TV 460

[nat20lee]

Hello, im hoping for some help in deciding whether this bodice mockup fits. In the pictures Ive already taken out some of the length between the armhole and the neckline, thats what the horizontal tucks are. The waist darts will need to be taken in, later too. The back and the bust areas are the parts that I am trying to decide if they fit properly or not.

[Heather]

For what you have, it looks pretty good.

However, I would say that the back pieces are way to big, and your front pieces too small. I think you should go down about 3 sizes for the back. And then make the front larger to compensate. I think you just took your back measure way too wide. I have a tutorial on how to take that measure here:
http://www.trulyvictorian.net/blog1/blog2.php/2012/07/06/the-back-width-measure"%20onclick="window.open(this.href);return%20false;

[nat20lee]

Alright I tried again, this time with a C back and C front. What should I do if my bust measure is 35"? The D front seemed a bit too big in the bust, but the C fits quite snugly already.

The fit otherwise seems ok, but I have some issues with shoulder wrinkles that i'm not sure about.
Here's a picture of the front. The left side is holding the camera out so it looks worse on that side.

I'm just having a lot of wrinkles around the neckline.


Here's a view of the back


What do you think?

[Heather]

The back width looks much better.

If you are shy a little bit around the bust, you can add what you need under the arm, at the side seam. This will solve a second problem at the same time; the front of the armhole looks a little snug, and adding at the side will move the armhole forwards.

I am seeing two issues with the shoulder that can use slight adjustments. The first is that the neckline is rather snug, and I think this is what is causing part of the shoulder wrinkles. Clip the seam allowances of the neck and see if that helps. If needed, you can clip the neckline a tad larger to get around the side of the neck smoother. The second is that I think the outer point of your shoulder seam needs to be let out a bit, and the neck point of the shoulder seam can be taken in a bit. In otherwords, change the angle of the front shoulder line to be higher at the point, and lower at the neck. As it stands now, it looks like the shoulder seam is floating at the neck, and pulling tight over the arm.

[nat20lee]

Thanks for the help Heather! I think I have some improvement now. However still frustrated with fitting these stupid shoulders of mine! I'll show you some various pictures I took of the front today, while searching my house for some suitable lighting, lol

[Heather]

I think that looks pretty good. I think I am still seeing the armhole puckering slightly in front of the armpit. If it is, then you can trim the armhole farther forwards, to where the edge of the fabric just clears around your arm. This might also ease the stress wrinkles at the collar bone some.

If those wrinkles just refuse to go away, you can try a tailoring trick. Unsew the shoulder seam and resew it back together, stretching the fabric through the hollow of your shoulder, and then trimming off the extra at the armhole.

[nat20lee]

For the tailoring trick, the hollow of the shoulder would be the part that starts sloping down? And I suppose the front portion is the part I would be stretching?
Thanks for the advice, I'll try trimming the armhole first and then see what I can do. Once I get this mockup to finally fit properly, is it possible to sew up the lining first to make sure I got the alterations right?

[Heather]

The hollow is where the shoulder caves in over the collar bone, about the middle of the distance between neck and point of shoulder. So start stretching about 1" from the neck edge to about 2" from the armhole edge. The front piece only.

If it makes you feel better, I have this problem all the time, too. Though it is usually worse on one side, or even only on one side. For me, the one time I was able to really cure it was a combination of wider neckline and looser fit over the top of the shoulder.