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So funny. 5 years ago I made this post. Today I measured my daughter and she’s 51″ tall. Has a 23 inch chest. 4T chest and a 7 in length, but I’d prefer the 8 so it lasts. She’s so narrow!

And I thought, didn’t I have this similar problem before and I wonder what the forum has to say. Voila!

I didn’t look at the sizing, but since Maggie’s been helpful and done so, then yes, just make the size 8 and add length.
I think your daughter and my son must be the same shape. He’s nine and I generally make a size 8, lengthened to 10-12 then throw on an extra 2 or 3″ sleeve length again!
Lengthening will be easy as the sleeves are quite straight…[Read more]

Based on your granddaughter’s measurements, I’m wondering if you really need to increase the width at all. Her chest measurement, which is the most important measurement for a jacket, is within the size 8 measurements, and her height corresponds with a 10, only one size bigger. If there was more of a disparity between height and chest sizes you…[Read more]

Thanks for your suggestion, Lightening. I must say, starting from scratch sounds a little daunting. I do have the Sunday Brunch Jacket pattern and I would feel more comfortable starting there. I’m not ready to start drafting my own patterns yet, although I do appreciate the suggestion. I feel the changes, except for length, are going to be under 1…[Read more]

You know what I would do?
I’d use the Building Block Dress block to get the right chest, shoulder, armhole width… That goes up to size 12. Make a basic dress or two to be sure of the fit.
Then I’d take the elements of the Sunday Brunch: wide cross over front placket, short bodice with gathered skirt, Mandarin collar and wide sleeves and draft…[Read more]

Mom is in town and measured! And as suspected, I’m going to have to do some modifications. Length and sleeve length I get, but I’m not quite sure what to do about her shoulders, which are quite narrow. If I go by bust size, she’s an 8, but by waist/hips more like 12. I know shoulders are harder to change on the pattern – should I trace the 8 at…[Read more]

Brilliant, thank you. My twin needle hems are a bit hit and miss so it’s helpful to have some other ideas up my sleeve!

Thank you! I will give that a try.

One of the easiest ways to deal with a sheer fabric is to underline. That is; cut the main fabric and the lining fabric, baste them together around the very edge, then treat them as one for the rest of the construction.
Obviously you won’t get the clean inside finish of a true lining. But you also won’t see your seam allowances through the sheer…[Read more]

Shelly it was not the circles I was bothered about (was a little bothered but figured out I will be able to sort that out), it is this piece of added length at the waist that is a result of the FBA. It’s the first time I’m doing an FBA and from what I understand FBA is about adding volume, which results in length and width added, in this case to…[Read more]

Thank you for our answers! mlinton what you wrote makes a lot of sense. I just cut the lengethened skirt but haven’t cut the yoke yet so I think I will follow your adive, lengthen the yoke and fix the skirt to be as the original piece. Thank you again! Learning from other women’s experience is amazing 🙂

Yes, I did it this way the first time I made this dress. I found lengthening the skirt instead of the yoke made this more empire length in the front, and the seam line between yoke & skirt in the front vs back didn’t align vertically when wearing the dress. (It actually worked out for a maternity dress.) If I make this again I will try l…[Read more]

Is it the circles on the second picture not lining up that has you worried?
Don’t forget that it’s at the stitched seam line, not the fabric edge, where they should line up. Whenever I get those slight discrepancies I try pinning the seam line at the notch point, matching the notches, and then work out from there and it usually works as the curve…[Read more]

Absolutely! I haven’t shortened the Parachute pants but it would work fine. I often do this to the previous years trousers as my son grows in length much faster than width.
I’d do a 3/4″ single fold hem and use a twin needle. If you’re not keen on twin needle hemming then a zig zag or even a long straight stitch, as the hem won’t need to stretch…[Read more]