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I'm sure this is going to be a really stupid question, but when I pleat the back skirt part, do I carry the pleats all the way across (i.e pleat at the points indicated on the pattern and also tack it along the width of the skirt) or do I just pleat at the seam areas and let the remainder of the dress fall as it may?

One more question, when I'm shortening the length of the front of the bodice, do I have to actually shorten it or can I just move the natural waist line up on the pattern? It's only about an inch or so.

I should have pictures of the full mock up later tonight, since this is the first time I've done this pattern I've done the whole dress in mock up so I can mark all the points that need tweaking for me.

Thanks so much!

[Heather]

You want to just pleat the back at the seams, and let the rest hang naturally. So you are basting along the seam line, not across the fabric.

The best way to shorted is to cut the pattern just above the waistline and move everything up. Which is more or less the same as raising the waistline. Look at the side seam on the front, and if that waist line is in the right place, then you will not need to change anything at the center front. I know for many, the center front line dips more than it needs to. But that is not really a problem and can/should be ignored. Just make sure the the waist at the side seam is where it needs to be.

Great! Thank you Heather!

I'm pretty sure the waistline is where it needs to be on the sides and back, I will be checking it when I try on the mock up later tonight.

Thanks again!

I want to check a few things before I take the mock up apart.

Here is what the dress looks like from the back, I did not put the ties on the side or attach the ties to the center back:



The thing I'm most curious about is if I've got the shoulder/arm hole put together correctly.

Here is the left side:



Right side:



This is the pleating I did on the back of the dress. Please excuse the basting done on the seams, they are not to the 1/2 inch seam allowance and are rather sloppy. I'm usually neater with the basting stitched even on mock ups.



Thanks!

[Heather]

In order to judge how it fits, I really need to see it on you. The dress form will never be you, so you can't use it to fit. But if you are just looking at the seam placement, then there are only a few things I would question.

In the second picture, it looks like the neckline edge of the shoulder seam is not matching. This is the edge that needs to be matched, with the armhole edge doing whatever it does. The armhole edge can trimmed to match, but the neck edge should just fit. The view of the similar area from the other side (pic 3) looks like it does match here and should be fine. So it might just be a trick of the camera.

For the rest of the seams, pic 2 looks like they are lined up a little better than pic 3. So use that side as your aim.

Also in view 2, it looks like the top of the back is way up the neck. This is where seeing it on your body helps. It might fit you fine, but it is too tall on your form The top edge of the back should reach 1/2" above the nape of your neck. In pic 1, the waist looks OK at the center back, but longer on the sides. But find the cause, I would need to see it on your body to know for sure why it's happening, and/or if it is just the form.

The back pleating looks great.

I'm pretty sure it's just the form, but I will have pictures taken with it on me so I can be sure. I removed the pleated part of the back so I could use it as a pattern for the pleats so it will just be the bodice I will be wearing.

I think I might not have pinned the front correctly before I took the pictures too, I'm sure that had something to do with it too.

In regards to the seam placement at the top shoulders should they be that far back on the shoulders or should they be more centered/forward? Like where modern shoulder seams are or are they correct for the time period where they are?

[Heather]

Yes, the shoulder seam needs to be behind the shoulder, just where it is. It can go up and down a little bit with different years, but it doesn't come forwards to the top of the shoulder until after 1900. If anything, it can go farther back.

Thank you so much!

I was worried I hadn't constructed the shoulder correctly as I kept trying to make it look like a modern shoulder seam. As soon as my camera charges I'll get some pictures taken with me wearing the dress.

Thanks again! You are awesome Heather!

OK these are not good pics as mom took them with the camera on my phone. Once my camera is REALLY charged I'll get better pics.

I'm wearing this with an underbust corset since I'm not going to have time to make a 'real' corset. And the seams are not to the half inch like they should be. They are all sorts of wonky since I just basted them closed.

The arm holes felt ok to me, but should I adjust them some? It looks like it might be pulling some in the front and back, but I think some of those seams might be up to an inch deep.

Front:



Side:

The shoulder seams are pretty far back, is this ok for the pattern?



Back:

The line across the back is where the corset is, mom is not good at putting a corset on and I'm not so good at putting on on myself yet. So I'm pretty sure when I have the corset on correctly most of that line will go away.

It looks like there is pulling at the bottom of the center back/side backs. It was not too tight on me, so I don't think it's that, but again it could be from the wonky seam job I did on the mock up. Do you think the pulling will go away when the seams are done correctly or should I adjust the darts in the front too?

[Heather]

Wow, see how different it looks on your body compared to the dress form?

I think the back waist is just wonky because of the seams, so I wouldn't worry about that. But you have another whole issue going on in the upper back/front that needs some adjustment.

But before that, it looks too wide in the back, and I think you could use a smaller size here. You want to measure your back width a little narrower, finding the place on the back of your shoulder where you arm is jointed to your back. If you look at the back pic, that vertical wrinkle on the right hand side seems to me about where the fabric should be ending. So maybe two sizes smaller for the back and side back? Which will mean that you also need 1 size larger for the front to make up for the lost fabric. Just remeasure and check the numbers before you cut. This may or may not be causing the next issue, which is the height of the back.

On the back pic, you can see your necklace on the nape of your neck. This is where the fabric of the back should reach up to. It might be that your arm is pulling the fabric down because of the too wide back. But it also means that when you pull up the back to where it should be, the front will no start to wrinkle. So pull the back up, and then take a horizontal fold in the front shoulder area, between neckline and armhole, until it holds the back up and lies smooth. Then once you get the whole front/back shoulder area smooth, you will most likely need to trim away some extra fabric on the front, around the armhole. The narrower back will trim the back part, so you will just need to trim the wider front to match the back and curve around your arm.

Yes I do see the difference! I had pinned the dress funky on the dummy so that's why it looked off.

I think the fabric at the neck line was folded under a bit more than it would be with the facing. I'll double check that. I'm not totally sure if that happened or not. Since the picture isn't very clear, I can't see if there are frayed edges showing!

OK So I should be moving the shoulder seam up a touch to pull the fabric up higher, trim the upper back at the shoulder arm hole area, and adjust the arm holes from the front only.

Should I redraft the center back and make the neck line higher? I thought I'd had my mom measure my shoulders correctly, and I'd cut the right size, and I might have but my measurements are wonky, I have very broad shoulders and like no waist without a corset on.

I'll get clearer pics tonight so I can really see what's going on in the shoulder area and such.

Thank you SO MUCH for all your help! I'd have messed this thing up for sure if this board and you were not here to help! (I thought drafting and making Mongolian garb and cotehardies was difficult! Yeesh!)

[Heather]

Don't redraft the back length yet. Right now it just looks like it is sagging and hanging lower, and just needs to be pulled up to smooth it all out. If you pull it up and it still looks short, then you might need to lengthen it. Don't move the shoulder seams, just to move the seams. They are fine, and will still be fine once the back is lifted up a bit. But the rest sounds right.

OK here are much clearer pictures. I tried to pull the back up a bit at the shoulder seams. I wasn't able to pull it up much, I think I will have to redo all the back seams to get it to lay properly in the lower back. The basting started to come apart at the bottom. The knot in the thread popped through the fabric so there are gaps. *sigh* I didn't want to machine stitch this together but it looks like I will have to to get a proper fit first time.

ok here are the pictures of the incredibly crappy sewing job I've done

New front pic:

The pinning in the front seems to be causing that lumpy look at the top of the front. I also have no idea why I'm standing sort of crooked in this picture.



New back pic:

You can see the popped stitches on the back. This could have been caused I just raised the back at the shoulder and did not redo any other seams.



New side pics:

Right side:



Left side:



Here is a pic of the corset I'm using since I don't have the time to do a proper Victorian corset:



So I will have more pictures tomorrow when I actually sew it together and try it on again. Hopefully, sewing it together will show me where the things that need tweaking are and what is simply from my basting the seams.

Ok I sewed the mock up together, which as will be shown I should have done in the first place. With the exception of some very slight pulling at the back sides, all other problems seem to have cleared up.

So, without further ado, here are the pics of the sewn mock up.

Sewn Front:

Should the outer darts start lower on the bodice?



Sewn back:

I'm nor sure why there still looks like some very slight pulling at the back sides. It was not too tight. Would the weight of the back of the dress fix this?



The arm holes feel just fine with no tweaking needed. Now that being said, I haven't tried to fit the sleeves on yet.

Sewn left side:



Sewn right side:



Does this look acceptable enough to cut out the fabric and lining or do I need to make some more adjustments?

Thanks again for all your help with this!

[Heather]

I think it looks great. I think those wrinkles at the side are being caused by the front being pulled up a tiny bit too much. See how they a low in the back, but then get higher in the front. I think let the front shoulder out a little bit, like about 1/4" and pull the front waist lower by making the darts a tiny bit larger. The snugged up waist will keep the front from pulling up. The idea was to make the back smooth, which is now good, but with overdoing it, the front is now lifting too. The rest looks totally great.

When you say to make the darts a tiny bit larger you mean in width right or in length?

So I should make the left shoulder seam at a 1/4 inch instead of the 1/2 inch I made it?

I just want to make sure I'm understanding the instructions BEFORE I have to rip out seams.

[Heather]

For the darts, I think both. The tip of the dart should end just below the fullest part of your bust. It looks a bit low in the right side view pic. Not seeing that in the other pics, so I may be wrong. I am not sure if I am seeing any any extra room around your body, but if there is some, make the darts slightly wider. You can also adjust the shape of the darts. As you are wearing an underbust corset, you may want/need to make the darts more bullet shaped, taking them in just under the bust more. Go with want you think best. I am not there, so you can see it all better than I can.

Thank you!

I will widen the darts a bit and make sure they are starting at the right spot. I will have to make sure that I mark the darts correctly on all the pieces, I haven't cut the front pieces yet, I'll be doing that and the interlining tomorrow I think. Is it ok if I hand sew the ends of the darts to get them even? I always seem to miss the starting mark on at least one of them.

I hope to have pictures of the construction and stuff to post soon! I have finally registered over at the gallery so I have a place to put them now!