First I petited the whole thing. This meant:
- Take a half inch out of upper back at the yoke seam
- Take the same half inch out of upper chest, appx where the notches are on the front armhole. You can see the fold on this muslin.
- Take a half inch out of the sleeve cap.
- Drop down the armscye at the underarm to correspond with the width removed in the bodice. Forget this part and you have one tight armhole!
- First I took a half inch out of the underarm seam at the top tapering back to the seam at the waistline.
- That corresponded with folding out a full inch along the center grain of the sleeve the full length. How did I come up with this figure? I went and measured my grey cashmere coat that I made. The sleeves are very roomy and comfortable and I knew way smaller than this sleeve on 2153. It was almost a 3 inch difference. Between what I could reasonably take out of the top of the underarm seam and the 3 inch difference I compromised at one inch. Now the sleeve head seam and the bodice armscye seam had an equal amount removed.
- Tried it on at this point and while it was a lot improved that big blob of fabric still existed in the front of the armscye. At this point I decided to just follow instinct. It is not always easy to follow instinct. I always regret not listening to my intuition sooner because for us ladies intuition is always right. Intuition told me to just scoop that nasty blob out. I did not alter the shape of the armhole on the bodice. What I did was scoop out a curve from the underarm seam to the first notch right on the sleeve itself in the front of the sleeve only. Bingo! That did it. Are the Pattern Police coming after me for this? I don't think so but we are all afraid of them when that intuition starts to kick in. Take your sirens and your big sharp scissors and go away you nasty PPs. The Big I (intuition) has won again!
- And last but not least, whenever you decrease length in a front zippering jacket like this one, make sure you add to the hem as your zipper won't fit otherwise. What a nightmare that would be after all this work!
Thanks, everyone, for all of the great suggestions regarding my headaches. I'm leaning heavily toward an allergy possibility but we'll see what the doc says. Thanks to you wonderful readers I have lots of info to research and confront him with. Thank you again. You are priceless!
*******************************************
Well, lo and behold, is that not the new issue of Threads? The one mailed to me personally in my own special manila envelope from Newtown, Connecticut itself? Sure is! Seems a hint I sent in was deemed print worthy and I am very flattered. Now I didn't get the B I G prize like the charming Kristine of Just Keep Sewing did not long ago but hey, it's recognition and I'll take it. Any questions on my hint, just let me know. A bit of expected editing was done and I am not sure it is as clear as I originally had it but that's OK. I'm here if you have any questions. What fun!
Coming up next, how I am dealing with the lining situation in a pattern that doesn't require one. ...Bunny
