Its Better Than "Good Enough", Its Perfect! Well, Almost Perfect!

I usually settle for good enough instead of continuing to work for perfect.  I'm not saying I won't do that in the future, but this time I was determined that my Sure-Fit Designs™ Blue Print was going to be perfect because if I am going to use it for pattern work I don't want to be transferring problems into the next design.

Now this is a Happy Face!

 

No, this is the flat backside you are seeing.  The Happy Face is the picture above this one.


I had the three grandchildren on Sunday, so didn't get any sewing done at all.  But bright and early on Monday morning, which happened to be Labor Day and a Holiday, I started drawing off my new SFD Version of ABO  I used the SFD through the shoulder, armscye and the dart.  From the dart I went straight down and used the ABO pattern to determine how long to make it.  The ABO is basically straight, so this was a very easy pattern to change using my SFD blue print. I did lower the neckline a bit lower than the ABO since I didn't want to put the tab on the back that the ABO has.  I cut the pattern out of a piece of cotton quilting fabric that I picked up in Dallas a couple of years ago.

I noticed a few problems when I basted it together.
This is a bad "bathroom in the mirror" picture, but you can see that there is something wrong with the bust area.  Sometimes I have problems with darts
sticking out and wanting to make a point out on the side all by itself.  Normally, I do the "good enough" thing and ignore it, but this time I wanted it fixed.  I've been told that means the dart is too long, too wide, and/or comes to a point too fast.  So, I shortened the dart by half an inch.  That made it worse.  So I made it a curved dart.  Now the dart wanted to create its own fold.  Then I remembered a class with Lorraine Henry in which we were discussing my extra pointy darts and she said to do what the fabric told you it wanted to do.  So, I followed that fold and pinched it up until it disappeared.  I took a couple of pins and pinned that in.  I don't recommend this procedure as it was rather painful since the pins did not want to cooperate and go into the fabric.  Somehow, the pins found themselves into me each time.  took the top off and marked each dart on the inside with chalk and then stitched them.

 The stitching on the right was the shortened dart.  The dart to the left was the final stitching.  You can see it comes close to the end of the original dart and then actually becomes very shallow and and an inch longer than I usually do my darts.  These darts come to within 1.5" of my apex.  I usually stop my darts 2 to 2 1/2 inches from the apex.  I transferred this to my pattern and to my SFD Blue Print.

See the little extended point.  It is hard to see, but it is also curved in.  In the fabric it almost curves around my bust a little to allow for the fullness right in that area.  Yes, another one of my body's idiosyncrasies.

While I'm talking about the bust dart there was another change that I made in my SFD/ABO pattern.  I drew the front side seam straight down from the bottom of the dart.  After I sewed the dart into the front the side seam didn't meet the back seam properly.  I had a V dip in the area of the dart.  In order to sew the sides together I had to twist the front side seam a bit, which created a drag line under the arm.

Nothing like a shot of someone's underarm.  At least I removed the rest of the wrinkly arm!  Anyway, you can see the drag line.  There isn't anything I can do about it in this top, but I wanted to know why it was happening so I went back to the paper pattern.  The SFD/ABO pattern did the same thing when I folded out the dart.  So, I pulled out the SFD Blue Print and folded out the dart and the side matched up perfectly.  It wasn't the SFD BP, it was how I translated it into the ABO pattern.  So, I taped extra paper all along the side of the pattern, folded the dart and then cut the side straight.  When I unfolded it, I had a corrected dart, so the next top won't have that drag line.  This is another problem I have had in other altered patterns and it is caused by my poor drafting skills.  But now I know what I have to do to fix it.

The pink lines are the new seam lines for my dart in the SFD/ABO.  The change in the dart is because I made the sides straight instead of fitted like the Blue Print.

Lastly, was the sleeves.  I did the whole sleeve as a 42.  When I put the top on this morning I thought the sleeves or the back of the armhole felt a bit snug when I reached forward.  Not bad, but just a little snug, although I didn't have any problem driving or working on my computer.  But I met Joy for lunch (good excuse, as if we needed one) so she could look at it and see what she thought.  We agreed that it is actually the cap of the sleeve that was a bit snug, so, I will re-draw the sleeve on the Blue Print and on my SFD/ABO pattern and use a 44 for the back of the sleeve.

Thanks Glenda for the challenge.  I am absolutely thrilled that my SFD Blue Print is fitting so well. I intend to continue using it to make my patterns and yes, I'll just do it.

Just a word to those of you that haven't really used SFD.  I did a lot of the alterations that I knew my body would still need even with SFD as I was drawing out the pattern.  Joy and I have been working on fitting our bodies for four years now.  I know my body's problems/idiosyncrasies/uniqueness; whatever you want to call it.  Until you reach the point we have, please follow the directions that comes with SFD.  You will get a really good fit and will just have to tweak the fit a bit to make it almost perfect.  I don't want someone new to SFD to do what I did and then be disappointed and blame SFD.  It is a fantastic system.  If you don't use it you really should.  If you don't have it, why not? No, I have no connection with SFD other than a happy customer.

Happy Sewing!
Hugs, Phylly