The thoughts, sewing projects, and fabric oglings of a dedicated sewist.

Progress with the Work In (Vogue 8787)

3/20/13
So a few weeks ago I posted an SOS about my Vogue 8787 muslin. As you'll remember, the upper back was a mess:



I received a lot of advice, both on my blog and on BurdaStyle.  I tried some of the advice and increased the back dart, made a square shoulder alteration, and shifted the back shoulder seams over.  It was better, but still not quite right:



I am a lot happier with the dress after hacking off (not literally, of course) the sleeves:

If I don't look happier it's because I'm wondering what the hell is up with my hair.

I felt like I could do better so I did a little research in the books I have on fitting, Real Fit for Real People and Fast Fit.  My problems pretty exactly fit the definition (vertical wrinkles, back armhole seam goes out into arm) for a Narrow Back Alteration (let's just call that an NBA for short).  I found this highly confusing - I mean, how can you have broad shoulders and a narrow back? 

This alteration involves cutting an L-shaped line into the back pattern, overlapping the cut edges by 1/2 inch, then truing the side seam.  I love to look at pattern alterations so I'll assume you do, too:

The NBA in all it's glory.


I also made a square shoulders alteration to the pattern piece as this is something I almost always need to do.  Initially I decreased the back dart size (according to instructions) but then brought it back to it's original size after my first fitting.  And here are the results:

 
 
I am MUCH happier with this!

I hope to finish this dress in the next few days if I can carve out the time.  Here's a peek at the front of the bodice - I decided to have fun with stripes again:



So what are you working on??
13 comments on "Progress with the Work In (Vogue 8787)"
  1. Wow! The fit looks perfect now. I still have a lot of issues fitting my shoulders/back/bust/torso/etc. etc. etc. The stripes also look great.
    Well done.

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    1. Thanks, Trumbelina! I'm excited to see where the NBA will take me in the future!

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  2. Interesting! The back fit looks great now, and I LOVE those stripes.

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    1. Weird, huh? It was one of those issues that I couldn't quite get my head around until it worked.

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  3. It looks really good! can't wait to see the final striped version. I love how you changed the directions of the stripes

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  4. The fit is great, the colours are awesome, and I love what you've done with the stripes!

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    1. Thanks! I have this sense that magenta is going to be my color of the year, no matter what Pantone says.

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  5. Wow, it's amazing what a difference the NBA made! I really love this in the stripes!

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    1. Thanks, Gail! I'm hoping to wear this to our Chicago Meetup!

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  6. The stripes are amazing, super fun indeed!

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    1. Thanks, Bri! I just checked out your blog and I'll be back!

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  7. Wow...your persistence sure paid off! Such an improvement in the upper back fit!
    Love the stripes, BTW :-)

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