Progress Report

*crickets* *crickets*

I know it's been quiet around here. There hasn't been any sewing time, and I didn't want to overload this blog with filler posts.

Tonight I had the whole night at home, so I had some time to work on my Pendrell. I've started from scratch after the other one turned out so big. A while ago I traced out the pattern pieces for a size smaller (8). Tonight I finished tracing the pattern pieces, made a few tweaks and made up a new muslin. The result was the best so far. Here's what I did:

* lowered the full bust point by 1/2"
* 1" FBA (Fit For Real People method)
* took in 1" at the waist/hip (1/4" from both sides of both front princess seams)
* took in 1" from the hips (1/4" from each side of the each side seam)
* shortened hem by 1"
* lowered neckline by 3"

I know it sounds like a lot, but it really did result in a much better fit. Particularly when I threw caution to the wind, abandoned FFRP and just nipped in the princess seams below the bust. What a difference! On that note, I have to say... the jury is still out for me on the FFRP FBA. In addition to the excess ease at the waist, another problem that's arisen is some excess volume above the full bust. I'm not sure if I have a shallow chest, or if the FBA added volume where it wasn't needed, but there's definitely too much width on the front side panels above the full bust point. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to deal with it, but I know that I'd like to investigate some other full bust fit methods in the future. Any suggestions?

I did make one adjustment that proved totally unnecessary: taking in 1" total (1/4" from each side of each side back princess seam) from the low back, tapering 5 inches or so above and below. This was something I tried when I was working with the larger size and I'd though it helped, but I see now with the smaller size that it just looks and feels over-fit. I'll return that to the original pattern fit before making my final blouse.

Hopefully I'll get back to my normal schedule and fine some more sewing time in the coming week. In the meantime, I have some very exciting knitting to show you. (I knit on the bus and on my lunch hour, so it's a lot easier to keep knitting through the busy times!) Stay tuned for that over the weekend!