I made a second attempt at a Renfrew today. The catalogue of changes I made to the pattern include (but are not limited to):
- Graded to size 12 at bust on front piece tapering back to 8 at waist
- Sleeve cap changed accordingly
- Overall length shortened by one inch at shorten / lengthen line
- Shoulder point moved half an inch towards neckline
- Shoulder slope reduced
- Neckband tightened / shortened by at least two inches (and it still needs to be more!)
The result is better, but still not the ever-elusive great fit. Excuse me, God, THIS IS WHAT I WANT:
Can anyone tell me how she did this?! It is worth mentioning that she has to FBA the Renfrew two sizes (like I did) but wherefore art thou, draglines? Just look how thoughtful this is making me:
So thoughtful. While I have God on the line (and also many helpful readers), please can we address how to pose for pictures without looking like a complete wally? My full facial repetoire is 'pensive' (see above)...
And 'benign'. How do you all take natural and normal pictures when you're modelling clothes?*
I do relax a bit when Jamie is behind the lense, but he knows nothing about ideal lighting.
To summarise: How do you solve a problem like a Renfrew? And then photograph the results without having to crop your head out.
*Or look natural and normal as you go about your day-to-day life, in fact.
The neckline on hers seems lower, and to go out closer to her shoulders. And looks like there is a seam up the centre front, so maybe she has cut on the bias for the DIY chevron effect, would that make any difference to the draglines on jersey?? I'm totally guessing here!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I think in fact there are draglines over the bust. She's also totally changed the sleeves, hasn't she? And I think the fabric she's using is more elastic and thinner, maybe?
ReplyDeleteI don't think she changed the sleeves but it's a much closer fit through the shoulders and sleeves. Maybe I should just make a really small one :)
DeleteAnd now I'm sitting here trying to work out exactly what angle she would really have had to cut at to then join for the chevrons. I should sleep.
ReplyDeleteThink it's a 45deg angle, so straight bias. No idea what that would do with knits!
DeleteI think maybe it's the fabric? She says she's used a slinky fabric and yours looks like it's a lot heavier knit. I reckon your drag lines wouldn't be so noticable if your knit was finer. Go buy some more fabric! (this is normally the answer to most problems :)
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what to do about the facial expressions. Benign is a very good way of describing the second one though.
I'll second the idea for slinker fabric, since big boobies really need that (experience talking). And also I do think I see a drag line on her top on the right. Do you have any rayon or bamboo blends in your stash? Give one of those a whirl and see what happens. Maybe also need a bit more on the FBA.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are wrong, mine is a super slinky! It's pretty thin and verrrrrry stretchy viscose.
ReplyDeleteOh. Okay, I have no idea what to do then. That was my only guess, I know nothing about pattern adjustments :D
ReplyDeleteI should probably buy fabric anyway :)
DeleteWith her front center seam she is able to angle it in under the bust for a snugger fit. And her neckline is a bit lower ..... I work with knits some and have had the same problem. I will work on it and see what I can come up with , Oh Hers looks like a 4 w Jersey knit whereas yours looks like a cotton Knit.. Maybe that is a difference that will make it lay differently too
ReplyDeleteI think the front seam is helping, but the pattern disguises any little issues, too. Keep trying, my third try was a winner! I also made a ton of little tweaks, I curved the back in for my dreaded sway back adjustment. urg, bad posture! I love the color choices!
ReplyDeleteWould a pleat at the side of the bust work? It would pull up the slack around the waist and allow for more room around the bust and will be mostly hidden around the armpit (on plain fabric anyway)
ReplyDeleteCan't offer any help on the fit I'm afraid but I can sympathise on the photographic face pulling. My personal repertoire includes murderer, loony or 'ready for a fight'. x
ReplyDeleteHmm, it is tricky with boobs and dartless stretchy tops. Based on my shenanigans with my joan dress, I would say just make it much tighter, partic in the underbust area, hers goes in more under the bust and that can only really be through making it much smaller there so the stretch does much more of the work. I'm not sure exactly how you did the FBA grading but would prob try to get the FBA more focussed, it could prob do with an even smaller shoulder set up but with the same boob area. The drags are a bit tricky without darts to play with, could you pull in the armscyes somehow to take them out further up? Plus if you get the rib cage bit tight enough it should pull the whole boob fabric down and could iron out some of the creases. Im not sure how it would work with the stretch (would depend on the fabric) but you could do a dart without a dart across the top of the bust area, (so folding the paper pattern like a dart and then just cutting the folded bit out and rotating the shoulder area..)
ReplyDeleteIn terms of fixing this one, I would take out a large chunk on each side seam, with more off at the waist/under bust (you could take the seams in gradually until you like it better). I'd also be tempted to do something similar on the armscyes pulling it in further at the shoulder and trying to get rid of some of the excess pleaty bits in that area that way.
Good luck-(I really like the colour!)
I am a million miles away from being an expert but it looks to me like hers is a smaller size and cut slimmer generally. Could you take in the sides a bit?
ReplyDeleteLove the colour combo!
Consisting of mostly ribs myself, I can't address the FBA. But your face in pictures is quite nice, not conveying any wackiness or weirdness, which mine usually do. You look easy-going, which is a nice way to look. I've decided I need Botox to get rid of the constant furrow between my brows that makes me look mad in person.
ReplyDeleteHi, sorry for the late response... Anyway, I tend to have the exact same problem, *also with ready-to-wear* knit shirts. I finally realized that (in my case) it has to do with the slope of the shoulders. I have very narrow and my shoulders have a somewhat "steeper" slope than average, so what happens is that you end up with excess fabric in the area from shoulder to bust, and the more outward you move, the greater the excess. It's this excess fabric that then folds over itself as soon as it reaches the bump of the chest, so to say.
ReplyDeleteWhat you could try, is to sew the shoulder seams at a larger angle (how large depends on the slope "descent"). It's a really easy trick, but it works wonders.
Note: if the angle differs a lot from that on the original pattern, you may have to change the shape of the sleeve cap as well, as the 'hole' to put the sleeve into becomes smaller when you change the shoulder seam angle.
Hope this makes sense!
SabineC.
PS: Try to pich away some of the fabric where your shoulder seam hits the sleevecap and see if the wrinkles disappear. If yes, then the above is likely to help.
ReplyDeleteSabineC.