Monday, September 3, 2012

The Perfect T-Shirt Round 1

I did my first tissue fitting in the wee hours of the morning. The good news is I needed the built-in round back and generous sizing. I'm especially excited because I think tapering to an XL gives me the hip room I need. I did a 1/2" square shoulder adjustment and added a CB seam.I started working on the sway back tuck when I heard the tissue rip, so I figured that was a good time for me to get some sleep.

The bad news is the armhole gaps horribly in the front. Since I did the tissue fitting in my undies, I don't have a picture for you.  However, It's about the same as in this KS3740 muslin:

According to FPA, the cause is the girls' size. The solve is a dart. This is the dart I refuse to add (I say that early in the fitting while my resistance is high.) I think the back armhole might be fine (it was the wee hours of the morning.) The pattern does come with instructions for how to "petite" the armhole. If I shorten the front, do I have to shorten the back? What do I do the the sleeve?

Also, I think I might need some sort of an FBA (again no pic to share). Hoping I can get that accomplished with one of three no-dart methods. Gotta remember to check the length of the shoulder too. I always felt like KS3740 was about 1/4" too long. I think Pamela's Patterns comes with a shorter seam.

Probably won't get to work on this tonight.  Going to the gym and then I'm coming back home to work on a meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

4 comments:

Faye Lewis said...

Please allow me to put my two cents work in... from your picture the armhole problem looks like it would be an easy fix by darting the pattern right in the area of the gaping. I think darting the pattern you wouldn't need to make an armhole adjustment at all; however, you would then need to make a sleeve cap adjustment so the sleeve would match.

And from what I can see the bust area looks fine. Of course there is pooling underneath, but couldn't that be worked out by putting in a horizontal dart (to remove the pooling fabric) then tapering to nothing in the side seams?

Lynn (YSG!) said...

You can do a couple of things about the armhole. First, petite the pattern by folding out some length between the shoulder and bust. If you plan to add sleeves, you may have to adjust the pattern accordingly.

Second, you can also pin the dart, measure its size, and fold out the same on the pattern.

NuJoi said...

Thank you ladies! Just to clarify: The pic is not of the current project. It's me about 30 pounds ago in a muslin for KS3740. However, the armhole issue was the same when I tissue-fitted the current top.

Please remember I'm sewing special ed. Now when you say "darting the pattern" do you mean like a center back tuck or an actual dart you sew?

Lynn (YSG!) said...

Sorry for the late reply.

By "darting the pattern," we mean fold out the dart in the fabric and measure its size. Copy this right onto the paper pattern, fold it out (as if you were about to sew it), and then true the seamline. Then when you cut out the bodice again, the armhole gaping should be minimized.

Oh and just where did you lose 30 pounds??? I'm trying to re-drop the fifteen I lost last year. Stupid weight has a GPS or something...