But part of that may be due to the fact that I corrected a serious bone-headed mistake I made that resulted in the sleeves getting inserted, um, backwards. (oh, I'm SOOOO embarassed!) I pulled the original pattern and the tracing out and, sure enough, I had traced two notches where there was one and vice-versa. Why? Who knows? When I put the sleeves in, I really thought they should've been the other way...but I followed the notches. And wondered why that seam was in the front on the arm.
So, the sleeves really do fit better now ;)
But, aside from fixing the Stupid Mistake, I raised the shoulder seam by 3/8" at the armsceye and shortened it 5/8"; I took a deeper sideseam at the armsceye; I took a deeper seam on the side back only from the curve into the armsceye, eliminated the bumpy curve in the front/middle front seam, took up about 1 1/4 inch from the middle front/side front seam from about the waist down, tapering back into the original just below the bust and did a minor FBA at the front. I still need to move the shoulder seam about 3/8" towards the front at the armsceye and see about doing a slight rounded back adjustment (I need DH at home for that). I think I need to raise the whole armceye about 3/8", too.
I tried taking photos of myself in the bathroom mirror...um, it didn't work, but it was good for a chuckle.
But those adjustments look to me to make the jacket fit much better; at least as good as RTW, so after I look at some *good* pictures I may just transfer all the adjustments to the pattern and go for it with the test jacket.
ETA: Well, I did get DH to take a couple of pictures before he headed out to an evening meeting. Dunno how much better it really looks...some of the pull lines on the right front are gone (the right side is altered, the left side is not). I'm a little leery of overfitting; at this stage, with no interfacing or lining, I know the muslin is not a 100% accurate picture of what the final product will be like. I do think I could move a little more fabric out of the armsceye area, though; now that the FBA is in place, there's some extra again. I think.
And I don't know if it's a lack of lining that's causing the wrinkling in the back, or if I still need to do some work on it. Whatever that adjustment will be, it will be small (I think squaring up the shoulder helped; the almost-bump at the top is less prounounced on the right side.)
I have RTW jackets, dating from before I began learning about these things, that fit worse than this. ;)
I can't wait to see the adjustments! You are certainly not the only person to ever put the sleeves in wrong. ;-)
ReplyDeleteLisa, the amount you removed from the shoulder length needs to be added onto the sleeve cap height. If you raised the shoulder seam at the armscye, then you need to raise the armscye at the underarm by the same amount. :) This keeps bodice and sleeve armsyes balanced.
ReplyDeleteIn reading wrinkles, it's good to remember that lengthwise wrinkles indicate too much width in the area, horizontal ones indicate a probem with length in the area. Sometimes a horiz. wrinkle indicates that the area below it is too snug, preventing the garment from dropping into its proper place. This is where watching the graiblines of the fabric is most useful. Those diagonal wrinkles - look carefully at each end of those as they are what I call 'hybrid' wrinles and can indicate both length and width problems. My eyesight uis no longer good enough to read most wrinkles in photos. If you will mark horiz and vert grain in each pattern piece of your muslin, you will be able to see more easily what those wrinkles are trying to tell you. Unless you're making a bias cut garment, the grain lines should always be parallel to the floor for crossgrain and perpendicular to the floor for lengthwise grain. HTH
Julia in Houston
I think you could pinch out some length horizontally from the back at the level of the armscye and take a corresponding amount out of the back of your upper sleeve. I am having the same wrinkles in my NE jacket--it doesn't seem to fit my upper back as well as I want. If you are standing in this photo the way you always do, your posture may be straighter than that of your jacket, and that is causing upper back fitting issues. A dead giveaway for me when I have this problem is that the hemline of my jacket dips down farther in the back than in the front. When I slouch, it corrects the fitting problems. Of course, I don't intend to start slouching.
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