Butterick 3526

I know I've been quiet.  It hasn't been because a lack of activity.  It is a lack of understanding how to fit myself.  I have about seven patterns traced and in some stage of alteration. Most were thrown to the side when I got stumped on a fitting issue.  There go the maxi dresses I planned to wear on vacation :-(

I decided I was going to go back to what I could kinda get right -- knit tops.  I was in the process of making KS3740 as a tank with a cowl neck, until I found out that my June 27 choir uniform was supposed to be a denim skirt and a shirt with at least 3/4 length sleeves.  This was June 19.  I figured I could make both.  (I know. I am completely delusional at times.)

The skirt I chose was B3526.  It was supposed to be very easy, there were no issues with it on pattern review and I already had the fabric.  Sold!!! I didn't get a lot done that weekend for various reasons.  Saturday wasn't much better.  But, I had Sunday and Monday to myself. Yep.  I took a day off work to sew.  (I usually skip church on Mother's Day and Father's Day.)

Good Lord!  How hard it is to fit me! What do you do when you have full thighs, hips, butt, sway back and a small waist?  I almost forgot about the high hip.

I spent a lot of time with three books:  The Perfect Fit: The Classic Guide to Altering Patterns, Fit for Real People: Sew Great Clothes Using ANY Pattern (Sewing for Real People series) and  Fast Fit.  I still struggled.  I did remember that I owned half-scale practice patterns (the one Sewing Expo I went to years ago).  Here's my first alteration attempt:

I have no idea if that would've worked or not!  I then decided to just add 1" seam allowances everywhere and see what happened.  Now, I've had Fit for Real People: Sew Great Clothes Using ANY Pattern (Sewing for Real People series) for a while.  For the first time, I finally saw the protruding butt adjustment on page 180!  I thought the only one was on the previous page.  Duh.  I decided to try the cut and spread adjustment on page 180 and add 1" to front piece's seams.

The butt adjustment worked wonders!  The back was now level! That was by the grace of God.  I had no scientific way of determining how much length to add.  I did manage to cut the pattern at the fullest part of my rear.

Smooth sailing from here, right?  Heck no!  Apparently I added way to much in the butt.  Then came the hips.  I gave up on tissue fitting.  I couldn't figure out how to do it with a wrap.  I cut a muslin.  It looked crazy too because of the butt adjustment, but I knew I could pin out the excess.

I cut my fabric and spent two days pinning.  First, I realized my pattern no longer fit on the fabric.  I was making view B.  Now it's B without the ties.

It took me a second to figure out that I couldn't pin fit the fabric on the wrong side.  Perhaps this is in a book somewhere, but I missed it.  Then it was absolute torture trying to pin fit my hips.    Sure, it's real easy to pin down a seam, but my thighs are huge!  (I found out the right one is an inch larger.)  It took several, and I do mean several, attempts to pin the seams both far enough back and straight.  Jeez.

Those are the seam lines on the back pieces.  On the fronts, they appear to be straight.  Now, I gotta figure out how to make tailor's tacks, so I can get this marked and sewn!

Oh yeah, the markings you see are from when I realized the pattern didn't fit the fabric after I traced my first piece.  Sewing can be quite an adventure :-)