Further adventures in fitting (with help from the #sewcialists)

This week I have enlisted the help of the fabulous #sewcialists on Twitter (why did I resist Twitter for so long?  I am addicted!) to help with some fitting issues I have been having.

I am working on the bodice for my Mad Men Challenge dress, using NL 6000 as a base.  I started with a tissue fit to determine length adjustment (always! In this case 2" which is less than usual - I have heard this bodice runs long) and correct dart placement (fine).  No point on making a muslin that definitely won't fit, is there?

I also decreased the seam allowances to give myself an extra 1" at the waist, and here is the first result:

Pretty bad, right?  I thought the wrinkles above the bust were to do with my square shoulders and so I added those strange flaps of blue fabric you can see in the first pic to test the theory of changing the shoulder, but to no avail.  To say nothing of the gaping armscye and wibbly neckline.  So I turned to the ladies of Twitter for advice, and as ever they delivered!

I was shocked to find out (as I have always considered myself to be amongst the small-of-bust) that I needed a small (1/2") FBA!

Here's the results for round 2:

A massive improvement I think!  Those annoying wrinkles are gone and neckline is lying flat (in real life at least - holding up the camera makes it look off in the top pic). 

It's not perfect though - there's still a lot of gaping in the armscye which needs to be addressed.  I thought about increasing the FBA but think it would have been too loose around the bust.  I might try a slightly larger FBA another time.

Following more Twitter advice from the lovely Rachel at House of Pinheiro (that girl is great trying to explain the process to me in 140 characters from her holiday in Brazil to see her family!) I pinned a dart at the armhole, transferred to the pattern and rotated the excess into the bust dart.

Minimal gapeage! (it actually does lie flatter than it looks when I am holding up the camera!)

I even tried a square shoulder adjustment on this to see if it made a difference:

I don't think it changed much in this case although I will bear it in mind for future!

But what a difference some great advice and a few muslins made to the fit.  From this:

to this:

Thanks to all the #sewcialists who helped, especially Laura at A Make-it-Yourself Mom's Diary, Rachel, Maris at Sew Maris and Brooke at Custom Style!  You guys...

I'm ready to start drafting the skirt now!

Mad men challenge - dress inspiration

I've been really looking forward to Julia Bobbin's Mad Men Challenge.

When I started sewing garments and reading blogs last year, everyone was participating and I was too new to sewing and still losing weight, so I didn't enter.  But this year I am definitely in!

I've had a pinboard since Julia announced the challenge in January.  I pinned loads of dresses and patterns, but only a couple really stuck in my head.
I have finally chosen the dress i am going for. I was keen to pick something I would definitely wear in future - much as I love a Joan-style wiggle dress or a full-skirted Betty frock complete with petticoats, they aren't all that compatible with my usual daily life or work/ commute/ sit on floor playing dolls with 4 year old!

So it was always going to be one of Peggy's dresses for me. I need it to be a bit cake like - not totally frosting! I love her peter pan collars and subtle patterns or solids.  I also wanted one that I haven't seen too many different versions of. So I picked this one:




Source:  Vanity Fair

  It's a lovely plain navy dress with inverted box pleats with lovely flashes of red inside them. It's a quite high at the neck as is common in vintage dresses from around that time I have tried. And by a happy coincidence I think I have a great start point for the bodice - the ubiquitous New Look 6000 aka the polkadot frock!

Source:  Pattern Review

 I bought the pattern planning to do Scruffy Badger's sewalong but the pattern was out of stock until mid February and I ran out of time. I'm thinking view E bodice with the short sleeves (on view A) - the slightly lower neckline will work better for me. And I'll draft a skirt. I have found a tutorial for the pleats and inserting the contrast panels.

You can see on this one that it's actually navy rather than black as I had originally thought:

And on this image, the cute buttoned side tabs are clearer - ideal that NL 6000 has a centre back zip.  Although I am now taking a closer look and realising the side tabs are actually a belt!

Can anyone help on how big the skirt should be? Am thinking maybe a half circle? I also need to choose fabric. Would you go for a stable knit or a woven (as the pattern works for wovens or doubleknits)?  Would the pleats work in a knit or would I be better to go for a woven?  Any help/ advice much appreciated!

Oh, and I'm now on Twitter and loving it!  You can follow me on the side bar on else find me on there @jolittletime