Today, Phyllis and I did the heavy lifting with our dress form doubles. Yesterday we cut them out and sewed them up, today was the pinning and fitting to our bodies. We both used commercial fitting patterns as the base pattern. Mine is the Vogue fitting shell; Phyllis’ is the Butterick. They are pretty similar, but the Vogue has different pattern pieces for B/C/D cups. Yay! I started with the D, size 14. It’s reasonably close, but here you can see the pin-outs we had to do to eliminate all the ease and make it skin tight.
A pinch of this, a dash of that
The changes we made to the front include letting out the waist at the side seams (sigh…), taking the torso in at the side seams, adjusting for square shoulders, removing length from the chest above the bust, pinching a dart out between the bust, taking ease out of the upper chest at the center front seam.
And a big ol' pinch out of the back
On the back, we only needed to take a big pinch out of the middle back. I’ll let Phyllis share her adjustments.
After we did all that, I cut the pieces apart and created a new pattern, truing up all the lines and re-drawing the darts where necessary. I cut another muslin, which I’ll try to sew up this week. I’ll also drape an inner cover for my dress form. Then Phyllis and I will get together again, check the fit and if all looks good, we’ll cut it our doubles of the final fabric and commence with the stuffing. So that’s where things stand. How was your weekend?
Happy sewing!
I love those photos! It’s so cool to see fitting in action.
Interesting! I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I am always looking for the holy grail of the dressform
I read the article in Threads, and it all seemed pretty complicated. Thanks for sharing this step by step process.
Is the pattern with B/C/D cups Vogue 1004 or did you use one of the custom fit patterns. I assume the fitting shell has some ease and you aim to remove all ease when making it ‘skin tight’. Is my understanding correct?
I am looking forward to seeing further posts.
The pattern is V1004, Donna. It has very little ease to begin with, and Phyllis and I removed what there was to make it a body-double.
Thanks, I didn’t know that pattern had separate cups. You have inspired me to give it a go!
Great post, I’ve just been cling-wrapped and will cut that apart to make my first muslin to be fit skin tight. I’m looking forward to your stuffing post, both for technique and product used.
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I’d say it was a great way to spend a weekend – utilizing the talents you each have honed. Expect many sewists will find the all you each offer very useful.
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I’d say it was a great way to spend a weekend – utilizing the talents you each have honed. For certain many sewists will find the all being posted of useful value.