Vintage Wardrobe: T-minus 8 days and counting...

So most of the sewing I did today is secret-squirrel Christmas present stuff, so I can't really share it here just yet. Sorry :( I also ran up a few of the new Christmas stockings that my mum decided to make for this year, and I promise to post a photo on Christmas Eve when they're all hung up on the mantelpiece and looking beautiful.

So, that being said I figured I needed to at least kick one goal on this project today, because there's not really enough time left for me to fall into bad habits already. I pinned together the bodice for Blue Floral and fitted it on my tailor's model. The pattern I had for it was actually a size 14 because I could only get the larger size 14-22 pattern at the time and I figured "oh bugger it, if I can fit an Elizabethan corset I can surely fit a dress bodice"... Which may or may not have been the right decision. :D

Anyway, here is what the bodice looked like after my fudged cutting down of the  bodice from a 14 to what I hoped would be about a 10 (to give me a little extra fabric in case my judgement sucked, basically):

 So, you can see it's not exactly sitting very well. Compared to the design image (here) it basically hangs like a bit of a sack. But it's oooookaaaay, since I pretty much expected it and I own a tailor's model HOORAY! They are the best and most handiest tools ever.

The main issues I can identify are: too loose across the decolletage, shoulders too wide, generally too loose, waist sitting too low (you can see the waistline mark transferred on to the fabric sitting almost an inch below my waistline where I've creased it on the model). So this is a list of the adjustments I made:

1. Lifted the whole of the bodice to bring it in at the shoulders. The back actually needed to come up a fair bit more than the front to adjust for what was probably some dodgy guesswork when cutting out the pieces. I trimmed the shoulders back down to give the 15mm seam allowance (SA). 
2. Side seams taken in by 8-10mm on each side. I left the darts as they were because I think they work pretty well and the side seams were basically vertical (i.e. the pattern pieces are even). Trimmed SA.
3. Reshaped the armscye to round it out again after taking the shoulder seams up. This an the shoulder seam adjustment fixed the problem of the front panel being too loose)
4. Trimmed the neckline on both panels to reflect the shoulder seam adjustment. Kept 15mm SA.

Here's the result:

It looks much better, don't you think? The waistline is where it should be, the pattern is fitted without being tight and all of the unnecessary wrinkles are gone. I actually took this picture halfway though trimming the front neck so you could see how I cut it away. It's not sitting perfectly but that's because it still has the SA turned up.

So now I'm happy with the way it looks, I just need to make sure the changes are reflected in the facing pieces, and I'll probably pin it on myself tomorrow to check the fit.

My To Do list for tomorrow:

• Trim facings and do a quick fitting on myself,
• Choose a colour of linen from my stash for the circle skirt. I think I've decided to do a 10-gore skirt based on McCalls 4064 (link).
• Cut out the skirts, jacket and white blouse.
• Set up my desk as a sewing table ready for sewing.
• Go to bed by 10pm.

On that note, and as it's 2246, I really should sleep. Nightnight!