Moto Bike Jacket: part five
Let's talk pattern changes.
There were three main issues with the fit of the jacket. First, the sleeve was too tight, and pulled at the cross back. Second, the diagonal style lines around the ribcage were too high. Third, the front lapel was way too wide and the neckline was too far away from the high neck point. Fourth, (ok I guess there are four main issues) the body of the jacket was just too big and needed shaping.
To solve the sleeve issue, the solution was to slash and spread at the bicep making sure to use the seam line as the hinge. This way, you don't alter your seam length and all of your pattern pieces will still sew up properly. You slash in two directions, making a perpendicular set of slashes and spread in the direction you need more room. For me it was side seam to side seam. You can see the altered pattern piece shows the vertical slash opening up, and the horizontal slash overlapping. I also, just for design preference, slashed the sleeve to have more style lines, which is why the altered sleeve on the right is just half length. I also added 1/2 inch at the armscye on the yoke, and redrew the armhole to give more room at the cross back.
When I put on the jacket for fitting, I was disappointed that the shaping darts around the ribcage were falling so high on the bust. I was aiming for them to wrap more around the waist and upper hip. The solution? Close up the topmost dart on the front and back side panels, and slash open another one at the bottom of the set. In the second photo you can see the waist marking at the side seam went from underneath all of the darts to between the third and fourth. I also adjusted the darts to be pleats in the front so they would be much easier to sew accurately.
For the lapels, I added back an inch and a half to the shoulder. I taped the center panel along the seam line to the side front panel, drew my new line and cut leaving the cut portion of the center panel to join the side panel. Then I adjusted the center panel neckline. In the fifth picture you can see the tracing lines on the left side from the original and new necklines.
The last major issue was a bodice desperately in need of shaping. In the first picture the left hand piece is the original pattern, the middle is my working piece with changes marked on it, and the right is the new pattern piece. The new piece also has the top pleat moved to the bottom to line up with the front. For the shaping, I had a friend pin out the excess along the seam lines, and mark it with marker. Then I pulled all the pieces apart so they would lay flat and traced the changes onto my working piece before tracing off my new pattern piece. You can also get an idea of how I shaped the hem in the back.
The next installment of this series will be my final muslin for fitting (well, hopefully final), including both sleeves to double check the cross back fit, and the hood. I'm pretty excited about it, and I've run out of muslin. Of course. See all the previous installments of this series here.