Hi Deanna
There are some really great classes on Craftsy involving fitting. I have particularly found the classes by Joi Mahon helpful. The reason for this is that even though I have a dressmaker’s dummy to pin my Muslims onto, it doesn’t look like me and of course because of this it turns out totally wrong and fits the dummy not myself.
Joi goes through how to measure yourself properly and she shows you how to make alterations to the pattern before you make a muslin. This has dual benefit. If you don’t have a fitting buddy (like me) you can get a better fitting muslin by doing the alterations this way. It also shows you where your individual fitting issues might be and how to rectify them – for example, this new thing called apex to apex (in between the fullest part of your bust) well I have to add there most times and I find that adding above the bust not at the lengthen shorten line indicated on the pattern as a standard allows the bodice to fit me a lot better.
You basically learn to measure yourself and treat your front separately from your back – I am standard at the back but carry lots of extra “baggage” at the front so have to add accordingly.
I would in a nut shell recommend her classes to try if you feel the muslin thing isn’t working out for you.
She also has a couple of books out that will help as they essentially show you the same sort of thing, should this work better for you.
I hope this helps.
Tamara
