TV405 fitting problems

[sarcasm-hime]

Hi, I'm working on my mockup and am perplexed because I checked my measurements but it's too small to close.

I don't know where the seams are supposed to fall, so am unsure where I need to cut it larger. Do I need to go up a size or two in the back or front, or both? Bust is 34", and I cut B in back, D in front.

I did have to take up the length at the spots indicated at I have a short torso, but that shouldn't have affected the overall size, I don't think.

Please help!

[Heather]

Our bodice patterns have a scant 1" of ease at the bust, so it is very important to take really good measurements. If you don't have enough fabric to go around your bust, then the most likely problem is that you are larger than a 34" bust measure. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend that you take a look at our blog for taking measurements, at http://www.trulyvictorian.net/blog1/blog2.php/taking-your-measurements

Looking at what you have, the back is plenty large, so you should cut a larger size front and vest piece. You will most likely need to go up 2 sizes, based in the size of the gap that you have now.

There is a weird thing going on in the front view, right at the bust. There is an odd pouch right at the top of the dart. I'm not sure if this is effecting the width around, but it looks like the dart needs to be reshaped a little bit, giving more room near the tip of the dart. Letting the top half of the dart out a bit should give you a little more room across the bust, also.

[smt22]

I don't want to ask a silly question, but just wondered if you had used 1/2" seams or 5/8"?

[Heather]

Ah, yes, that could be a problem. Truly Victorian patterns all have 1/2" seam allowances. So if you used 5/8", that could be the problem.

[sarcasm-hime]

I'm thinking it was a combination of things - partly seam allowance, partly making the torso length adjustment only above the bust instead of just above the waist (I've split it so it's in both places instead). I'm working on a new mockup now and it seems to be going better, although I did go up in size on the front as well.

I've run into another issue that might be an error on the pattern instructions; when assembling the sleeve, the instructions say "sew sleeve into arm hole of bodice, right sides together, matching notch on sleeve to shoulder seam of bodice, and front sleeve seam to lower front corner of armhole."

The problem is that there is no notch on either the upper or lower sleeve patterns. There are only dots to indicate ease section, nothing else. There is a notch on the bodice pattern at the front bottom armsceye; is this what is meant by 'lower front corner'?

[sarcasm-hime]

Thanks for the advice and comments! I think I've solved most of my issues (barring the abovementioned sleeve thing). Having not made Victorian costume before, are there any problems here that need to be fixed or will any wrinkles sort themselves out when I underline and bone the bodice?

(I modified the vest and front details as you can see)

[Heather]

I changed how the sleeve marks work, and I guess I didn't update the instructions to accommodate the changes. Looks like I need to do that; thank you for pointing that out.
The bodice should have a notch on the Side Front, at the front bottom of the armhole. The front sleeve seam (the shorter of the 2 seams) should fit at that notch. Then run under the armpit smoothly, and ease/gather the top to fit. Some people may need to adjust the sleeve a bit, by pivoting the sleeve forwards or backwards a tad epending on posture, but this should get you fairly close.

The new mockup looks good. I think it is still a little bit too long from armpit to waist, which is giving the horizontal wrinkles across the torso. It looks like you pulled the front smooth, but it really wants to be a bit shorter there too. The downward angled wrinkles at the side front show that the center front is pulled lower than the sides are sitting. So I think shortening just above the waist all around, about 3/8" or so should do it.

Raising the tip of the dart up about 3/4", or to the top edge of your corset, would smooth out the pooch you have there at the side of the bust. And if you need to pull in the vest portion closer to the skin at the top edge, you can take it in at the vest seam as well as the center front. Just curve in the vest above the bust, but leave the side front the same.

The rest looks pretty nice. I think the new shape of your vest will be lovely!