[Briana]

I have a 13 yo daughter who I’m sewing the Bistro dress for. She’s a size 0, but the darts on the dress are not lining up for her at all (though her measurements did say that was her size). She’s a bit concave–how can I reset the darts for her to fit her better?

I’ve been looking all over youtube for tutorials but I’m stumped!

Thanks!

[meleliza]

front darts or back darts? where are they not lining up? What exactly do you mean by concave?

Patterns are typically drafted for a B cup. For a child, you might need a small bust adjustment.

[Briana]

TY!

front chest darts. It almost looks better with no darts at all. She’s tall, but doesn’t have a figure yet, and the way she stands her shoulders round her chest in (concave). But if I don’t dart it at all, how would I pick up the slack in the material that the darts would have taken up?

How would I do that small bust adjustment?

[meleliza]

Tell her to stand up straight! 😉

The waist darts could be changed to little gathers. If you google SBA you’ll find plenty of tutes, but it’s hard to explain in words. I would spefically look for the ones by Gertie or Colette patterns. They are reliable and well done.

Seriously, though, standing up straight will prevent having to adjust for lots of difficult shoulder stuff. Shoulders are really hard to adjust.

[Brittney]

The Bistro includes instructions for a small bust adjustment:)

[Briana]

I’ll look up the sba adjustments, thanks!

Brittney, I will look up the adjustment in the pattern, I was pretty sure I read it through, I must have missed it in my panic to get it done! thanks for the head’s up.

[Brittney]

I must confess, I don’t own this one (yet, still nursing), but in the comment section on this post it says there is a SBA included: http://oliverands.com/community/blog/2014/10/introducing-the-liesl-co-bistro-dress-pattern.html

I apologize, I should have sourced that the first time, but I was on my phone.

[Briana]

Well, I figured out what I should have done (hindsight and all). She’s a sz 0 on top (less than, actually), and a sz 2 on the bottom. I should have gone with the hip measurement and then rescaled the top.

Lesson learned!

[Kerrilyn]

No you did right in choosing the size 0. You should have just traced out to the size 2 gradually from the waist down to the hip. So much easier to make the bottom half bigger than fiddle with the top.

[Briana]

I will remember that for next time I sew it for her! I DO love the dress, and the pattern. When I first saw the buckling, I thought it was a top problem, but you’re right, in the end it was a bottom problem.

Learning how to fit it to each girl is going to be a learning curve for me. I just rescaled the pattern for her twin sister who is shaped completely different. My fingers are crossed for this one.

• This reply was modified 9 years ago by Briana.
• This reply was modified 9 years ago by Briana.

[meleliza]

Chose a dress based on her high bust measurement – this will then fit her shoulders properly and the rest is easier to adjust. It is definitely a learning process and requires practice.