Don't let the jazz hands put you off

You might have noticed that I have lost my Cool Girl credentials in my own t-shirt sew along by not posting a final success. But before I bashed my head against the wall revising my pattern for my bust o' plenty I wanted to do some research on how exactly patterns adapt for a full bust. Now that I'm actually paying attention to adult clothes making, one book that has popped up over and over is Fit for Real People.


The cover is a homage to unflattering, untrendy clothes. And jazz hands. But I bought it anyway, and hand on heart it's one of the most fascinating books ever. Like page-turning fascinating.


Sure, the chapter on busts is super helpful but there is so much more I've learned. Like why store bought dresses and tunics never fit right. The combination of the extra distance fabric has to travel over my bust, plus a sway back, means that everything is always longer in the back than the front and garments that are thigh length or longer always cling to my bum despite it being not-very-curvy. Here's an example courtesy of my doppelganger:

If I was to rip the seam out above the waistband and straighten it out like so:

It evens out the rest of the dress and fixes the unflattering bum clinginess:

So now the front fit (which was mostly fine) is unchanged:

And the side view is 3000% more flattering:

The good news now I have this book? I might be able redress badly fitting store bought clothes. The bad news? I think every single pattern I've bought is too big because I based it on my full bust and not my high bust (which put me in plus size). The strange news? It blows my mind that we should be sewing the right and left side differently to compensate for asymmetry like uneven shoulders and hips. It totally makes sense, but is very strange stuff indeed. If Cool Girls are going to venture into the trouser or blouse patterns and have non-boyish bodies I think this book will help a million times over!