I do like to sew, it is true. I prefer sewing clothes to most other things. It is a pragmatic thing. I would just rather not make things simply because they are cute or pretty. If I'm going to take the time, it needs to do something for me.

The up and downside of making clothes for myself, is that I'm actually very hard to fit. That makes it hard to buy things too, in case you wondered. So when I make something, I usually spend the bulk of it on fitting, and my most challenging fit is my bust. It is a little large. Without broadcasting my size, I can tell you that my back is a full three sizes smaller than my front. What the heck does that mean? It means that if I had no chest my tops would be smalls, while with chest I am a large-XL.

This dress is for my brother-in-laws wedding, in 9 days. Just last night I did the final pattern alterations. I will make one more fake dress tonight just to check the little things. For me to wear this dress I have to:

• add 2-3 inches of bust fabric
• raise the back 3 inches (partly so I can wear a normal bra and partly cause I prefer it like this
• raise the waist 3"
• raise the hips 3" (i find I look nice in flaring things provided that they flare at just the right spot, which is NOT my knee)
• I changed the neckline to more of sweetheart since that is more flattering on me.

By far the majority of the work is in the bust. I made 5 busts in this process to test fit. I tried many many recommended FBA's online That's full bust adjustment, but they just didn't work for me. You can see in the second photo all the pattern pieces I made in this trial. The standard method just didn't work here since there are no darts but lots of seams in this pattern.

This photo is version 4.0 I think. It looks better in this picture than it did in real life. The straps are still sagging off my shoulders and there was some extra space in side of the bust.

The dress will be bubble gum pink or similar. I'm not in the wedding so I'm not required to do anything. I thought that would coordinate well with the wedding colors: Tiffany blue, brown, ivory, and fuchsia. More pictures as this mess progresses. I will have to take tomorrow off cause I have a dinner party for which to prepare.

Labels: sewing