TV400 Fitting Advice for petite?

[LDT2014]

So I am finally going to get round to using all the TV400 pattern rather than frankenpatterning with my fave waistcoat. Anyway I need some advice...I'm not sure where it should sit on my waistline and I think my sloping narrow shoulders are causing an issue too.
I've traced off the pattern and pinned it on my dress form. Which is about a 1.5cm larger than me which is fine for when I drape from scratch - built in ease - but when it comes to readymade patterns I just have to do a bit of guesstimating.
Anyway here are thumbnails fo the photos click for larger view.

Front

Side

Side 2

Back

Any fit suggestions...have I got it sitting in the right place? How do I make it more in proportion to my short legs?

[Heather]

To make sure your have it sitting properly to start, you want to place the armhole at the correct level high up under your arm. I am not sure where that is on your dress form, so I can't really help with that. Once you have that level established, then you want to smooth up over the shoulder and down to the waist, to get the correct lengths everywhere.

I would go up to the shoulder and fit that part first. Place the back of the neckline at the nape of the neck, with the 1/2" seam allowance above the nape. if there is any extra material between the armhole level and the nape of the neck, take a fold out in the middle of the upper back, even all the way across, to take out the extra. Same with the front, keeping the armhole/bust level the same, fold out any extra over the top of the shoulder in the middle of the upper front piece. You should be fitting the neck edge smoothly over your shoulder, from point of bust to nape of neck. If you need adjustments over the point of the shoulder to match your shoulder angle, then make adjustments to the shoulder seam, after the overall length has been corrected. This should solve most of the upper torso problems.

The waist line of this bodice should sit right at your natural waist, with 1/2" seam allowance below the waistline. The rounded point should dip below the waistline. Based on what I am seeing in your pics, you will need to take out quite a bit. I think the easiest way to do that is to just cut off the bottom of the back and side back to the correct length. You won't need to mess with redrawing the curve. But for the front and side piece, I think you can take a tuck in the middle of the body and fold out any extra. This way you won't need to redraw the rounded point or anything.

I hope this helps.

[LDT2014]

So I had a little play around...and ended up with this

So I then decided to do a fabric mock up. Apologies on fabric choice but I don't have money to spend on fabric for mock ups so I picked this out of my gifted stash. It was only cotton big enough to fit pattern on. Oh and I realised I needed a CB seam after I'd de-corseted so used the dummy to pinch it out.





here it is on me...I struggled getting photo's as I didn't have anyone to help me.

[LDT2014]

I've drawn a line to make it clear where the pins are

[Heather]

Ok, that's not too bad. Next time you try it on, pin the center front below the bustling with the exact same allowance at it has at the bust, which should be 1" on each side. You can pull in above the bust just like you have it. Then to fit the below bust, make your adjustments to the darts, instead of at the center front. Making the darts larger will also pull the back in closer to the body, and make the back fit better. Make sure the back length down to the waist is not still too long. Maybe turn the bottomup the 1/2" to remove the seam allowance to double check. The back still looks too tall, and is climbing up the back of your neck. So fold more length out in the middle, and let the front out to compensate.

The rest looks pretty good. I like the armhole position and and size. The neckline looks good.

[LDT2014]

Thanks for being so patient. Here is how its looking so far...I want it to have a button front..does it have enough seam allowance for that?





I've flatlined it now...trying to tweak the side seams and darts.

You can see the mermaid colour combo i'm working to here.

[LDT2014]

forgot to ask should the armhole seams be piped?

[Heather]

That is looking pretty good. You need 1" seam allowance at the center front for a button closure. These bodices fit tightly, so yes, it looks fine to me. I think the darts are a little tall for your body. The tip of the dart should be just below the fullest part of your bust. This should help you get a little more ease across the bust.

You can pipe the armholes if you like. It is more historically accurate to do so, but I find the piping makes them less comfortable. The piping will keep the armhole from stretching as you move.

[LDT2014]

So I adjusted the darts and it fits better.


I was wondering this is how I'm going to attach the boning. (its pinned in place ready for me to hand sew it in...my zipper foot hates me.)

Did I interpret the instructions right?

btw. this is my scaloped hem peplum

[Heather]

Very cute peplum!

The center back bone should only come up to about armpit level. The bones at the sides should end about 1" below the armhole seam. Otherwise, they will poke you in the armpit, very annoying.

Right now, you have the whole bone casing on one side of the seam. I like to put the boned section of the casing on the one side and the allowance of the case on the other side of the seam. In other words, place the stitching on the casing directly over the seam. Then sew the casing down just outside of the stitching. This will make the attachment point of the casing as close to the bodice seam as possible.

If you are hand sewing them in, then you can also center the bone over the seam and stitch down both sides. Which is actually the best way to do it, but I'm lazy and just want to sew one side.

[LDT2014]

Thanks. I might embroider the peplum with lines to emphasis the shell look or maybe just sew on trim.

I'm sewing all the bones in by hand because when I put the zipper foot on my machine it tends to chew fabric up/struggle to move fabric along/thread gets in knots.

Here is the bodice with boning in on me. I'm only wearing over modern foundations atm as its late and cold. lol!

[LDT2014]

I have to admit this is sans corset but I wanted to make sure the sleeves looked right before I hand basted and sewed them and couldn't be bothered to fight in and out of my corset. lol!

[MaryGode]

I'm loving the scalloped edge of the peplum! Why do I never think of these things?

You might want to be careful about fittings without your corset if you do tighter sleeves in the future. I did the 1884 French vest bodice for a friend. It was very fitted in the sleeves (far more fitted than the day bodice) and without the corset she almost couldn't get her arms in but with the corset it fit perfectly. Still haven't figured out how a corset affected sleeve fit.

[LDT2014]

i'm glad you like it Mary. I started experimenting with trim...I want it to look Ariel-ish without it looking fancy dress costume.



I did have a go at draping some drapery...but it just looked silly. All my stash fabric is too shiny.

[LDT2014]

Gah1 ran out of thread before I'd done all the buttonholes

found these buttons that looked suitably pearl like