I knew going into this vintage shirtdress pattern, I would have to make some pretty substantial changes to get the top to fit. I did buy it close to my bust size. OK, maybe one size too small, but that shouldn't stop anyone. Here are my pattern pieces after making some changes that I knew I needed to make (i.e., widen at the waistline, and drop the armscye (is it still called that with a raglan sleeve?).
The changes are done in red. I did the back piece first, and then discovered a better way to widen the waist for the front by slashing a diagonal cut from waist outside the dart, up to the top point of the sleeve seam. It made it much neater and more predictable. I decided to go with the changes I made on the back anyway. And the muslin front:
Keeping in mind that my dress form is not quite my size (she has bigger boobs), you can see that there aren't too many problems with the front. The side dart I changed can actually be changed back. The main problem is with the raglan sleeve that is really much to narrow. Did they have stick arms back in the 50s? But, oh no on the back:
As you can see by the multiple lines, I can't really decide where I want the sleeve seam to be. I'll probably go with the middle line. Also, the darts were way too long. This dress, although slim, is actually drafted for someone who is about 6 feet tall! The original owner wrote on the outside of the envelope that the skirt is too long, and she shortened it about 4 or 5 inches, folding up the pattern. That hit on my lower shin. If I made it as is, it would be floor length! Those are some mighty fluffy crinolines that they were planning for I suppose.
Fabric update: I'm going to use the stripe, but I'm leaning toward a solid color top in the darker gray brown color. Hard to tell from the computer screen, but in the paint world it's probably called putty. Matching it may be a problem. And, I'm off to snip and rip. Where is my Fit for Real People book when I need it?!!
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