Vintage Patterns - Resizing using a sloper - Part 2

I fully intended to post part 2 of the pattern resizing shortly after part 1, but I had to put it aside when I realized I had volunteered to present the program at the July sewing guild meeting, and hadn't done any preparation. I did the presentation, which was on Sewing with a Plan (SWAP). So here we go on the Vogue 380 blouse front pattern resizing. Many of the steps are the same as those used on the back pattern piece, but the front has some decorative tucks, located on a center front seam above the bust, that impacted the pattern changes.

Here is the original blouse front pattern piece




And here is the copy of the front pattern with all the markings



which I will compare to my sloper. I rotated part of the waist dart on my sloper front to the side like the blouse pattern.



1. Pattern Sloper Comparison - Front

Align the center front of the pattern with the center front of the sloper
Align the waistline seam of the pattern with the waistline seam of the sloper



The center front tucks don’t appear to contribute to bust shaping. But unfolded, they make it hard to line up the center front and check the fit in the neck area. So I form the tucks and smooth the pattern so it is flat and the center front seam is straight. Now I can match up the center front easily. I was surprised to see that the tucks reallly pull the fabric in the shoulder area down and affects the fit in that area. So I will do all the pattern changes with the tucks folded.



2. Vertical Adjustments

The front is too short. The neck point of the pattern is below the neck point of the sloper about 5/8 inch. I will be adding less length in the front than I did it the back. This is normal for me. The underarm point of the pattern is way below the underarm of my sloper so I add the length below the arm hole opening, slashing from side seam to neck point in an "L" shape. This lets me to raise the shoulder, raise the underarm point and rotate the shoulder seam up the 1/2 inch needed for the shoulder pad in one operation.

3. Horizontal Adjustments

Shoulder

I also notice that the neck point, where the close fitting raised neckline should start to go up the side of the neck, needs to be moved closer to my neck opening. To get the correct shape of the raised neckline I put a small piece of tissue paper over the pattern and redraw the raised neck so it starts at my shoulder point.



Width at Bust- no changes.

Width at Waist - I compare the sloper dart width to pattern tuck take up. I need some extra width in the waist and I add it at the side seam. I change the location of tucks to the center of the new waist width

Width at Hip - I add additional width to the pattern to equal ¼ of my hip measurement .

Here is what the final pattern looks like with the front tucks opened up again. The tucks really do pull the shoulder area down when they are formed.



I checked the lengths of the side seams and shoulder seams to make sure they are the same on both the front and back. I drafted the front facing using the new shape of the neck area. I added a center back seam for fitting and easy sewing of the top back opening. I did not put a zipper in the side seam as suggested by the pattern. The fabric I used for this blouse was a rayon polka dot jacquard in a gray green color sometimes referred to a sea mist. I thought rayon was appropriate because it was available and used for clothing in the 1940’s. Back then it was called the “new silk”. Though my mother remembers the rayon from that time as cheap, flimsy fabric that did not hold up well. The tucks in the sleeve and the front are sunburst tucks, so named because they start at the same point and radiate out. The front seam is on the bias, so to get the tucks to match took a bunch of fiddling and hand basting. I sewed the tucks along the fold lines to hold them in place. The fabric was so soft, they drooped and looked sloppy without the stitching.

The blouse fits well and looks very much like the drawing which was very satisfying for a first resizing effort.

Next post will be on the resizing of the skirt. And then back to showing you current fashions, the summer clothes I sewed for my SWAP presentation.

VIntage Patterns - Resizing using a sloper - Part 1

I have a lot of vintage patterns. Most of them are not in my size. One day I told myself, "no more buying vintage patterns if you aren't going to do something with them." So I decided to try resizing one of them to fit me. I chose a 1940’s Vogue Couturier design pattern, number 380. It included a "fitted jacket with small inset godet at centre of dropped back-line. Loop and button closing below small stand-up collar. Long fitted sleeves. Skirt has straight front and godet flare at centre-back, shaped waistband. The blouse is described as a “tuck in blouse with cap sleeves cut in one with front and back. Built-up collarless neck- line.” The pattern was a size 12 - 32 inch bust, 35 hip. I have a 38 inch bust and a 41 inch hip. Major up sizing required. I have successfully completed the blouse and skirt. The review is on http://www.patternreview.com/ I have been asked for some info on my up sizing process, so the next few posts will be about that topic. I will start with the blouse.




There are various methods to resize a pattern. Since I have a custom fitted bodice sloper, I used the method described in Lynda Maynard’s self-published CD book De-Mystifying Fit: Using the moulage(sloper/block) to adjust commercial patterns. De-Mystifying Fit In her book, one of the examples she shows it the up sizing of the 1970’s Vogue pattern for the iconic DVF wrap dress. I had a Duh-Ha moment when I read it. Using my sloper also takes care of the normal fitting changes I have to make on any pattern. If you don’t have a fitted bodice sloper, you might be able to use a TNT pattern of a similar style to your pattern, or the fit bodice pattern of a pattern brand that customarily fits you well.

1. Study the pattern

Like many patterns from the 1940’s, the pattern pieces have no printing on them. The seam lines, darts, tucks and match points, even pattern piece names are indicated by little circular or square cutouts.










I find non printed patterns difficult to “read”. My first step is to spend time looking the line drawings of pattern pieces on the pattern instructions and note where tucks, darts, and key seams, are located. Then I look at the pattern pieces for the corresponding holes/markings for the tucks, darts, etc. that I saw in the drawings, as well as waistline markings, shoulder point - SP and neck point - NP. And finally I read the layout diagrams and sewing instructions.





From these I learned the back is cut on fold with a faced slit opening at the top. I made a mental note to consider adding a center back seam to facilitate my fitting issues and back closure construction. I also surmised that the blouse is supposed to be very fitted at waist and hips, because the instructions show a slide fastener (zipper) closure at the lower side in addition to the back opening. The instructions included a section on making 1” thick shoulder pads for the blouse. So I make a note to make sure there is space in the shoulder area for the shoulder pads. The unique pleats in the blouse front appear to be decorative and do no contribute to the bust shaping. It is helpful to have an idea of the fit of a garment, i.e. fitted, semi fitted, loose, etc. so that during the resizing the correct wearing ease can be added. The pattern pieces measured 36" in the bust area and comparing it to the pattern bust measurement of 32” indicates the wearing ease = 4 inches

2. Make a Copy of the Pattern

I don't want to cut up the original pattern so I make a copy of it. I lay a piece of tracing paper over the pattern and copy the pattern edge and all the dot markings using pencil.
Then I remove the pattern from underneath the tracing paper and mark all the seam allowances dart and tuck lines, hem lines and waist line with a marker and ruler so it looks just like a commercially printed pattern. There is no need to make copies of facings at this time because future alterations may change the shape of the facing pattern pieces.
Optional - cut off seam allowances to make pattern easier to compare to sloper, which have no seam allowances


3. Make a copy of Sloper

My slopers are heavy cardboard. I trace them onto Kraft paper and mark the darts because I am going to do some dart rotation on the sloper so that the dart locations are the same as the pattern.



4. Rotate sloper dart to match the dart location of the pattern.

I rotated half of the back shoulder dart to the armhole. The pattern has a slight easing of the back shoulder to the front so I left half of the shoulder dart to be eased onto the front shoulder seam.



5. Pattern Sloper Comparison - Back

Lynda suggests starting with the back because it fairly flat and changes will be simple.

Align the waist of the pattern to the waist line of the sloper and align the center back of the pattern to the center back of the sloper. I know there will be a lot of change to the back pattern piece because my back is long and curved at the top and I have forward shoulders and neck.



Back Vertical adjustments - Do these first.

The neck point of the pattern is almost 2” below the shoulder point of my sloper.

The neck point, the distance above the waist where the shoulder meets the neck, is a constant point of reference. It doesn’t change. Do not use the neck center back on the pattern. The pattern may have a lowered of raised neckline for design purposes and this information may or may not be printed on the pattern. To add length, I slash the pattern horizontally above the waist and spread the pattern so that the neck point (NP) match the sloper.



Back Horizontal Adjustments–

Compare shoulder width. My shoulder width matches the pattern.

Compare shoulder slope. The pattern shoulder slope matched mine exactly. But this pattern includes instructions for a 1 “shoulder pad so it is drafted for a person with sloping shoulders. I decide to us ½” shoulder pads not the 1” recommended by the pattern. To create space for the pad, I slash the pattern to the NP and rotating the shoulder seam up ½ inch.



The side seam should start about 1 inch below the arm hole on kimono style sleeves, according to a 1940 sewing book I have, so I slashed the pattern horizontally through the armhole so I can move the top of the side seam 1 inch below the sloper arm hole.

Waist - I compared pattern dart take-up to sloper dart take-up. My sloper back waist dart take-up was bigger than the take-up of the two darted tucks on the pattern. So I can use my sloper side seam as the guide for waist width.





I true up the armhole opening line.



next post - resizing the blouse front.