slightly. As you see in the illustration below, the new shape has a bit of an angle under the bustline. You are adding the extra material so that the fan can be gathered or pleated with a bit of extra fullness in the bust. The added material at the left (the angle) will be completely pulled up into the center of the fan if you pleat instead of running gathering stitches.

Creating the Fan Bodice

The pleating effect really works best with very crisp fabrics (like dupioni silk)–otherwise you can’t really see that they are pleats. When you pull up your gathering stitches to fit the skirt front, put the bulk of the gathers into the center of the “fan,” but remember that you need to leave room to be comfortable! Spread some of the gathers evenly on either side to accommodate the bustline. If you pleat, begin with one pleat in the center (a “box” pleat) and continue making tiny knife pleats on either side until you can fit the bodice perfectly into the skirt front. Again, play around a bit to see what looks nicest with your material. You might even want to run some basting stitches across your gathers or pleats and try on the bodice before you sew it to the skirt. Voila’!