As much as I like Sew Weekly and how it’s definitely forced me to think in unexpected and creative ways, I think I need more than a week (or three days, in this case) to work on a project.
Thanks Elizabeth for your comment on McCall’s 4994. I took a closer look at McCall’s 4994 today and it definitely needed a sleeve adjustment. I didn’t want something that would just sit in my closet and I would only wear once because the sleeves were awkward and bordering on the 80s instead of the 50s.
This method is pretty imprecise but since the edges were all serged and finished, I figured I might as well give it a shot. I put the dress on the dressform and pinched out the extra ease on the bottom armscye.
I pinched out about two inches from the bottom corner to the where the seam should be. I continued the adjustment line tapering to nothing about four inches above the elbow line, and tapering to nothing by the side of the waist.
These are dodgy bathroom shots to see how they fit. I might have to photograph this properly again for posterity’s sake (and so I can remember to make this adjustment on the pattern piece).
With the sleeve down, trying to stand straight. It’s still bunchy but what can I do about it now? I think maybe my adjustment is pulling something off grain. Eh.
+ + +
With the sleeve up. (No more weird bunchy fabric that goes through the shoulder.)
+ + +
Is this cheating if you make the adjustments after you’ve declared a finished project, then photograph it again afterwards? I’d rather have something I’d wear and isn’t so horribly flawed, so perhaps it doesn’t matter.
It’s not cheating–much better to fix it so you’ll actually wear it! I think it’s looking much better! My other thought when I saw the finished dress photos was that it was a little loose on the bottom skirt–the Joan look is the extremely fitted pencil skirt look, with just the minimum of ease needed to move comfortably. You may not want to go that far for comfort/style reasons, but if you’re working on it, you may consider taking it in a little at the side seams…
Sometimes you can’t tell fitting issues until you’ve worn the garment around for a few hours – and it’s definitely not always feasible to wear a muslin around the house for that long! So I vote not cheating. I’m always adjusting my garments long after they were declared finished. It can be a huge pain, especially when you’ve already finished the seams & hem & everything, but it’s better than wadding the whole thing up & sending it to Goodwill when you realize you’ll never wear it
No, you’re right. There’s a back vent on the skirt too that I had to skip out on since I was trying to meet the Sew Weekly deadline.
I think fixing the skirt the proper way will be to taper the skirt so it’s more of a pencil skirt, then insert the back vent, but you’re definitely right. It’s something I’ll keep in mind for future revisions. Maybe I can do a quick and dirty fix and just taper down the side seams and hope I can still walk around in it.
As much as I like Sew Weekly sometimes it means cutting corners on my projects and I don’t really like that.
I definitely didn’t see the bunchy sleeve issues with my muslin, but then again my muslin was really stiff and I thought it needed the extra ease so my arm could move. Actually quite the contrary.
I prefer making a first model with the same kind of fabric instead of muslin fabric. With a couple of projects i had the same kind of problems. The muslin seemed all right, but the real thing didn’t fit as smoothly as the muslin.
Long time lurker, etc … OK, on to the kimono sleeves (they are, aren’t they?).
They are the bane of my fitting existence and I would love to learn how to conquer the bunchy sleeve, plus the extra ease through the side of the chest and underarm area that always seems to appear. Right now I just don’t sew them, even though they are so easy (for other people …) and look so cute (on other people …).
I will continue to follow with bated breath to see if you come up with a magical solution to this. Have you see Gertie’s posts on underarm gussets? (http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2012/01/how-to-sew-two-piece-underarm-gusset.html)
Anyway, sympathies and good luck!
I actually have a muslin of this that’s waiting to be sewn up. The pattern doesn’t have gussets at all, and I blame it mostly on user error. I was trying to make the Sew Weekly deadline and didn’t fit it properly. I’m going to be definitely making this pattern again, so stay tuned!
I’m just having a mammoth WeSewRetro catch-up and your dress caught my eye. I think after adjustments it looks a lot better fitting already, much of the bodice bunching seems to have gone. With that last bit, I would try putting a dead dart in the pattern to get rid of the fullness (it would probably look a bit fish-eye and not meet the pattern edge), if you still have the muslin, its a good way to test it out. If the top had set-in sleeves I would dart it out then rotate the dart out to the neckline, although not an option here. You really have to look to see the bunching, its not that noticeable so I hope you are enjoying getting some wear out of your dress now
Thank you Molly! I made this dress awhile back so I can’t recall, but I think I actually adjusted it.