TV442 fitting

[hailstop]

A friend of mine did my previous gown using the TV442 pattern, and now I'm doing one myself.

With that gown, I found that it's just a bit too short and probably needs another inch below the waist to better cover the skirt waistband. I'm not entirely sure where to lengthen though, as the instructions say only to lengthen the back and side pieces if necessary.

Additionally I'd like the point on front to be a bit longer...is it as simple as just adding a bit to the point?

Additionally I had a lot of problem with arm movement in that gown, namely I couldn't raise my arms very high or across the body. Made putting on gloves to be a bit of a challenge.

Thanks!

[Heather]

It sounds like the armhole is close at the front of the arm, which is keeping you from moving your arms forwards. Lifting overall will be hard due to the off-shoulder line. You can try trimming the armhole forwards a bit and see if that helps.

Lengthen the bodice to the waist at just above the waistline across all the pieces. You can also add hooks and eyes to attach the skirt to the bodice, to keep them from separating.

I hope this helps.

[hailstop]

It does, thank you!

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I put together a mockup and tried it on (and realized immediately some tweaks I needed to do like...actually sew up two of the waist darts).

The question I have right now is that I noticed the shoulder seam doesn't lie on the top of my shoulder but about maybe, 1.5 inches towards the back? Is that normal? Or should I add that amount to the back piece and take it from the front?

[Heather]

Yes, this is normal. D not move the seam. In the Victorian Era, the should shoulder seam is behind the shoulder, not on top.

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Progress!!!



Okay, so I did my muslin, adjusted the armholes, and have sewed up the fashion fabric pieces and gave it a test fit (no pics unfortunately).

Now, I did mess up the front pieces slightly because I accidentally flatlined the two front pieces the same way.

Twice.



So I tried really hard to seam rip them apart and serge it again trying to minimize the amount of fabric I lost, and I think for the most part it worked out well.

However, it kinda feels like there is still a bit of a fitting issue. First, the armholes were tight...but I haven't clipped them (apparently I'm not supposed to clip the seam allowance if I'm adding sleeves?) so I'm sure that's part of it. Additionally, it looked like there was a bit of stress going from the bust to the shoulder, which I think means it's a bit too tight there? So I think I should let out the shoulder seam a bit?

Also, I'm not entirely certain I sewed the front seam correctly, specifically at the top. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to just go straight up and the seam would intersect the edge of the fabric as it curved, or if I was supposed to curve with the fabric slightly and meet the edge of the fabric at the line. It kinda looked like it was a bit 'full' at the top of the side seam.

Hopefully this made sense without pics (getting the wife to help me when she wants to go to bed, I figured I was pushing it going for pics).

Thanks in advance.

[Heather]

Not exactly what you mean with the front seam. But I think you are asking about keeping the center front seam allowance 1/2" all the way to the top, which is what you want to do? However, you can also make the allowance wider as you go above the bust point to reduce any gapping at the neckline. Does this answer your question?

The armhole should fit snug with the seam allowance laying smoothly and not binding. If you see the fabric being pushed by your arm, then you want to trim that area away. I usually do not need to clip the armhole seams, though I have trimmed them back a bit after sewing in the sleeves. Before you change anything, decide if the issue is part of the shoulder being too short, as letting out the shoulder a bit may change the armhole fit. Without seeing a pic, I really can't say what you should do there. It sounds like you might need a little bit more room. Not to much, but you want enough room to be able to move a little.

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Pics!

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[Heather]

The shoulders look good, so I don't think you need to change anything there. It think the issue is that it is just a tad bit big across the bust. I think you can take in the center front curve a bit, making it more of a straight line. The rest looks great!

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It's _THIS_ close to being done!

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There are some fitting issues I'm having though.

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There is a gap at the back, but I am intending to do a privacy panel...just needed to figure out how big of one I needed.

Namely the bodice gaps a lot at the lower part of the center back (I did extend it a bit further downward than the normal pattern).

It could be because the hoop skirt right now really widens quickly at the top, so if I relax that a bit, it might settle down a tad? A similar issue might be affecting the bottom of the center front too.

There's also a bit of gapping at the shoulder as well.

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Alternatively, maybe the issue is that I wasn't wearing it high enough? But I think when we tried that the gapping at the shoulders was even worse.

But other than that I'm really liking how it's turning out.

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So, I posted this to a Facebook group, and a couple of recommendations I've had are:

For the neckline, put a tucker up there, which as far as I understand, is just a narrow piece of gathered lace that's basted into the neckline?

The bodice may be too long, which would check since the gown that my friend did for me 4 years ago was a smidge too short. So I could just remove the bones and then cut about an inch off the bottom at the back, maybe half an inch on the front then put new bones in.

Some have suggested putting some bones in the center back, either by adding another piece of fabric and then adding a channel, though the grommets complicate things because there's no room between the edge of the center back and the grommets. I could just open up the center back pieces and not fold them over as much, making channels for the bones, but I'd have to do something about that cut fabric.

Which I just realized would actually be showing on the right side if I did that.

Hmmm.

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[Heather]

The shoulder edges looks like it got stretched out a bit when the piping when on. This is a very common problem as this edge is bias. So you really need to think "shrink" as you work with it. Yes, you can put in a tucker, which is a narrow edging of lace or fabric with a drawstring, that you can tighten the top edge with. Or, since you have a piping in there, you can use the string in the piping to do the same thing. Grab one end of the piping cord, and gently tug it around and snug up the edge to where you like it. This may gather the edge a bit, but as this edge is bias, it will most likely shrink quite a bit before it starts to look gathered. Sew the end of the cord back in place to permanently hold it. If the cord is in there really tight, you can work fro both ends. Or if you have caught the cord in the stitching it won't work at all. But it is a good way to go. Or maybe do both... snug up the piping as much as looks decent, and then add a tucker to take up whatever gapping remains.

For the back, I would highly recommend adding some boning to the edge. The nature of lacing will always make it want to scrunch up, so you have to use the boning to keep it flat. Another help would be to use more holes, spaced closer together. I usually space grommets at 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" apart.

Since you have a gap at the center back, you could cut off the center back with the grommets, add a new panel of fabric to the center back adding enough to close the bodice, and then put in new grommets and boning at the new edge. This will let you solve all the above issues.

The bodice does look a little bit long. But, you don't want it to be too short that you end up with skirt separation. (not sure if you have the two sewn together or not) You can trim of a little, but be careful at the sides. Maybe be selective, with keeping the length at the side waist and center front/back the same, but curving the front and back quarters up a little bit to make the the points narrower. If that makes sense. This will let the points float out a little bit more away from your body over the skirt, and be a more attractive line.

[hailstop]

The shoulder edges looks like it got stretched out a bit when the piping when on. This is a very common problem as this edge is bias. So you really need to think "shrink" as you work with it. Yes, you can put in a tucker, which is a narrow edging of lace or fabric with a drawstring, that you can tighten the top edge with. Or, since you have a piping in there, you can use the string in the piping to do the same thing. Grab one end of the piping cord, and gently tug it around and snug up the edge to where you like it. This may gather the edge a bit, but as this edge is bias, it will most likely shrink quite a bit before it starts to look gathered. Sew the end of the cord back in place to permanently hold it. If the cord is in there really tight, you can work fro both ends. Or if you have caught the cord in the stitching it won't work at all. But it is a good way to go. Or maybe do both... snug up the piping as much as looks decent, and then add a tucker to take up whatever gapping remains.

Yeah, I got the piping caught up in the thread (I used a piping foot but I think maybe I used it backwards since I could only move the needle closer to the string, not farther away from it). I'll probably go with the lace.

For the back, I would highly recommend adding some boning to the edge. The nature of lacing will always make it want to scrunch up, so you have to use the boning to keep it flat. Another help would be to use more holes, spaced closer together. I usually space grommets at 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" apart.

Since you have a gap at the center back, you could cut off the center back with the grommets, add a new panel of fabric to the center back adding enough to close the bodice, and then put in new grommets and boning at the new edge. This will let you solve all the above issues.

I think this is probably the way I'll go.

The bodice does look a little bit long. But, you don't want it to be too short that you end up with skirt separation. (not sure if you have the two sewn together or not) You can trim of a little, but be careful at the sides. Maybe be selective, with keeping the length at the side waist and center front/back the same, but curving the front and back quarters up a little bit to make the the points narrower. If that makes sense. This will let the points float out a little bit more away from your body over the skirt, and be a more attractive line.

I don't have them sewn together. I'm definitely liking the more narrower points...it's partly what I was trying to do to begin with. Thanks!

[Heather]

By the way, your dress look amazing!!!! Love how it is coming together!

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Thank you!

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Hmmmm...I thought I'd had it, but I think I might have made it worse.

I'm wondering if it's actually too tight, so it's riding up the shoulder a bit, and adding a privacy panel like I'd intended to anyways should deal with that?

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[Heather]

I think it looks great! This bodice does usually sit right at the point of the shoulder, rather than lower down the arm. So where you have it seems fine to me. Anytime you go off shoulder, you will have trouble raising your arms. So that might be part of the issue, wanting to move your arms to much?

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I think there were a couple of issues:

One is that the bottom point on the center front I think might need to be more pointy, or at least some fabric does need to be removed from the bottom front and maybe the back. It seems to be rippling a bit on the front.

There's a substantial gap now, worse than the previous fitting, on the top. I didn't have time before my event to put in a tucker, but I'm sure nobody else noticed. Part of that may be that I (inadvertently) made the ribbon across the bertha wider, which meant that I had a sewing line further up the bodice, which might have pulled things in a bit too much at the top, causing that gapping, but also causing that bump on my right chest.

[Laura]

What a fun dress. You look Great.