Sunday, January 24, 2010

Winging It -- Kwik Sew 3617

I'm making slow, but steady progress on Kwik Sew 3617.  I decided to add contour darts to help with the pool of fabric at my backside.  I kept looking for clear directions on how to do the sway back adjustment, but I couldn't find any written and illustrated so that I could understand.  I also have some serious concerns about adding a horizontal seam across the back. If anyone has pictures of how the finished technique looks, please share.  **Update:   found the technique illustrated here. Silly me thought that the seam would be visible in the garment like adding a dart**

Back to the contour darts.  I took the path of least resistance.  I went through my patterns to see which had back darts.  I decided to go with New Look 6945.  I simply traced the darts from that pattern onto the new pattern. How's that for winging it?

Here's a recap of what I've done so far:

When I trace my top patterns, I usually trace the side cutting lines for small-XL.


Then I tissue fit.


It's painfully clear why RTW never fits me! Next I add cutting and sewing lines.


Now, after some slicing and dicing (no-dart FBA).  I end up with this:

After the FBA, I elected not to redraw the cutting and stitching lines.  To make things easier, I included a 1" seam allowance when I finished the FBA.

Time for the darts.  Since I was new to this, I ended up tracing all of them (and not too neatly).



I ended up going with the one for the largest size.  I also tried to increase it.



Here we go.  Not bad. Certainly not perfect but, not bad. 



My FBAs are getting better with each attempt. I just wish I could get the armhole shaping right. Anyhoo, Got my neckilnes ready for later use.


I'm hoping this will turn out well.

Resources


4 comments:

Faye Lewis said...

Sorry that I did not get back, here a post from Rusty Bobbin's blog that lists some more resources on sway back alterations for future reference.
http://rustybobbin.com/blog/?p=698

knitmachinequeen (KMQ) said...

Thanks for the nice comments you always leave on my blog. I just signed on as a follower so that I can keep an eye on what you're doing. You are using some wonderful reference books. I know nothing about sway back adjustment but wish I could help.

NuJoi said...

Thanks, ladies. I look to you for inspiration. One day, I'll get to post about how cute something turned out without all of the SOS cries along the way:-)

NuJoi said...

Just found the swayback alteration explained and illustrated: http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.php/topic,7695.msg125676.html#msg125676

Duh. There is no seam across the back in the finished garment. (I promise I'm an intelligent person; I'm just completely clueless when it comes to sewing.)