Sencha Part 2

When we last left the Sencha, I was annoyed with how the shoulders fit (the sleeves felt tight), the tightness across the bust and the way it looked like a hospital gown (funny enough, someone else thought the same thing!). So I did some quick research to see if anyone had done a full bust adjustment/alteration (FBA) on the Sencha pattern and, lo and behold, someone had! AND they made a tutorial! AND it was requested by someone named Rachel! Will wonders ever cease? So here's the tutorial.

I got my supplies ready: the pattern tissue, a marker for marking, duct tape (classy!) for taping, and scrap paper for filling in the gaps (only the first two are pictured here):

Then I did the tissue-fitting, and marked the bust point (while wearing a bra this time, learned my lesson).

I also took this opprotunity to transfer from my first muslin piece of the front bodice the neckline adjustment I'd made.

Then I drew in the lines to be cut and spread...

...and cut and spread them.

Then I used the scrap paper and tape to fill in the gap of the pattern. View one:

and view two:

After that I cut another front bodice piece out of the Ikea sheet and pinned it all together to get an idea about the fitting.

A little blurry but much better. The sleeves didn't feel as ridiculous anymore, the neck looks good (I might even take a bit more out of it), and it fits better over the bust. The issue now is with the waist; the tutorial linked to above suggests taking some out of the waist, which I didn't do because, as usual, I'm paranoid about making it too small. So before doing that I decided to try the tucks on one side to see how that brought things in.

Much nicer, BUT again I wonder if I should take some more in on the waist. I think the next step (again, its way too hot in my flat and I can't work on this for extended periods... unless I bring my fan into the entry way... which I totally could and I just now realized) will be to baste (listen to me, saying such words!) the tucks in on both sides of the bodice and try it again, and figure out how much to take off the waist.

I never thought I'd spend so much time on something I can't actually wear out of the house (the fabric's too thin) but I figure if I get the muslin exactly right, I can produce numerous copies of this blouse easily and quickly. So I'm working hard on it. To leave with here's another picture of it with tucks pinned on one side (and, as an aside, I'm way more in love with tucks than with regular darts).

I think the thing I'm most pleased with is this means I can get other Colette patterns, now knowing they fit fairly well and are adorable. I might even have to got with a smaller size, but we'll see how the next phase of muslin fitting goes.