Fixing necklines

Is there anything we can do to make RTW necklines fit better and not droop to reveal a bra?

My neighbor, Rosie Two Shoes, had a family wedding to attend and she found the prefect dress except being petite, the bodice top exposed more then she wanted. You know the style, you grab the top of the shoulder seam and pull up about one inch (2 inches in total) until it sits properly.

Some seamstresses would be tempted to just take in that shoulder seam by stitching deeper into that seam and leaving the bulk inside or trimming it off…quick and easy right?

Sure, you can get away with it for one day but what about the fact it has a lining too which adds to the bulk?

There is another way to do the job that makes your neckline more flattering and comfortable so that you want to wear the dress again. Pinning out her shoulder seam reveals that one shoulder in lower than the other…so common in women. If you are right handed like me and my friend, chances are your right shoulder is the lower one as we use it to carry groceries, babies and our purses. In addition to this, the right hip will be higher if the waist seam has to be adjusted as well.

First, find the lining center back seam and open it up as this will be your entrance. Notice that the shoulder seam is gathered textured chiffon and the lining is pretty thick knit as formal clothes have these days.

Reach up inside to the shoulder seams and pull them out and thread trace the new seam line for the chiffon layer keeping the gathers/tucks. Notice the original tulle interfacing.

Do the same for the thick lining that has no gathers..

Compare the seams to make them match before stitching by machine.

Keep the small tucks and gathers as in the original.

After stitching, serge or trim off the excess for both.

Sew lining to the chiffon at armscye and neckline.

Pull the straps to the right side and notice that the lining is narrower so that it never shows when worn.

If you feel the need to replace the original understitching, it can be done by hand. It could also be done by machine but it would have been very fiddly.

Last thing to do is close the lining entrance with a serger or zigzag as the original.

You are done and ready to go to the party!

Another quick neckline fix is for my favorite Amazon rayon loose top. Sadly the front neckline is a deep “U” shape and reveals my bra, so I decided to snug it up by removing a wedge from just the front section.

By reducing the front section it actually makes the piece more on the straight of grain instead of bias = more stable.

It will keep me cool and covered as the weather is shifting into summer! For the next 7 days, our Pacific Northwest weather will be blasting out full summer temps. Good news for the tomatoes and squash but deadly for the sugar snap peas. At least the good thing is we have a 40 degree drop in the evenings to help cool the house down!

88° | 52°F

Partly Cloudy

92° | 57°F

Sunny

101° | 65°F

Sunny

104° | 66°F

Sunny

97° | 59°F

Sunny

87° | 55°F

Sunny

86° | 55°F

Sunny

84° | 55°F

All this is a good reason to stay indoors and get some sewing projects started or finished! So stay cool my friends and drink fluids!!!

Another Kimono

McCall’s 8000 is interesting and may just work with Nancy’s latest silk charmeuse purchase. There are no side seams and as I mentioned last time, it is more of a poncho used for breast exams. But Nancy will have side seams!

Unfortunately, we have only 2 yards of 45 inch wide fabric so I bought some hammered silk online to use for the bands. The pale teal color will blend well with the teal flowers and help dampen down all the dark brown.

Even though the fronts are just rectangles, you still need to know where the bust points are for motif placement. Using the light teal for the bands frees up the extra 5 inches for adding length. We wanted the light teal flowers to be up near her face.

Instead of making a center back seam, I decided to cut on the fold and slash for a rounded back and add a neck dart for fitting. That way, the overall design is not interupted.

Again, remembering to add the same 5 inches to the back pattern piece:

You can see the new neck dart which will be 3 inches long. The rounded back slash is 1 inch wide tapering to nothing.

We are limited in the length of the sleeves by the 45 inch width, so the paper pattern is folded over at the selvedge.The entire circumference will be 90 inches at the bust and hip.

Same for the front:

Can’t forget to add the extra 5 inches to the bands as well while cutting the silk organza interfacing.

Like with the previous kimono, adding piping will define the bands, I rummaged through my stash of vintage kimonos and found a dark brown silk that would work.

You can see the serging on the edge and that is because every piece of fabric that comes into my hands is serged and washed and ready to go. Fold over one corner to make a diagonal fold and start marking with chalk to make 1 1/4 inch wide strips. The fold will be cut.

Now just sew them all together to make 48 inches of piping with tiny nylon cord inside.

Up-close view of the striped piping fabric:

The strips are sewn so that the lines are even and matched.

Next, the pattern needs two vertical sewn folds placed at the shoulder line. First, I chalk and thread trace the fold line or the left side.

Each side is folded under and pinned flat. The newly formed pleats/tucks will be machine sewn and flipped toward the side seams and pressed flat. With this wild print it may be hard to follow the basting lines…sorry!

Back neck bands interfaced with silk organza:

You can see the hand stitching where the organza is attached to the inside edge of the bands. The bands are also faced later.

Close up of the front pleat:

The fold is 1.25 inches wide totalling 2.5 inches.

Auditioning the bands with piping flat:

Right front with band and piping flipped and the pleat:

To define the bands more, I decided to add piping to the inside edge as well. When adding piping it becomes the dominant feature as to which way the seams will lie. Not sure if leaving the nylon cord inside the piping will look better than removing it as it has some bulk to it. All is hand basted with puckers and wrinkles.

 

Still lots of pins holding things together like side seams and bands and you can see the first kimono peeking out from behind.

Waiting for the next try-on:

Mr Mole has been very busy in the garden rerouting sprinkler lines and drip heads before the summer arrives and so far the plants are thriving. Here is the pathway down to our seating area we call the Dell.

The view from the opposite side. You can see Nadine’s cage where she can view birds and skinks when she is not on the long leash laying on the sidewalk. The climbing roses have almost reached the top of the archway. In the foreground are volunteer sunflowers that have sprouted from the seeds left by the birds.

The strawberry bed is flourishing.

This year, I bought little plastic platforms for them to keep the fruit off the ground. Seven artichokes have already been harvested from this 2 year old plant. In the rest of the raised planter are 5 squash plants waiting for the really hot weather to come.

        

The new raspberry bed already has flowers and buds so we should have a nice little crop this first year. With our Spring temps staying low and occcasion rains, the plants have had a good chance to establish themselves. Finally, the view from my sewing room window…lots of pots to water!

    

Wishing you all a peaceful weekend and lots of successful sewing projects!

Spring bride

In my last blog, I introduced you to the a Spring challenge from Madison James Bridal.

 

The bride explained that it would need a little hemming so let’s get to work pinning up the lining (knit) and the satin layer (also knit).

Then we get to the scalloped lace layer. Now you know what to expect after seeing hundreds of these over the past 10 years.

It is 5 inches too long, so I run red thread at the 5 inch level and then again at the 10 inch level. The two threads will overlap and be pinned and eventually hand basted.

Cut away at the 5 inch line:

Normally raising the hem side seam to side seam is not such a huge job, but you can see the length of lace that has been cut away. It must be at least 5 yards.

The lace is repositioned 5 inches higher and then all hand basted with green thread ready for try-on.

To get a good idea of the finished length, I like to turn under the excess and hand baste  but it will be trimmed away after stitching.

Looking good so far:

Can’t forget that long train turned into a bustle…seven points should do the trick! No matter how many bustles I have made over the years, it is still exciting to see the lovely folds that evolve. When a bride has such a lovely bustle, she has a different way of walking…with some attitude!

The bodice straps were 1/2 inch too long, so after removing one set of beads and pearls, it can be re-attached.

Once the lace leaf is released, you can see where the pocket is for the strap.

The strap will not be trimmed, just folded under and slid back into the pocket and hand stitched into place just in case the next bride to wear the dress needs that extra length.

Second try-on results shows that the lace hem at the side seams needs to be higher up so more pining. No mater how precise the first pining, sometimes the gown just “grows” after hand basting…darn it!

Side view of the bustle with safety pins:

Notice how the embroidered lace dips down on the side seam and then reverse back up in the front and back?

The “borrowed” item is her sister’s veil.

With the recent school shooting in Texas, it causes us to ask”what can I do for those poor families?” Here is the GoFundMe website to help with funeral expenses and to help raise funds for the remaining children’s education: https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/donate-to-texas-elementary-school-shooting-relief

What else can we do? Petition your lawmakers to make background checks manditory and abolish owning all assault rifles that only belong in the military. When next casting your ballots, choose your candidate wisely after checking how much the NRA is funding them: https://katiecouric.com/news/politics-and-policy/senators-who-take-the-most-money-from-the-nra/

Hold your precious children tight! Thank you for visiting this blog.

Stitching Along

Last time I introduced Nancy’s new jungle print kimono jacket in progress. For a very slippery polyester fabric, it has been going well. Here we are attaching the front band and trimming off the extra seam allowance. The band was interfaced with a knit interfacing.

Then the front band had the facing attached.

The jacket with all the bands hand basted and sleeves attached waiting for their bands as well. You may notice (or not) that the bands were cut crosswise. Not my idea but the pattern suggested it and it is a nice contrast to the main body.

The center back seam is French seamed for strength and then top stiched but all that thread gets lost in the fabric.

While it all looks fine…it just looked so ordinary…no pizazz so I went to find my box of pipings. Over the past 40 years I have made yards and yards of piping and kept them “just in case”. Having just 1/4 yard of some cool fabric allows you to use it up and make interesting piping. Here is what I decided to do…choose some piping made from 40 year old Thai silk and attach it to the sleeve bands and front band.

The sleeve bands were twice as wide as I wanted so I cut them in half lengthwise so I could have a seam at the edge to insert the piping. The little areas of red and purple add just enough interest and the black areas define the seams…win/win. Because Thai silk is more robust than polyester, after I sewed the piping to the sleeves, I pulled all the cording out so the piping was softer and flat. When I see blogs with garments with thick piping where that is the dominant feature…it makes me sad. All that work and the piping takes over and destroys the design. By pulling the cording out, you make just as much a statement without messing with the design lines and no bulk.

Once I had done the sleeve bands, I decided that the front bands needed a little something too but of course, by then I had already sewn the front band to the jacket…what to do? I sat down with the TV on and ripped open the band seams and then snuck in the piping. Here is a close up of the piping on both front bands with the bands sitting on top of one another and pinned.

I didn’t want the piping to be on the outer edge like the sleeves but wanted the piping to define the actual seam between the jacket and the bands. Here is everything either stitched in place or pinned.

A nice blurry close-up of smooth outer edges and cool piping where it shows off.

Outside in the garden things have been moving along as well with Spring planting. We go from this:

to this all covered up:

All the usual crops have been tucked in…Swiss chard, cabbages, leeks, onions, peppers, tomatoes. And of course in the netted cage…everbearing strawberries!!! The squashes will be planted later and grown up cages. Mr Mole moved our raspberry plants closer to the patio for easy access.

Can’t forget early peas! We don’t have much luck with peas as soon as the hot weather arrives, they just struggle and die.

Nadine manages to find some shade to rest from catching skinks (lizards).

For those who miss the brides…never fear, a new one arrives this week. See that scalloped hem and train that will be bustled up?

Happy Mother’s Day to my US readers and may all your Spring sewing go well!

Back to Sewing

Do you know what is the most dangerous hobby? Parachute jumping, motorcross, bungee jumping, or extreme sports? Oh No…it has to be sewing!

On the project below, as I was happily sewing along all those pinned on tapes, two of the pins snagged my arm and in a flash I had blood gushing unto my fabric and a bruise swelling up. Guess I must have hit some small blood vessel and while wishing I could stop the bleeding, my first line of action was to grab a spray bottle of water and a white washcloth to dab all the fresh blood away from the lining.

Time to get serious and start some projects that have been patiently waiting to be cut out and assembled.

My kitchen Roman shade is coming along. I lined the Tommy Bahama fabric with a black-out lining as that is the sunny side of the house in the afternoon. Then I stitched the rings on the tape in 5 vertical sections. The window is 46 inches wide and 40 inches high so with seam allowances, it will hang properly replacing the 20 year old one.

I’m leaving a tunnel for the wooden dowel that stays at the very bottom, while the very top will be bolted to the top of the window frame with added eyescrews to hold all the strings.

Another project was making a cover for the seat cushion of the new/used electric wheelchair for my mother. There was a piece of double-sided quilted fabric in my stash and it was perfect. As my mother says she hates all stripes and the color green…well, it just had to be this for my choice. At least it is reversible to a non-striped fabric as you can see from the flipped over corner. The elastic bands will keep it snug and removeable for washing. So, you may wonder, why didn’t I just make it a tube? The cushion has 2 huge squares of Velcro to keep it attached to the seat platform so they had to be kept uncovered.

A little story about the chair: it was purchased used and when we came to buy it privately, we could not get it in the back of our SUV. We had to disassemble it into 3 sections…all quite heavy and bulky but off we went home. Then once we got home, a neighbor had to help get it out and into the garage.

Mr Mole had to reattach all the wires and connections and make sure all the motors worked. He worked all day getting everything just right, lying on his back on the garage floor, but now…how will we get it to my mother’s without taking it apart again? On Saturday, I  drove it to her assisted living facility about a mile away. My friends had threatened to video me scooting up the main busy road but I planned on wearing a disguise and a hat and mask while in motion.

 

There are 5 speeds and the seller mentioned that #1 would be the best for my mom as it is slower and more controlable. When my mother drove a car, she was a real speed demon, so I think she will be cruising up and down the hallways at level #5 and be shouting at folks to clear the way for her. Mr. Mole tried the #5 speed and he says it bolts you out of your seat pretty fast and the seat belt would be a good idea…my mother is not into safety or seat belts…ha ha!

Other projects in the pipeline are for Nancy. Remember this fabric? It is a very slippery polyester print but it is 60 inches wide so I am using Simplicity 9124.

After measuring all the aspects of the paper pattern to match Nancy’s measurements and marking horizontal lines, I make the normal adjustments like in all her other patterns. You all know about the rounded back alteration where I slash and spread and add one inch. Because this back section has a center back seam, I can allow the curve at the top and not add a neck dart.

The back shoulder will be narrowed to match the front section but the hip area will be widened and maybe have a slit later.

The front section always has a one inch slash and spread as well and narrower shoulder. You can see that I have used a blue pencil to record the front bust measurement and also the bust point just to the right and up from the number 5. The hip will be widened too.

As this front section has a 1.5 inch wide band to be attached…we have to make the same alteration of adding one inch. Sometimes I cut that piece a little longer just in case…my motto is CLTL…cut large, trim later.

So there we are, some projects done, some ready and it is still April!

While some of you have wondered where the brides have gone, I have been cutting back and referring some of them to another seamstress new in town who is very qualified and young.

At my advanced age, I feel I get to pick and choose what I work on now. But I will always be ready and willing to help you with wedding/formal gown issues or just plain old fitting problems if you send me photos…gosh, I love photos!

Returning Refreshed

After 5 months of demolition and reconstruction of our kitchen/dinette area, it seemed a proper time to get away for a week of rest. Also after having so many contractors marching through the house bringing in hardware and paint and appliances and using the bathroom while wearing work boots, we needed a carpet cleaner to freshen up all the carpetted areas.

Here is where we ended up to do absolutely nothing but read and nap.  After an 8 hour drive, the first morning we were greeted by a mother deer and her two babies, ducks and geese, raccoons, and grey squirrels.

The rental house was at the end of a cul-de-sac in the forest on the lake.

When the sun came out we could sit outside and read and listen to forest sounds of other birds like crows and juncos and robins.

If the night temps had been warmer, we could have sat out and burned wood but we didn’t.

 The property had a small boat dock and three small boats to use. The boat in the photo is where the raccoons hid underneath.

We brought enough food so we could stay in to eat but did venture out two nights for Italian food and Thai food.

Normally renting a house involves an empty garage but this was a real surprise. Walls of techincal books and jigsaw puzzles and games, ping-pong table, huge TV, well stocked work bench, all sizes of life vests for boating resided there and a real find…something old…

The ping-pong table:

The work bench:

Under an old map was this little honey:

I opening the lid and reached inside to find…

It was dusty but you could tell it had been used a lot in its day.

The manual was there in a drawer and when I checked when the Type 66 was manufactured, it said 1900.

There was the buttonhole attachment:

and the zigzag attachment too:

Mr. Mole was more attracted to the little paddlewheeler model boat on the work bench.

We ventured into Olympia harbor to experience wind and rain but didn’t feel like walking too far. I had to laugh after seeing this photo as for the past 20 years all our vacation shots have had me wearing this same red rain jacket. Most of our traveling has been over my birthday so normally that means nasty weather.

One day when I am dead and gone, my kids will look at these and ask, “Didn’t my mom own anything else but that red jacket?”

We managed to get back home just in time for a snowstorm to hit along with rain and sleet…that’s par for the course in Oregon!

A view from the front room:

Our backyard with orange tulips in pots:

Now hoping to have some time for sewing!

Ready to Walk Down the Aisle

Let’s start with the new lower panel with gathers at the top and the invisible zipper.

Here it is with the lining attached.

The grosgrain waistbands covered with satin fabric:

Ready to pin unto the skirt and I left a good sized pull tab as that is where the bow will be attached.

The wrong side of the waistbands hand sewn with a skirt clip fastening:

A view with the modesty panel sewn to the left side inside with 2 snaps on the right side holding it in place when lacing.

New center panel in place topstitched:

Modesty panel with boning made with new fabrics and normally this shape would be upside down with the widest part at the top.

What does the veil look like? Well, it is darn heavy and covered in pearls and seed beads and will have to be steamed like crazy to get the wrinkles out!

In order to do this alteration, I had to open up the lining and the tulle layer so now they have to be sewn back up.

On the inside you can see where the lining is going to attached to the new panel by hand.

The finished panel inside:

Attaching the bow panels to the new waistband with two rows of machine stitching:

What’s left? How about that huge bow sewn to one side and snapped to the other side covering all the ugly bits…

After one hour of steaming the whole dress and long veil…it is ready to be picked up tonight. I hope to get photos with all the white lacing after the ceremony. The train is completely covered in cutwork…nothing like that is available these days.

The only front view of the dress…such a lovely neckline and covered in pearls:

The weight of the dress is quite something but for the reception, the bride chose this dress in champagne color. It will be a contrast to the traditional wedding gown and much more revealing!!! The front slit started at the top of her leg, so that was stitched closed by 4 inches but still it reminded me of a Beyonce’ dress. She will also wear a shorter veil trimmed with pearls and beads and crystals.

I wish her well and much happiness in her marriage and now I can plan a week’s break to sit by a river and read and put my feet up.

A final warning as they have on reality TV shows: Do not attempt this stunt at home! As Nancy Reagan said, “Just Say No!”

Thank you for sticking by through all these steps and photos!

Panels and Ties – My Brain Hurts!

Where do we start?

If I want to use any original fabric I have to “borrow” or “harvest” it from the underside of the bow panels. Lifting the bottom edge of the bodice shows where the double panels are attached to the top of the skirt. I remove the lower panels as they are the longest and re-line them with poly lining.

You can see that the top layer is shorter by a couple inches.

I have removed the bow and get the loops ready for attaching. I baste them by hand and then machine them and top stitch them into place as there will be lots of tugging on the day.

Each panel has to be gathered to 5 inches and stacked unto each other.

Inside the bow panel is tulle netting so I cut just past the fold.

I cut the new lining 1 inch narrower than the original…why? That way the new lining pulls the satin to the underside and won’t show although it is the same pure white color but not as thick. The panels will be gathered back to 5 inches.

On my mannequin, we get a good idea of the gap to be covered. Now think about past brides and their modesty panel was essentially a triangle narrowing at the butt…total reverse of this one.

The buttons have been removed from the collar and it will be tacked to the bodice. Not sure what to do on the other side with the tiny loops just yet.

But here we are 4-5 inches across begging for ties.

 

 

 

 

Using my blue grosgrain ribbon to get a shape of what the modesty panel will need to be. Why are there 2 knots in the ribbon? I used 2 rolls of ribbon as one was not enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now comes the fun part…the new lower panel or giant godet…thinking…bridging a 10 inch gap so I will double that width and add length because again, gathers will have to be added for sitting ease. I cut a panel 23 by 26 inches, cut it in half vertically, and attach an invisible zipper as a prototype to be pinned and hand basted before the second try-on. If this works, it will be the lining for the harvested fabric panels later.

See the zipper pull? Wait, what happens at the top as this is not sewn to anything…it just sits on the hip under the corset ties?

I saw this same thing online and the bride was sharing photos of her new corset back and the seamstress just left the huge gap at the waist with nothing to fill in. Who does that?

I sew some wider grosgrain ribbon to use as a waistband which will be covered with white satin later.

Let’s all use our imgination and fast forward to all this in WHITE. For me, it works on the model but what will it look like on a real person?

Once the bow and bow panels are attached, lots of things are covered up.

Right now, all is hand basted into place or pinned and I’m hoping the sewing room gods will be kind to me tomorrow.

 

 

Wishing everyone in the Northern Hemisphere a Happy Spring!

Stay tuned for more!

Final Steps

What is left to do? How about that new small double ruffle added on top of the single layer bias cut one? This ruffle was cut the length of the selvedge and folded WST so it will contrast with the larger ruffle which was cut on bias to drape better.

Make a long tail to hand pleat along the neckline:

Pin the ruffle with the pleats spaced, notice the diagonal lines contrast with the lower ruffle. This ruffle is also twice as thick and will stand up like my client wants.

What can we do about this mess? All layers will be trimmed and pinked and hidden when the facings are attached.

Inside, the facings are stitched to the small ruffles.

Then the facings are pinned and stitched to the main bodice which will be hidden under all the ruffles.

The back neck with the ruffles flipped up to show the stitching.

The ruffles are flipped down to cover the stitches.

And now the best part…securing the lower opening with snaps. I had to cover a distance of 3 inches so I used two medium #1 snaps. You can see that I lengthened the front facing to her hips.

To make the two edges come together without overlapping, I used the “dangling snap” technique. Only one or two holes are attached to one female side and the other male side is sewn as normal. Then the two edges sort of “kiss”.

  

Attached to the flannel:A final close-up of the lower opening with those sexy snaps.

After over 20 hours, my client was thrilled with her gown. She tried it on in her bedroom and I heard squeals of delight as in, “It’s so sexy!” Instead of paying me, she will be cat-sitting Nadine for 10 days when we take a little break.

Does anyone remember this bride from last year? (Please scroll all the way down the page)

The mother and daughter wanted to see the bride wearing the 80’s wedding dress but there was just one problem…well many really. It had been preserved badly and was stained and many beads were just hanging off and the lace bordered hem was ripped to shreds.

They left the dress with me to repair every bead and strip of lace and then I sent it back to New York where they preserve and clean badly stained dresses no matter how old they are. It came back like new! Even the yellowed sequins were white and hems clean and pristine!

  

So back in November, this is how the dress fit after the bride lost 100 pounds to fit into it. All I had to do just before the Spring wedding was to shorten the bow panels and replace the bustle points. The bride and her mother were thrilled and said they would be back with the dress for the final tweaking. Please ignore the wrinkles as this is pre-preservation and cleaning.

This week they returned after 5 months for the final try-on and this is what I found:

 

 

I have 2 weeks to make this work before the big day. The gaps are all 5 inches across with the hips needing 10 inches. This will require lots of thinking and Diet Dr. Pepper after I get done shaking my head and gasping…oh no!

Glamorous Yet?

For those of you who have been following along, the seams have all been basted and we have a sleeveless garment on the mannequin. OK, a blurry photo but you get the idea. All of the wide white lines of the plaids match or relate on every seam.

This is where the back neck zipper would have gone.

Now to make wide bias cut ruffles for the best drape. I will need at least 48 inches in length to go from the waist and up and around.

Since the flannel is printed bias, the actual bias ruffles look like they are cut on grain.

Let’s sew them all together into one big ruffle.

What happens when the ruffle flips over and you can see the wrong side and the seams?

Let’s clean that up with a flat felled seam.

Fold the larger seam allowance over the pinked edge and pin down.

Then make a narrow hem on one edge:

Here is the center back…of course they don’t have the same angles…ha ha.

Instead of making a diagonal seam, let’s just do one stright across:

All the ruffles have been hand basted to the neckline with small hand made pleats instead of bulky gathers. There are still facings to be attached and man oh man that will be bulky! These ruffle have also been hand tacked about 1/2 inch away from the folded under edge. The sleeves have been basted on and hemmed as well as the skirt.

Here we have an idea of how it can look before trimming off the band of ruffles. My client thinks she might want another row of ruffles on top of these…we shall see/vamos a ver!

After a try-on, my client decided that she wanted:

1. The deep “V” to be open to her hips with snaps or hooks so she could leave it open for entertaining.

2. Another row of ruffles half the width and they have to be doubled so when they flop open or closed, you can’t see the white wrong side of the fabric.

3. The seams all have to be widened to be “skin tight”.

4. The front princess seams must be taken in so much as to cling to her thighs all the way down.

Having pinned out all the seams after wrongly thinking that there was just enough ease to wear and roll around in bed, we attempted to pull this over her head. It was almost impossible!!!

You can see the center back and back princess seams pinned out and side seams.

Obviously, I thought having 4 inches of ease was the perfect amount to wear easily but here you can see that 4 inches will be removed by taking 2 inches out of each side seam.

More to be removed on the back princess seams:

What to do with all that excess fabric??? Run every single seam through the serger, press seams toward the centers and leave the center front seam pressed open and flat. After this step, the hems will be done and sleeves re-attached and snaps added over the abdomen and those new ruffles added on top.

So many of you have requested my measurement charts, that I thought this article from Threads was interesting:

Claire Schaffer says: Myth 9: When adjusting a pattern that is too small in the bust, divide the amount needed by 4 and add that amount to each front and back section. For example, if the blouse is 2 inches too small, add 1/2 inch to each front and 1/2 inch to each back.
Reality: The back doesn’t need an added amount for a large bust. Add 1 inch to each front section. The reverse also works when you are adjusting for a broad back.

So, add fabric where you need it…and we will!

Next time, the finished nightgown in all its glory! I can’t wait! Thanks for dropping by!