Vogue 1247 (SBA in a dolman sleeved top)

When Vogue 1247 was first released, I admired the many beautiful versions that popped up on the blogs.  My sister gave me the pattern 7 years ago!! and it has taken until now to overcome my fear of the fitting changes I would required.  These fitting changes seemed to work, so I thought that I would share them here.

I started with a Size 14 and went about doing an SBA.  First off, I slashed the pattern 3 ways; from bust point to the shoulder point; from bust point to the waist seam; and from bust point through the bust dart at CF.

Instead of spreading apart (as you would do for a FBA), I overlapped the pieces.  I overlapped them enough to take out half the difference between my actual bust measurement and the stated Sz 14 bust measurement.

You could probably leave it at that, but I decided to straighten out the waist seam and add back in a CF bust dart.  I drew a horizontal line across the waist and extended the from seam down to this line.  I measured a difference of 4 cm between the original pattern and the new waist line.

I used my sloper to mark in my actual bust point.  Then I drew in a dart to the centre front, with an opening of 4 cm (to match the previous measured 4 cm).  I redrew the lower CF seam so that it was at least perpendicular to the waist seam.

In this next photo, you can see that I folded up the dart to true the edges of the pattern.

I added a bit of height to the low V front.

Here I am comparing the new pattern to the original pattern.  If you want to short cut this process, it looks like you can just take in the CF seam!

I then compared the waist length on the upper front with the lower front and folded out any discrepancy in length.

Here is the finished product.  It took me 3 hours to sew this up.  I know this, because I took this project when I went away for a gymnastics workshop for my son, and had 3 hours in the hotel room during the workshop.  Yes, I took my sewing machine with me!  I wanted to sew more than I wanted to sight-see or shop.

You can see that the bust dart hits in the right spot.  I could probably lower the neckline back to the original height on the pattern, but I am comfortably with it at this height.  The neckline does not fall off my shoulders.

I love the final product.  The fabric is a silk crepe de chine from EmmaOneSock, which sadly creases more than I would like.  The overall feel of the garment is slouchily elegant.  I meant to sew up a second one straight away, now that the pattern fits, but I actually made this a couple of months ago and have not made a second one yet.  There is one in my plan for the wardrobe contest currently on at PR.