Mrs Mole's Fit-a-long: testing those armscyes

Yesterday I tacked (basted) in a copy of the original armscyes, size 14. 

Today I smoothed out the shoulders (much better) and cut out the original size 14 sleeves-well, cut to their hem line to be a smidgeon shorter, because this era's sleeve lengths irritate the inside of my elbows.

I also measured the revised neck, and cut a size 24 (!) collar which was close to the total. I was a little short of fabric at the collar points, so there is hardly anything to fold in there. But itt's ok for this purpose, which is to check the seam shape and the proportions. 

More importantly, I need to check the seam allowances at the neck, since a standard 5/8" was klunky at the collarbone - or maybe I just need more practice.

The sleeves went into the scyes ok. Looked fine on the hanger. Looked not too bad when my arms are by my sides. But oh dear, it'd be a disaster for a zombie. (photos to edit and insert here)

The cocktail party stance is OK, but reaching forward to type, wash up, or any of those daily activities is awkward. Reaching high with both arms to work a whiteboard or hang a curtain is impractical - you could just do it, but not for long.

So I'll need to revisit those armscyes and/or the sleeves. Options include :

Widening the sleeves to reduce the pressure - though they are not tight at the biceps. 

Narrowing the shoulder seam by about 1/2“ back to my preferred width. Which would steal a little depth when armscye is rotated to reach the overbust line. (And a little more because the shoulders won't drop.)

Shorten scye and sleeve for more movement ease. But not so much it compromises the semi-fitted feel. Could I use the size 12 or even size 10 outlines?

The smallest test I can do is use a tiny seam allowance, 1/4" say, at the armpit. See whether that improves things, and if so, how much. 

EDIT: I tried shaving the seam allowance. The extra 3/8" does make a difference. There's a sense of pressure but not discomfort now when in typing or washing up posture. Zombie is just about possible, though pretty uncomfy, However cleaning high cupboards would be out of the question. I need to lose at least 5/8" in depth.

Next sewing session, I'll shorten the shoulder seam, Then patch in extra fabric and use the size 12 or size 10 scye.

EDIT: Tuesday evening, patched in some extra fabric. Oh dear, this area is looking like cardboard. Then marked out a possible new cutting line, 1/2" narrower at the shoulders, 1/4“ narrower at front yoke, no change at back yoke, and 5/8" higher at the pit. 

2022 August and September roundup

 Goodness me, is it really two months since the last round up?

You can see from recent posts that I've been concentrating on the fit-a-long while I have the rare chance of feedback. Though as you might guess I like to try to work things out myself, or at least understand as much as possible before asking. 

There's also been a request from an amazing young woman for newborn hats - she's trying to keep lots of small people warm. I've promised a dozen, and have completed eight, and there's one on the needles in my handbag and one on different sized needles by the side of my bed.

Looking back through the diary

A secret cardigan, can't finish until the new person arrives and I know which side to sew the buttons on. It was knit almost in one, so I have made buttonholes in both bands, and will sew buttons over whichever is not needed. I hope this gift will make the parents smile.

Prototype for the secret cardigan - testing the pattern before I adapted it reminded me how important to swatch. This will be donated to the local baby equipment bank. Along with a failed newborn hat, that despite reducing stitch count, still came out toddler size in this yarn. Loved the effect I eventually got with the long colour runs and mixing strands from each end of the ball. Shame I don't know anyone the right age whose parents would appreciate the knitting. (The small person who gets it will be warmer this winter, and that's good enough)

Another prototype - a preemie hat to test a new-to-me cast on (the Latvian one) which is soft and stretchy. And to use up some ends of balls that didn't go with anything else. To be donated.

Before I started the fit-a-long, I spent some time trying to alter DH's worn-out blue/black cotton shirt to women's overshirt. It was an interesting exercise as a can't-spoil-it project, however in the end it looked too weird at with all the extra darts and seams for even me to wear. So, unusually, it went in the bin rather than the chest-of-drawers.

Repairs:

The carp poplin bra had been stitched too near the fabric edge, and was coming apart. A bit of handstitching fixed that.

The bias cut sleeveless dress was insecure at one side seam.  I've zigzagged to strengthen holes at pressure points inside the seam.

Paisley Freya hadn't been trimmed after hemming. I'm not sure whether to keep it.  It's too fitted to my unusual measurements to donate. Put it in the too small bag,  and review next year. 

And some bits of decorating, fixing up damaged spots on gloss and emulsion before the winter arrives.

What hasn't moved on?

The Finchdale aran jumper is patiently waiting for me to work out scye and shoulder shaping. What I learned in the fit-a-long will inform it - the yoke widths and how many short rows for a rounded back adjustment. I also have an unexpected (by me) need for short rows at front yoke height. Two more hats and two part-hats to finish before I attempt this. Though to be honest, having thrown out one favourite but unredeemable ancient jumper, and with my summer jumpers not quite warm enough in the evenings, I'll be glad to get this complete and wrapped around me.

Have dug out the yarn remnants of last year's Talvi knit sweater. I may make unravel the top few bodice inches and make the same changes to the upper sections.

Mrs Mole's Fit-a-long Better back darts

After making heavy weather for the last week or so, today was fairly plain sailing. Maybe I'm straighter today (And it does help to wear the same bra each time).

Shortened the darts 1.5“ at the bottom, and half that at the top to the old bust line mark. Kept at their narrower than original intake of about 1/2“.

Then the saggy side 'panel'. My first estimate was take a wedge tapering from nothing at the yoke line to 1/4"at the bust line, and a steady 1/4" all the way down to the hem. And that's good enough. 

Next steps: Before doing the flat pattern manipulation to take out that very long narrow dart, I want to revisit the overfitted shoulder line. It works, but would be better with some smoothing.

And to revisit the armscyes. With repeated additions at the shoulder seam, they are even lower than the originals - a full hand width below the pit. I don't have a cardi, a jacket or a coat that would fit over such a low scye.

Sounds like a plan for next week. 

Mrs Mole's Fit-a-long : progress is slow

No pictures yet, or at least none worth straightening and cropping. 

Since the last post, I have been spending time most days tweaking the back dart. It's been various lengths and widths, but keeps coming back to somewhere near my original guess, taken from the horseshoe shaped stress lines when tissue fitting. Give or take change in the exact points, since I've added at the shoulders and yoke. 

Today for example I raised the hip curve at the side seams, which eased the tightness at the bony ridge/high hip. Makes sense, it will have dropped when fabric was added above.

Tomorrow I want to raise the lowest point by about an inch, for the same reason. And remember to wear the winter bra for fitting (Light clothing today for sunny autumn weather. The tide was in for my lunchtime walk, which brought the small waders close in to the shore)

The centre section now feels right, following the curves of the spine. However the oblique photos still show excess below shoulder blades at the sides and a little pulling at yoke and hh.

Try again tomorrow.

On a positive note, the secret knitting project just needs buttons and ends sewing in. The more public handbag- sized project, a set of hats for donation, has reached more than half the number I said I'd do, so I could send the completed ones off once they're photographed. And the decorating we said we would do in September has only one more step to go. 

Mrs Mole's fit-a-long: that wretched shoulder slope

Pressed seams and photographed.

Front is hugely improved now, when the shoulder seam is in place, though the padded straps on my winter bra show through. The seam stays fairly well, but still creeps backwards when I move both of my arms at once.

However, the shoulder seam is ropy on the slopiest bit of my neck, three finger widths, about 1.5". Does it need a wedge of fabric? Let's release the stitching a bit and see how big a wedge. Hmm, about 1/4" at the stitching line. Coincidentally, that's how much I gain if I straighten out the 'dome' that was on the original pattern, and has worried me from the beginning. The other glued-on strip is the extra 5/8" depth added a while ago.

 

And is it any better? Rather, I think, but not enough to write home about. It feels better, anyway.

Last night I had also tackled the oddly placed (my bad) waist dart. Moved it 3cm towards the centre (estimated from the stripes on the fabric) to its more usual place under the shoulder blades. Also shortened the lowest point by 4cm. Now the lower bodice has moved down, the dart needed adjusting to clear the bony ridge. 

This area could still do with some work - though I think the problems are just clearer rather than being oblique to the standard shots.

Once that's done, there is a chance of seeing where excess fabric can be pinned out, roughly shoulder blade to waist. At some stage the asymmetry of the prominent right shoulder blade could be dealt with, there's half an inch difference in waist-shoulder measurement. But one thing at a time.

Mrs Mole's fit-a-long: taking stock after fitting the front

After a lovely weekend, spent chatting drinking tea and eating cake, I now have a couple of days to catch up on things started before our surprise guest came.

So, I finally have a digital copy of the new measurements, taken 20220905. It looks like I might need two patterns, one for the winter bras which are supportive but not breathable, and one for the summer lightweight bras.

 Just a slight increase to the front yoke on the second chart.

On the first measurement chart, there is an extra row because my tum height has a bigger circumference than my hips, and another row because my rump sticks out most a few inches above the widest part of my hips.

I'd talked about adding wedges at overbust and underbust a couple of posts ago. Since then, the front pattern has gone through another round of revisions, after working out the right size wedge to take between waist and hem. I wouldn't have guessed 2.25" at the hem, but that's what makes the side seams straight. I think this is the first time since Before Children that the front hem hasn't flared out below bust and tum. 

I also added a bit more width and height at bust level since its a different bra. Note to self: I've marked the new cutting and stitching lines in red for the front.

Here are the thumbnails. Oops, I forgot to mirror the final image when I cropped it, but I wear my watch on my left arm. 

There is still some distortion above and below the bust. I'm not sure whether I actually need more length there, whether it's shoulder shape, or whether I need more fabric in the back yoke to stop the shoulder seam creeping backwards. The right shoulder particularly wants to settle at least half an inch behind where I expect the shoulder line to be.

The wide padded straps on the winter bra aren't helping me to see what's what. However, unlike many bras I've tried, the straps don't fall off the edge of my shoulders, so I would like to continue wearing this design. 

(A narrative fiction) Next step is to slash the back yoke to try stabilise the shoulder line, then I can see whether the problem is actually at the bust. (The truth) I had a quick try, and with the addition of 1.6" at centre back at yoke height, the creep backward was much less, around 1/4".  I want to play with how much to drop the back neck compared with the back yoke change. I'd undone the temporary change to drop the back neck by 5/8", but since the neckline is creeping into the horizontal area above the prominent vertebra, (most obvious on the left shoulder photo) I shall reimplement the drop.

EDIT 16/9/22, snuck half an hour's sewing time when I'd finished unpacking after a short trip away with DH. Dropped back shoulder seam by 5/8“ and adjusted insert upwards by the same amount. No photos yet, but certainly looks promising front and back in the mirror.

 

Mrs Mole's fit-a-long: What a difference wedges make

Since the last post, I've 

• Traced and tidied the pattern front.
• Cut out and transferred the markings to the new fabric.
• Stitched darts, shoulders and sideseams. (The lowered back shoulders are just a temporary hack to hold the front in the right place, until I start working on the back properly)

I can't believe how well the new front sits on my tum!

Still to do:

Take out a wedge from the hem near the sideseam. 

Last night I pinned out 2" going up to the abdomen mark - not enough in either direction. The two extra wedges at centre front add about 2.75" and .5" at the hem, so I guess it'll be some combination of these numbers, with the wedge angle probably at the waist. EDIT: 2.25" with the angle at the waist looks good.

Just a couple of snaps, full of pins at the side seams, the lower right pin  is skew - it fell out while I was setting up the camera. BTW, there is indeed a white stripe towards the outer edge of the front - using an old duvet cover.

And for comparison, though I've switched to a more supportive but less breathable bra now it's starting to feel autumnal here. Think I might need a tad more extra fabric as well as having raised the darts.

There'll be no sewing or blogging for a few days -  I have a friend arriving for the weekend, so there'll be lots of chatting and probably some knitting.