Sunday 1 March 2009

Pattern Changes

Laurie, from one of the sewing lists was asking about adjusting a pattern for fitting a rounded back. I did this when I was fitting a friend.

That list doesn't have a communal place for posting photos. So, I have posted instructions here and posted a photo of the pattern. I drew lines with Paintshop Pro to help with understanding what I mean.

1. Cut down from the back shoulder darts, and straight across. (Blue line on the photo)

2. Raise the centre portion up the extra amount you need, and insert paper to fill in.

3. If you make this up, you will have a small pouch of fabric behind the arm (like some people struggle with extra fabric at the front). To deal with this, you need to cut from the armscye at that point to the tip of the back shoulder dart and this time overlap the paper. You will need to actually move the whole section down, rather than tip it at an angle, or the shoulder line will get too long. (The pink line shows where this section has been moved down.)

4. Redraw the top part of the rest of the shoulder. using the original pattern line for a guide, match it up with the CB and the neckline , but angle it down some toward the armscye. (The green line shows the pattern before adding the extra amount.)

5. Redraw the shoulder dart and the armscye. (The red line shows the pattern line before it is redrawn. The yellow line shows the redrawn armscye and shoulder dart and shoulder line.) It helps to know what your original armscye measurement is, so you end up with something near the same as before.

You may need to do a bit more fiddling, but don't over fit it or it will accentuate the rounded back.

By doing these things, the fabric can hang from the rounded area without cupping under or hanging up on it. The look is much more flattering.

Maybe this can help you with your patterns as well.

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