Simplicity 2440 - Part 3 - Fitting woes

Lucky I made a muslin first.  This is a bizarre fit for me - strangely this pattern had a LOT of gaping around the neckline.  It comes with different cup sizes - B, C & D - so yes, us small busted women have been forgotten - again!  Even my google search on how to alter the bust area resulted in FBA help rather than SBA help!  Sigh.  In the end, to alter the cup size on the princess seam, I drew a new line on the front side pattern piece about 1/4 inch in and graduated it back out to the usual line once under the bust.  No idea if this is the right thing to do...

The pattern ease is once again way too large - who wants 4 inches of ease on a spaghetti strapped dress?! I cut a size 10 and not the guideline's 14! 

And after all this, as you can see, a good 2 inches needs to come out of the top.  Cutting a size 6 out in the top half of the bodice should sort the 2 inches. 



I did add 3 inches to the bodice length, but after fitting this on, I'm going to reduce that by 1 inch as it's a little long and the boning may not sit nicely when I'm sat down.  Taking all my alterations into account, I'm going to cut out my lining next...

Simplicity 2440 - Part 2 - The Fabric

I have been umming and ahhing over this pattern for a few weeks now; I bought it, but then decided perhaps it wasn't for me.  And let's face it, even if I made this dress an exact replica of Danniis, I still wouldn't look like Dannii in it!  But I've finally decided I'm going to make it, just in a more 'Mrs C' style type of way.

I've chosen this pretty taffeta fabric whilst up in Norfolk this weekend.  You can see its pretty print in pink yellow and black.

I'm going to adjust the pattern to have a side zipper rather than a back one - most of my shop bought dresses have side zips and this will keep the fabric print unbroken in the back.  My zipper skills aren't quite mastered yet either, so this is probably best as it will be more hidden under the arm. 

Next step is the muslin....

Butterick B5249

For something nice and quick to make whilst pondering on my dress alterations, I chose skirt B in this Butterick pattern.

The material used was a polyester wool mix in a tiny checkered multi brown pattern.

I used my new toy - a Juki MO 644D over locker for the edging, pocket seams and waistband seam - I discovered that I could over lock the seam, then under stitch using the sewing machine, it was a very neat and compact finish. 

I made 2 small pattern alterations - I took the waistband down by 1.5 inches so that it sat more on my hips which I prefer, and I also lined the skirt.  All up, this took me about 8 hours, which for me is pretty good (I'm not the fastest sewer!).  I like the pocket pleat detail as it's something different for a work skirt, and also the edge finishes from my over locker was pretty satisfying too. 

Perfect for the office, and today I bought more of that fabric to make a matching jacket in this Burda pattern: