altering a pattern to fit

I have been sewing for many, many years but my body has changed over the years and my pattern cutting hadn't caught up!  I have been reading heaps about pattern alteration lately and wanted to get a little practical application in.

I decided to start on a fairly simple item to try out my new alteration skills. I consulted my handy dandy manual and made lots of changes to my pattern, tissue fitting on Pinny (my dress form) as I went.   Tissue fitting works wonders, try it and see!

The pattern is Simplicity 4076 and I was making the round necked long sleeved tee with the gathered neckline, bottom left illustration.

This pic shows the alterations I made to the front pattern piece. The darker (red) area shows the original front pattern piece and the lighter (pink) area shows where I have altered the pattern to bring it up a couple of sizes and to allow for a full bust and rounded tummy.  I also added 10 cm length to the front and back pattern.

I sewed it up in some op-shop (thrifted) oatmeal double knit that cost me all of $3, so there was no pressure.  I used a twin needle on the hem and sleeve hems and bound the neck with self fabric, again using the twin needle for the RTW look.  This is how my tee turned out:

I am pretty happy with it, especially as the pattern I had started off crazy small for me.  I know I could have just bought the pattern again in the correct size to save myself some trouble but doing it this way, I really learnt a lot.

* This post appears in a more detailed form over at my blog here, so please have a look there if you are interested in pattern alteration (including Full Bust Alteration or FBA) and want some more information.

 

  - Jen