"Petiting" a Pattern

As I finished tracing my BWOF pattern for the white shirt it dawned on me that perhaps a post on how to petite a pattern might be of interest. It was my next step in the process before making my muslin. I "petite" all of my patterns now as soon as I take them out of the envelope or after finishing their tracing. This is done before any other pattern alterations. The rule is do any lengthwise alterations first.

First you need to figure out on your next project whether you need to take length out of the upper chest area or the area between waist and bust. It may even be both. For me and I think many petites it is between the bust and shoulder, right about where a measuring tape would go for an upper chest measurement.

You will need to adjust the sleeve, front bodice, and back bodice pieces. There will be some experimenting here as you learn just how much to take out for your own figure. I highly suggest a muslin or two to experiment with so you will get the exact amount down. For me, 5 feet tall and very narrow of shoulder and upper chest, I remove 3/4 of an inch between the bust and shoulder seam. That means I FOLD OUT 3/8 of an INCH. The size of your fold will be HALF THE WIDTH of the amount you want to take out. If you want to remove a 1/4 inch you will fold a tuck 1/8 inch wide.

First, find your straight of grain, which should be clearly marked on your pattern piece always. On the upper chest, at a 90º angle to the straight of grain, draw a line from the center of the armscye to the CF of the pattern. I have a big acrylic triangle that is wonderful for this. It doesn't need to in an exact location, just somewhere mid armhole and perpendicular to the straight of grain. Do this to the front and back bodice pieces. Now fold the pattern on that line you just made. Next is to fold that edge down the amount you need to adjust. So the line is on the edge of the first fold. You will then see the amount, 3/8 inch in my case, in a tuck across the bodices. Remember to do both front and back bodices. It is easy to forget the back.

Next you need to do the sleeve. Again go perpendicular to the straight of grain on the sleeve and draw your line across. In this picture you can see how that makes the tuck at a slight slant for this particular sleeve. That's OK. Fold out your tuck the same width as on the bodices.

Folding out the bodices has now made your armholes smaller, so some scooping needs to be done. I scoop out a healthy 3/8 inch from the bottom of the armscyes on the bodice pieces. I start about a third of the way up the armscye on the bodice and true down to the seam so that at the seamline it has been scooped 3/8 of an  inch. Here again, your experimental muslin pays off. I can't stress this enough. That's because if you work this out now it will be so easy to do with every pattern you use right from the get go. It literally takes minutes to do so don't worry about adding too much work to the process. The payoff is there.

This takes care of the bodices and sleeves. Next are the details. This is so important to us petites. Big details make us look bad, no matter the fit. Again here comes the priceless muslin. You don't need to make entire lined flaps here or totally install a collar. And, after a while you will know instinctively just what to size back. Most of my collars are cut back a 1/4 inch on the width. On a jacket or such with a big collar I may cut back a half inch. Don't ever cut back your short collar edges or length. You are really messing with the fit if you do. Trust me, don't do it. They need to line up with CF so that is why you don't touch those . I am just talking the depth of the collar from neckline to outer edge on the long edge only. This has made a major improvement in the appearance of my clothes.

For flaps and pockets I also cut them all back a 1/4 inch all around except for the edge that will be stitched to the garment, usually the upper edge. Look at your pattern closely. Are there other details that need to be changed? My current blouse project has a pleat in the back. On my muslin I made the pleat exactly the length specified on the pattern. I thought it might be stitched down for too long of a length. In this case it was fine, but these are the details you need to check out with each garment and change if needed. I often find pleats on pants are way too long so don't forget those as well as darts.   Back to flaps and such, make them one layer of fabric and just pin them to the garment. You don't have to get into heavy construction to see the size of things. Just a cut outline of a flap or pocket will let you know.

As far as skirts, it is the same process, but I find for my five feet I usually just have to hem shorter. A skirt with any sort of draping or bias will absolutely need to have the length taken out and trued probably at the fullest part of your hip. This, again, all depends on your own petite proportions. Watch out for volume in pleated and gathered skirts and sleeves. Too much will swallow you. Do not hesitate to remove what you don't need. 

Now that you have "petited" your pattern you can do any further alterations, FBAs, SBAs, shoulder changes, ect. Learning how to petite my patterns has greatly helped me in my fit quest and opened up many more pattern opportunities.
Hope this info helps you.....................Bunny