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From: Kaitlinnegan
Date: 03-20-2006, 10:36 PM (1 of 15)
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Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum (and fairly new to sewing), and I'm working on a "practice" wedding dress for my wedding in July. It fits pretty well except for a little bit of extra fabric in the armpit area -- I'm wondering if adding darts in this area would be the way to go here or if it would make the dress look weird. In my opinion, I've bought clothes that fit worse than this, so it's probably wearable right now since you can really only see the problem if you're looking at it straight on. What do you guys think? http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/kemartin2/fulldress2.jpg I also don't really know how to go about placing the darts, so any help here would be much appreciated! I'm getting the book "Busy Women's Fitting Book" for the library soon, as someone here recommended for another darts question, so that might have some tips too. Thanks for your help! 
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User: Kaitlinnegan
Member since: 03-20-2006 Total posts: 222 
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From: Chrysantha
Date: 03-20-2006, 11:57 PM (2 of 15)
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I think puting darts in the armpits will make wrinkles in the princess seaming. What you can try to do is, make the straps a bit narrower to make the armholes smaller...or just take in the sides a bit, making sure you take in the armholes a bit. It's a nice looking dress BTW...princess seaming with a full skirt is hard to do, congrats on the results. Chrys
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User: Chrysantha
Member since: 09-06-2002 Total posts: 2414 
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From: paroper
Date: 03-21-2006, 01:14 AM (3 of 15)
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The darts in a princess dress are hidden in the princess seam. The garment is pivoted to take the dart out. The dress needed a full bust adjustment. If the seam goes to the shoulder this won't work but if the princess seam goes to the arm, you can take it out there. I can't quite tell from the picture where the seam is going because of the sheen of the fabric. Although according to the trend at the time you can put darts all over the place, sometimes they shoot up from the hip, sometimes they come down from the armhole, you don't want to mix darts with a princess line, it will really mess up the look. I think that you could be proud to wear the dress as it is and the overall fit is very good. However, to get a more custom fit, if I were making this dress again I would do a full bust alteration which should relax the top and might take care of all of your problems but you can probably give it a more custom look without doing that. I think that I would look at the shoulders of the dress. I'm not positive but I think that you need to take out a small wedge, largest area toward the neck to square off the neckline just a tiny bit. That should give the neckline a little smoother look. I think that you are probably just a tad square shouldered or it could just be the bust adjustment that is giving that look. If you can put the gap into the princess seam I think that the part that Chrys is seeing will be taken care of. Too bad we can't all gather around you and fuss with the dress. It would be fun. It is so much easier to pinch and play with the garment in person to see what needs to be done. Most of the time the garment points to where the problem really is. In this case rather than being the armhole, the gap points to the bust. pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: Kaitlinnegan
Date: 03-21-2006, 08:55 AM (4 of 15)
Thanks so much for the advice! I posted this on a different message board and all I got was, "looks like it needs some darts," without any indication of how to do it.  Anyway, the picture doesn't show it very well, but the dress doesn't have full princes seams in the bodice, only the two vertical darts (I don't know the proper name for these -- still not quite hip to the lingo  ). My initial thought was to do a pattern that had princess seams on the bodice, but I thought this style might be easier. I have enough fabric left over to remake the bodice if it's necessary -- do you guys have any resources on how to do a full bust adjustment for princess seams? I figured I might have to do this because I'm a D-cup and I know patterns are drafted for a B, but I haven't been able to find anything very descriptive.Well, thanks again for all your help! 
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User: Kaitlinnegan
Member since: 03-20-2006 Total posts: 222
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From: paroper
Date: 03-21-2006, 09:09 AM (5 of 15)
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Since it isn't a princess, you can do the darts from the armholes. They should point to the bust. They should be equal in every way, but you can just pin the darts while wearing the dress with no problems. This is a great source of fact sheets for all kinds of sewing "problems" http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_c/ This fact sheet is a real good source for quick fixes: http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_c/c-228.html In a princess garment the bust alteration is done the same way as a regular pattern. When it comes to the side seam, instead of increasing the dart you maintain the added fullness at the bust and swing the pattern down at the seamline. This makes a larger curve at the bust but closes off the extra fabric at the seamline. For instance, that is basically what you are doing with the garment you are wearing. If you removed the dart at the waist by cutting it out, and then instead of adding a dart at the armhole, you cut the dart away and put a seam through the center of the bust, you would have a princess line (see it?) pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: paroper
Date: 03-21-2006, 09:37 AM (6 of 15)
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One other note that may help with full bust alterations. The bust point usually ends 1 inch from the bust point. I've had some that I thought looked better at closer to 1 1/2 inch, but the rule is 1 inch. When cutting the pattern for full bust alterations, I cut across the center bust of the pattern and then roll the pattern down to make up the difference. That way the projected center remains the same, as opposed to starting at the person's fullest part where the design has started to change to accomidate the waistline. pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: LeapFrog Libby
Date: 03-21-2006, 12:19 PM (7 of 15)
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Pam, Did you mean to say " the dart point should end 1 inch from the bust point" ?? I think that is what you meant to say.. That is what all my instructions for fitting say.. Not meaning to horn in ??? But I did not want her to be confused.. Sew With Love
Libby |
User: LeapFrog Libby
Member since: 05-01-2002 Total posts: 2022 
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From: paroper
Date: 03-21-2006, 01:54 PM (8 of 15)
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Yes, thank you. I was thinking about that as I was dressing to go to the doctor..took a last second to add that to the post and didn't take enough time to proof-read. I'm glad you caught that.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: Kaitlinnegan
Date: 03-21-2006, 05:48 PM (9 of 15)
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Thanks so much for the help, Chrys, Pam and Libby! Maybe I'll add the darts tonight. I might attempt princess seams with a full bust adjustment on the real thing, though I'd better do a muslin first! Thanks again! ~Kaitlin http://www.sew-whats-up.com - the new home for Sew What's New
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User: Kaitlinnegan
Member since: 03-20-2006 Total posts: 222
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From: Chrysantha
Date: 03-21-2006, 09:26 PM (10 of 15)
Sorry...on my screen with my bad eyes...it looks like the dress has princess seaming from the skirt to the armpits..so ignore my advice... 
Chrys
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User: Chrysantha
Member since: 09-06-2002 Total posts: 2414
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From: DorothyL
Date: 03-21-2006, 11:26 PM (11 of 15)
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Kath, I thought it looked that way too, Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: Kaitlinnegan
Date: 03-22-2006, 01:12 AM (12 of 15)
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Boy, that picture is deceptive! I can see how you thought it was princess seams, with the way the shine kind of changes (I used cotton sateen). I should have been more descriptive -- but being a newbie to sewing and to the forum I was a little afraid of saying something wrong. Here's another picture that I should have posted, though it looks kind of silly: http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/kemartin2/fulldress1.jpg Also, my next attempt will probably have princess seams since I think I like that look better anyway, so maybe I'll put all of your advice to work! Definitely doing a muslin first, though. Thanks again -- I am so grateful to you guys for all of your help and expertise.
http://www.sew-whats-up.com - the new home for Sew What's New
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User: Kaitlinnegan
Member since: 03-20-2006 Total posts: 222
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From: paroper
Date: 03-22-2006, 06:06 AM (13 of 15)
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It looks very nice! You should be jumping up and down!!!
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: DorothyL
Date: 03-22-2006, 06:26 AM (14 of 15)
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We can see it much better now. It does look very nice. You should be proud. Remember we will want wedding pictures. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: sewing maven
Date: 04-06-2006, 04:43 PM (15 of 15)
| I have had this happen to me and I think it is because I am a more mature body and the princess line might be more for a higher bustline....here's what I did. I did a fitting muslin first, just the basic body, no facings or sleeves, no zippers etc., using a long (baste) stitch. I put the muslin on, inside out and had my daughter pin the back seam closed. Then I had her draw a large dot with a felt pen at my bust point. This let me know if I needed to move the princess seam towords center front or towords the side seam. Once I determined that the bust point was on line with the princess seam itself, I pinned out the excess fabric. For my body, I had to release the seam from the bust point to the shoulder and repin it so that the majority of fabric was removed from the front side panel and not from the center front panel. After you do all this work, transfer your markings to your pattern and you will always have a perfect fitting princess line. Congrats on your wedding! |
User: sewing maven
Member since: 04-02-2006 Total posts: 11 |
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