Hello! In the last tutorial in this series I showed you how to alter a Vogue 1546 pattern and make a fit sample. So now let’s fit it!
I used safety pins to close the back where the zipper will be.
On one side of the skirt I cut the pleat seam allowances the way the pattern instructed and the reason I don’t like to do that is because they can flip over or even turn inside out like this.
So instead I pinned the pleats into folds that I like and I’ll adjust the pattern as needed.
I still don’t like this weird side seam pleat so I pinned it flat and I’ll remove it from the pattern. I also don’t like center back pleats. They open up and it’s like a weird butt crack, but I have a plan for that. Fitting the back is pretty much impossible to do well on your own body, so it’s best to use a mannequin for this.
I pinned the waistband piece onto the skirt so that it will sit evenly at my natural waist.
I pinned the bodice at the side seam. It fits pretty well. You can see where the skirt was supposed to attach, but I’m pinning it to the waistband so that it’s not curving down.
Now that I’m happy with the fit, I can mark the style line for the front yoke. The graphic on my shirt works well for a start point!
Before I took off the fit sample I marked on both sides of the safety pins with a Frixion marker. Then I can mark where the waistband is going to end on the skirt and bodice, and mark any other alterations I made to the garment before removing the pins.
You can see where I pinned the pleats that there’s a gap where the seam allowance was cut. I can make up for that in the pattern, and not need to cut the pleat seam allowance away.
So I’m folding the paper pattern into the pleats with the revised angle as pinned on the fit sample.
I need to revise the shape of the pleat so I tape a scrap of paper at the top of the pleat.
Fold the pleat back into shape and trim away the excess paper following the top edge of the skirt.
Now the pleat is re-shaped (see the new point by my hand?) and it will fall the way I want without needing to snip away the seam allowance!
I’m also removing some of the fullness of the front pleats because they were overlapping each other. So I cut down the middle of each pleat and overlapped the paper about a half inch to shrink them down.
Once the pleats are folded I can measure where the waistband should sit and mark it across the skirt pattern. I taped the pleats down to hold them in place.
Add a half inch seam allowance and cut away the excess. Then mark where the pleats start and end, cut the tape to release the pleats, and notch the marks.
I’m marking the front yoke style line on the pattern by laying the fit sample on top and using a tracing wheel to poke holes right through the muslin into the paper. Then I can draw the line using a curved ruler.
To mark the waistband placement on the bodice I folded the waist dart and marked across it while it was folded. Add seam allowance and cut away the excess.
I decided to take out the side dart, it was too much fullness for me. I also thought the arm curve was cutting into my armpits a little, so I’m trimming just a little bit away there too.
Now I need to make a new pattern piece for the front yoke. If I cut the pattern right on the line I will have to remember to add seam allowance when I cut, and sometimes I forget to do that (pretty much every time). So, to make it Katie-proof, I’m making a new pattern piece with seam allowance. I trace around the yoke area of the bodice, and then use a tracing wheel to trace the style line.
Now I can add seam allowance to the bodice and cut away the yoke. And the new pattern piece gets its own seam allowance.
Lastly the belt will just be a rectangle so I’m making it 2.5” tall by half of the width of the waistband, plus a half inch seam allowance.
I labeled all of my pattern pieces so they’re easier to identify. I mark the name of the project, the name of the pattern piece, how many to cut in each fabric, and the seam allowance. I’ll mark the seam allowance at each seam if they’re different sizes.
I also marked the bias grain line for the skirt pieces because I want the cuts to go diagonally on the skirt.
I’m only marking the pieces first so I can make sure I have enough fabric before cutting. I don’t want my fabric falling off the table anywhere, that will pull and distort the fabric, so I use a weight to hold it on the table.
Once I have all of the pieces marked and I know I have enough fabric, I can cut out my pieces.
I’m going to do the same thing with my flat-lining satin, the only difference is that I’m not cutting the skirt pieces on the bias.
I’m cutting the bodice lining, belt lining, and pocket bag pieces out of cotton.
Then the front yoke and belt out of the embossed leather. The leather scraps aren’t big enough to cut the belt in one piece so I’m cutting three pieces and I’ll join them at the side seams.
I have a lighter weight satin that I’m going to use for the skirt lining. Because the skirt lining is fitted, I want to add a bit more seam allowance for safety. When you sit down your hip measurement increases a few inches, so I added an extra half inch at each side seam.
The last thing I’m going to cut is my binding. I want 1.5” for the fake binding on the bodice, and two inches for the real binding at the skirt hem. Binding should be cut on the true bias for best results – this means exactly a 45 degree angle. Woven fabrics have the most give on the true bias, and they will conform to shapes smoothly.
This is a good place to stop for today, we’ll start sewing the dress in another tutorial!
When you’re fitting a garment on yourself, be sure to take a few deep breaths to make sure you have room to breathe. One year I was making a costume for Halloween that involved a corset. I got the fit perfect, but didn’t realize I was taking shallow breaths. So when I put it on for the Halloween party and continued hustling about getting ready, I slowly became aware of the restriction on my breathing. I fixated on it and started to panic! Luckily it laced up in the back and all I had to do was unlace it a bit, so crisis averted, but I still remember the lesson learned the hard way 🙂
Have you ever had a fitting mishap? How did you fix it? Share your fitting woes in the comments!
