Questions. Questions That Need Answering.

My Blogger app is not very cooperative this morning. Did anybody get my Lord of the Rings reference? Yep. I am a nerd. Anyhoo. I'm temporarily stuck! This FBA puzzles me. Well first, thank God for tracing!

I was getting ready to mark my cutting lines and I got confused when it came to the one through the dart.

So, is the line through the side bust dart supposed to divide the dart evenly? Or, is it ok if the dart isn't divided evenly?

                       

The green lines show me lining up the center of the dart and my bust point. The dart is divided unevenly.

If I divide the dart evenly, I would have to raise the bust point to make the line go through both. That's the pink option.

Which is correct?

I thought that maybe my previous alts had affected the dart and bust point alignment. I went back to the unaltered pattern. See the folded line? The bust point is already lower than the dart in the original pattern.

                           

I need to add 1 1/4" of real estate for the girls. Which is supposed to look like this, right?

                           

This is certainly an unanticipated snag. I thought the FBA was going to be the easiest part of this. I keep hearing the end of It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night. The part where Prince shouts, "Confusion!"

The Surgery Continues

I am so excited about this weekend's progress on my bodice sloper!! Like really excited because I walked away after getting so frustrated with the back alterations.

It's amazing how much time I spent fiddling with the shoulder. My shoulder seams pitch forward about an inch below the top of my shoulder -- the entire seam. I also had a bubble at the back armhole. I wanted to work from the top down. I lost a lot of time fooling with a high round back alt I ended up not using.  I think I may have prominent shoulder blades, but I'm still not sure.

In the month-long hiatus, I toyed with starting another project. I kept reminding myself that I would get stuck at the same place as the sloper. I read. I scoured Craftsy. I revisited Pinterest and YouTube.

Finally, I had the courage to start again on Saturday. Time to tackle the front. At some point, when I taped something wrong three times in a row, I had to laugh. Anyhoo.

Here's what I've done

Back

• Altered shoulder dart
• • Width
  • • Added 1/2" width
    • Dart is now 1 1/8" wide
  • Length
  • • Added 1/2"
    • Dart is now 4 1/8" long -- is a shoulder dart supposed to be this long?
• 1/4" square shoulder adjustment

Front

• 3/4" Narrow shoulder adjustment
• 1/4" square shoulder adjustment 
• Redrew armscye to narrow armhole around bust
• Drew new bust point based on folded armhole dart
• Added 1/2" armhole dart and rotated it to waist dart
• Moved to waist dart to align with new bust point

In the past, I did an FBA only to find I still needed the armhole dart. I was trying to stick with starting at the top and working my way down, so I did the armhole dart first.

But wait there's more -- to do that is. The CF is 2 1/2" away from my center front. I also need more width at the side seams. I know the FBA will help. 

Are waist darts really supposed to be 1" from the bust? If so, mine needs to be lowered 1/4." I think I want it 2 1/4" lower, but we'll see. I'm not sure what's appropriate for a sloper vs a fashion pattern. 

I haven't tried this on with elastic around my waist, but I think it's a bit short. 

I really want this finished by the end of the month!! However, I have some house cleaning out and up to do; none of which happened this weekend!

One at a Time

I am serious about a sloper. I need to figure out why (even in RTW, my shoulder seems are an inch lower than they need to be in the front. I'm intentionally moving at a snail's pace. I am making one alt at a time and then retracing the pattern. Tha way, if something goes really wrong, it's easy to go back.

I have realized (I think) that I don't have a high round back. The CB is sitting where it needs to be. Weird because I always thought I had a high round (hated the thought, but I'd finally accepted it). I guess not having a forward shoulder should have been a bigger clue.

I do have huge bubble at the back armhole, so I think that's a protruding shoulder blade. I've widened the shoulder dart 1/2" and the bubble is gone!  I can't tell yet if the dart needs to be deeper. That's my next task. It's kind of hard to tell because the back waist dart is so tall.  I'm going to fit it without the waist dart and see what happens.

Anyhoo. I might have this done by the summer LOL.  I'm so dreading the work I'll need to do on the armscye -- but there are my square and narrow shoulders first!

                                  


  

A Tale of Two Slopers

Did you know that McCall's and Vogue each have a dress sloper? Butterick too. More strange is that there are differences among them. First is the size. B5628 goes up to a 32. The others go up to 22. M2718 has DD-cup options. V1004 goes up to D. I'll update this when the Butterick one arrives.    

In good faith, I dutifully traced a Vogue 16. At the time, it was the only one I had in a 16. Afterward, I decided to compare the instructions between Vogue and McCall. That's when I discovered McCall had a DD. I need that (maybe that plus some). I ordered the McCall.

Here's a comparison between the Vogue D cup and McCall DD cup.

I was torn. Should I trace the McCall version? (I don't enjoy FBAs.) Anyhoo. I decided to stick with McCall. Here's what made the difference. Not sure if you can see these details clearly above, but, as far as the bodice goes, I like what Vogue has going on.

• Consistent seam allowances:  2" for the side seams and 1" at the shoulder
• Bustline marked all the way across the front

In the bodice, McCall makes allowances for adjustments I don't think I'll need. Things might be different when I get the courage to tackle the skirt. Now, I need the bodice in a way that isn't to daunting. Decision made, I pinned up my Vogue 16.

 

Alas, I need a size 18. CF and CB are not where the need to be. My upper bust measurement is not quite 40" yet. I'd always heard that you should go with the smaller size if you are between sizes. not the case for me.

Yeah, I could be upset about needing a larger size, but that what this process is about. I'm more upset that I have to trace another pattern. Of course, I have a McCall 18, but not a Vogue. It's on order, along with some 1/4" gingham.