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.