Flat/protruding abdomen alteration: theories on what it is and isn't

I have more than my share of fitting books, and I've seen several variants of flat/protruding abdomen alterations. In general, the protruding/large abdomen alterations add width and usually length over the abdomen, increasing the waist dart intake as well. The flat abdomen alterations do the reverse.

Now, I certainly don't have a flat stomach, so it had been in the back of my mind that I might benefit from the large abdomen alteration—that is, if I ever got around to bothering to do it. But on the other hand, I've often felt that skirt and pants patterns (and to a slightly lesser extent, RTW) feel too high in the waist in front, especially compared to the back. Besides, I often need more waist shaping in the back, not the front. So I couldn't quite square the two.

Since I've looked into it further, here's what I think: the usual large abdomen alterations work best when the front waist is small and indented in comparison. So the largeness has to be over and done with somewhere below the waist. As somewhat exaggerated examples, look at this Toulmouche painting or this Annie Oakley poster. In both cases the waist is quite small (due to the shape of corset worn at the time), and there would need to be quite a bit of front waist shaping to mold the skirt from the roundness at abdomen/hip level up into the narrowness of the waist. The same goes for Christian Dior's Bar suit, with its fitted waist and padded hips. Generally, the large abdomen alteration methods presuppose your pattern has the correct waist measurement already, and you just need more length and width further down—wider darts then take up all the excess at the waist.

But what happens if you have a large front waist too, or you have a posture that shifts your upper torso a bit more forward relative to your hips? Counter-intuitively, that might actually need a flat abdomen alteration, as it will result in less dart shaping at the waist. The problem is, most of the methods for those will decrease the front hip circumference as well, something you might not need unless you've started with a larger size than your hip measurement would call for. What some people do is simply leave any front darts unsewn, or sew them narrower (and maybe sew the back darts wider to compensate, if more shaping is needed there instead). The front waist may well need to be dropped too: if there's less of a curve then there's less need for length—though extra length may be needed for apple shapes.

Anyway, I'm currently applying this theory to a jeans pattern I'm working on. I've erred on the small side when choosing a size, shortened the rise length to get it shorter in front, and done a large derriere alteration to make the pattern proportionally bigger in back. I did add a dart in back, which isn't usual for jeans (normally that shaping's moved entirely into the back yoke) but I think it might look interesting; the tips will be hidden under the pockets. And I realized after all this that my fabric had stretch, something I'd forgotten about. We'll see how that goes.

Changing construction order of a faced-waist skirt for easy pin-fitting and alteration

A skirt with a faced/contour waist and a center back zipper is probably about the easiest to alter at the side seams. The zipper isn't in the way, and there isn't a one-piece waistband that might have to be taken partway off. It can be made even easier if you sew the facings to each piece first, do all the clipping, grading, and understitching, and only then sew the side seams of the skirt and facings. You do have to be careful to match the facing seamlines at the top of the skirt, and there may be a slight bit less ability to trim and reduce bulk at the tops of the side seams. On the other hand, the facing/skirt seams won't need to come partially undone if you ever have to rip the side seams to take them in or let them out.

This is what I did for the Neue Mode skirt I'm working on, since I wasn't quite sure of my current size. (Turns out my guess was correct.) It made pin-fitting very easy, and because the facings are already sewn to the waist, there isn't the risk of stretching an unfinished waistline out as you try the thing on.

Patterns with optional set-in sleeves

Generally, if you're making a set-in sleeve, you want more armhole/-scye depth than you would on a sleeveless version of the same thing.

Very often, home-sewing patterns with sleeved and sleeveless views do not take this into account. I've just cut (out-of-print) New Look 6387, which is no exception. In this situation, it's usually a good idea to raise the bottom of the armhole if you're not adding the sleeve.

How much? I find an inch or so tends to be about right, if the pattern is fitted, and assuming the armhole started out at a good set-in-sleeve depth for the wearer in the first place. You might get away with tightening the side seam slightly too, if necessary, but IMO it's best if anything sleeveless is fairly fitted in the shoulder/underarm area to begin with (meaning the right amount of dart shaping, and not too much bust ease). Otherwise, gaping is a likely result. An 80s/90s-style boxy, drop-shoulder, low-armhole top would not be the best starting point for this.

Knit fitting, etc.

I've meant to write about choosing knit sizing, but check out Lena Merrin's post -- this method is pretty much exactly the same as what I do. Knits are so varied in stretch and recovery that I feel this is the best way to judge what the finished measurement of the piece should be. I use it for anything that touches the hipline, not just skirts. Where it may get more complicated is applying this to other parts of the body that may need their own alterations (bust vs. upper back, for example)... but I think the hip is generally a reasonable place to start.

Stuff update: my sewing supplies were last seen in Brampton, after cooling their heels in Montreal. It'll be several days yet.

A very short roundup on sleeves

One of these days I'd like to do a whole post on the problem of big biceps and small armholes. But until then, a couple of somewhat-related links:

New Vintage Lady on sleeve cap shapes and fit — this is partly about what type of sleeve cap (of the ones most popular in the 30s and 40s, but still relevant to modern sleeves) looks flattering, relating that to armhole diameter/torso shape/shoulder width

Ikatbag's kleenex box demo on (among other things) cap height vs. sleeve width given a fixed armhole size

As far as books, this is definitely not a comprehensive list, but off the top of my head Liechty et al.'s Fitting & Pattern Alteration: A Multi-Method Approach covers torso shape and how it affects armhole diameter in the flat pattern. So do the Müller & Sohn books (the relevant ones seem OOP at time of writing, except the English-translation Metric Patternmaking for Jackets & Coats).

Sleeve bands on Simplicity 1540

I put the sleeve bands on Simplicity 1540. Some construction changes I made:

• I believe the instructions would have you interface the entire band. That would be unnecessarily stiff, IMO. I interfaced a little more than half the width, so that the outer layer, the fold, and a small amount of the inner layer is interfaced.
• The outside of the band is seamed to the sleeve. The inside is held on by the topstitching. I pressed the sleeve/band seam open, folded the band in half to match its raw edge with that of the pressed-up sleeve seam allowance, and temporarily whipstitched the edges together to prevent them from shifting during the topstitching.

I'm glad I narrowed the bands to the smallest size; they would have fit even had they been a couple inches narrower, although I think they're an acceptable coat width at this size. The length is fine, which suggests to me that others might find it short. Given the fabric I used, this is not a warm enough coat that I'd be likely to wear it with gloves. If that were the case, I'd want the sleeves longer. They do bunch up more than I'd really like, though not more than I'd expect of one-piece unlined sleeves.

Now that that's done, I'm considering the fit again. The side seams could probably stand to be taken in in the waist and hip area, possibly all the way down to the hem. I'm also considering adding shoulder pads, though that's iffy since the coat is unlined (I'd have to make them of self-fabric).

I'm no longer so sure that the princess darts need to be extended downward, but I am very sure that the pockets need to be placed lower. My marks were raised by the significant waist-length shortening I did, but as my arms evidently aren't at all short as far as the pattern's concerned, it's unsurprising that those marks are now much too high.

New Look 6082

I started fitting the Simplicity coat (I think it's close; it may mostly need some width taken out at the side seams) but that was bo-ring, so I got sidetracked and started making a tank top (there's a Patternreview contest for that going on). I'm not sure yet if it's something I'll actually finish, but here are my impressions of the pattern.

• I'm probably not using the original neckline and armhole shape, so I rough-cut the top parts of the pattern and only basted those lines in.
• The original waist length and armhole depth are too long for me, but what else is new?
• I shortened the waist length and armhole depth all at once by taking an inch out mid-armhole-level. This also had the effect of raising the front neckline. Now on the form it looks just a bit higher than it does on the model photo. Maybe not an inch higher, though.
• Then I decided the whole thing (darts and all) could still stand to be raised, so I took in the shoulder seams 3/8".
• This is not a fitted top. There are no waist darts. (Be aware that you really can't get much of a waist fit only by messing with the side seams. Take them in too much and you'll get diagonal wrinkles. Besides, the more fitted you make this, the less likely you'll get into it without a closure, assuming you're using the intended wovens.)
• Whether or not I actually finish this one, I probably would make it again.

Changed construction order for fitting Simplicity 1540

 This is for View A. My guess is it'll probably work for the other views, except maybe C, but I haven't verified that.

1. Finish that little horizontal seam across CB completely, including the tab and the topstitching. (This assumes you don't need to do any fitting on that seam. If you do, you'll most likely have to adjust the side backs to match somehow, which may involve at least partial recutting of those pieces.)
2. Get a rough idea of the fit by sewing all the torso pieces together (either baste or not, though boiled wool is slightly annoying to unpick; your call). The goal here is to get the torso to the point where you won't have to make changes to the shoulder seam inward of the princess seams, or to the neckline/CF edges. You can work on the princess seam/side seam fit a bit at this point, but don't do any topstitching of the princess seams.
3. Stitch the inner parts of the shoulder seams permanently, just far enough to give yourself something to attach the collar to. In any case you should stop short of the princess seams. Press those areas open.
4. Make the collar. Attach the collar and the facing. (I'm doing this in a different way than given in the instructions as well, so that I can have two pressed-open seams instead of all four seam allowances being pressed into the facing. More on that later.) The facing doesn't need to be stitched all the way down CF; you can stop short and leave the hem part for later. Press those seams and understitch as you normally would (again, stop short of the hem if you want to leave that part up in the air for now; you can always do the rest later).
5. Check the buttonhole placement; mark and make the buttonholes and sew on the buttons.
6. Make the top parts of the sleeves and set them in temporarily. (Or you can do this after step 7.)
7. Now you can try on the coat with a real closure and a firm, faced/interfaced front. Fiddle with the side seams, princess seams, and princess darts as needed, as well as the tips of the shoulders. Go back and forth between fitting it with and without sleeves, as needed.
8. Once the torso/shoulder fit is established, you can sew those seams permanently, topstitch the princess seams, and put on the pockets (check whether they're placed at the right level first).
9. Make sure the sleeves fit well before setting them in permanently. You can test them with and without the bands. The sleeve/band seam would be a place to change the length if needed. It'll be easier to topstitch with the sleeves off, but doable either way.
10. Finish the hem.

Jacket

I might be done with one of the inventories I have to do before I move, which would mean I could start recombobulating things. I now have a great big heap of clothes that will not be going with me; it might be good to start over a bit.

On the Simplicity 1540 jacket, I've got the body preliminarily sewn together. I think I might be able to get away with taking in the back waist some, although I don't want to overdo it as this is outerwear. The shoulders look a touch wide; I think I remember a Patternreviewer or two mentioning this. I haven't decided what I'll do about that. I'm sure it was pointed out that the sleeves were wide at the wrist, so I cut the sleeve bands in size 6 and tapered the main sleeve piece to match. Aside from all that, the fit in front looks great. My pocket markings are very high, but that's because I shortened a lot above the waist. I might have to move them down.

Back to the jacket

I've decided Neue Mode 22957 is finished, so it's back to the Schnittquelle Malmedy jacket.

The fit seems OK in front now. I might do just a bit of an FBA if I were to cut this pattern again.

I decided to drop the top of the back 1.25" by laying the pattern piece on again, shifted down by that much, blending the difference near the armhole notch (remember this is a raglan sleeve). I decided I needed to do this because I pinned that amount out as a big horizontal tuck. It's made a huge difference. The balance is much better, and the hip area is big enough now that it's in the right place. Of course, this means the back has to be eased onto the sleeves, but in a boiled wool like what I'm using, it's hardly even noticeable.

After doing this, my original alterations to the back waist darts were all wrong; I pretty much took them out and I'll check for the last remaining bits tomorrow. They may still need some more adjustment after that. The back armholes are still not quite right, just at the underarm; they may need to be raised, but all I can really do at this point is let out those seams a little.

Finally, I'm working on establishing a roll line. I might tack on a fusible tape for this (normally I'd use twill tape, but I'd want a dark color on this fabric, and I'm all out of black) at least for the upper parts; I might have to leave it off down toward the waist, where it could show. So far, it seems like the collar has to be rearranged carefully every time I put on the jacket; taping a roll line would help make it more permanent, I hope. I marked one with pins on the form and now I've got it chalked on the underside.

The blouse is essentially done.

However, I've also made a huge mess going through various junk supplies in the past couple days, so I'm not going to photograph anything until I go back to having a nice big junk-free area.

I donated two coats and two shirts today, and over the past few days I picked out around 180 patterns to get rid of. I don't even want to talk about what a small proportion of my stash that is.

Be that as it may, here's what I think I've learned from the Neue Mode blouse:

• With a non-dropped shoulder, I probably need a traditional FBA to get enough space across the upper chest. This may have more to do with posture than measurements per se.
• I need some real back shoulder blade shaping, probably more of it than can be had from easing alone, unless the fabric is a shrinkable wool or the like.
• I do indeed have square shoulders.

I have some other nebulous potential conclusions, but I won't go into them until I have some confirmation.

Back to the blouse

On the Neue Mode blouse, I decided to let out the tips of the shoulder seams, straighten the front waist darts, and lengthen the front underarm darts. I think the resulting fit might be acceptable if not perfect. If I were recutting this, I might put in more shaping for the shoulder blade, do a real (if slight) FBA, possibly fill in the front armhole a little, and square the shoulders more.

The thing I find annoying about the way I generally do an FBA is that it makes the underarm dart angle further downward, when on almost any pattern it's already starting off too low in the first place. I don't know of a length- and width-adding, dart-intake-increasing method that doesn't do this; I'd love to know of one that did the opposite, if such a thing can exist.

I also took a separating zipper off a muslin I'd made, so I could throw out the muslin and keep the zipper. On second thought, maybe that was a waste of time. I might throw out the zipper too, as it seems to be extraordinarily temperamental about having everything lined up just right for it to start.

Still more fitting, and knitting

OK, I've sewn the shawl collar onto the neck of my Schnittquelle Malmedy, and also rethought the back alteration. I'm still flailing about changing too many things at once, probably, but here's how it is at the moment:

• I took the side seams back to normal from the waist up (so no inch of width taken out anymore).
• I ripped the back raglan seams and adjusted them so that the sleeve is eased slightly onto the back below the notch (with the back pushed down a little so it's sewn closer to the cut edge, which, since it's concave, is shorter), and the back onto the sleeve above. The reason for this is that I think the overall back waist length was actually about right; it's just the armhole that's possibly too long. (Maybe I need my back armholes even shorter than I thought? I think I may have had the same problem in my fitting shell muslin; I should have another look. As I recall, Müller & Sohn have you dart a certain amount out of the back armhole, but there probably was a range, and maybe I should've taken out more.) With the fullness in the very upper back steam-shrunk out, it looks pretty good so far; I might just need to fiddle with the lower part of the armhole a little more.
• I let out a lot of the front waist dart intake, since that's really not where I have a waist anyway. I'm committed to that dart placement and length now, since I've gone ahead and sliced them open.
• I lengthened the tops of the back waist darts, although this might not have been necessary; they might just need an overall reshaping.

What was very helpful in all of this was the chart in Jan Minott's book on fitting commercial patterns. I should have looked at it sooner. It shows a whole lot of balance and other issues that don't seem to come up in many other books.

Meanwhile, on the Neue Mode shirt, I've ripped the outsides of the shoulder seams, but that's about as far as I've got.

Finally, I started swatching the lace pattern on the sleeves of this sweater. So far it seems like it might be straightforward enough to actually look like something in the yarn I'm trying to use.

More jacket fitting

Today I ripped out the side seams on the boiled wool jacket so that I could take in a whole inch at the top of the back side seam, let out 3/8" at the hem up through the waist, and blend in between. This isn't a perfect alteration, but it might be the best that can be done without recutting. I may mess with the darts, front and back, as well.

I think the problem is mainly that I didn't trust my own measurements enough and alter the upper back to be quite a bit shorter and narrower with respect to the front, and, shall we say, the lower back quite a bit wider. Short of having back armhole princess seams, I suspect the best flat-pattern alteration might be to cut a short diagonal downward from the "corner" of the back armhole, cut a straight line up from the hem to meet it leaving a hinge point, and pivot width in at the hem and out at the armhole. I'd like to try it sometime.

There's still some iffiness going on around the armholes, I mean the raglan seams, but I'll have to rip those anyway to distribute the extra sleeve width, so we'll see then. The jacket seems much more comfortable with the changes I've made so far.

As for the blouse, I've taken the sleeves back off but haven't done anything else.

Boiled wool jacket progress

I've sewn most of the seams on the boiled wool jacket. Here's my sewing order so far:

• Sew all darts. Do not press or clip yet.
• Sew CB seam of shawl collar.
• Sew side seams and sleeve underarm seams.
• Sew raglan seams.
• Try on. Decide something is not quite right, but above all the sleeves are not as loose as they should be for a jacket.
• Rip raglan seams between notches.
• Sew new sleeve underarm seams, letting them out halfway.
• Rip old sleeve underarm seams, for which I'd forgotten to switch the stitch length back from the tiny length used for reinforcing the corners of the shawl collar. So of course those are the seams I have to rip....
• Try on again. Something still isn't quite right with the upper back and the upper chest, but this might be fixable at the side and/or raglan seams.

I'll fuss with it more tomorrow. I also tried the Neue Mode blouse on again and decided it isn't so bad, but I may still want to fiddle with the darts and the armscyes, if I can stand it. I really don't like the doing the whole fit-as-you sew process on myself.

Apart from all that, I donated 5 clothing items today, and I'm going through and ditching lots of sewing patterns as well.

OK, I made a decision

I've cut out a new tracing of Schnittquelle Malmedy, with the following alterations:

• keep the total length, including keeping the button placement, cut of the collar, and CF the same
• shorten above the armhole 1.5" (this affects the front and back raglan seams) — this sounds drastic, but the armhole depth seems rather long on this pattern, and mine is rather short
• shorten the top of the sleeve the same amount to match:
• first cut a V-shaped slash from one raglan seam, down to the center grainline at 45 degrees, then square back up to the other raglan seam;
• then overlap the slashed area 1.5", keeping the grainline straight (sounds complicated, but it avoids shortening the shoulder dart). [BTW, I'd considered taking out wedges ending at the tip of the shoulder dart instead, thus keeping the length over the top of the arm the same, but I thought that that length actually should be decreased if anything, since I would ordinarily shorten a set-in sleeve cap, and since the sleeve looked more than long enough overall. Plus, I thought it'd result in a problematic dart shape. It might've been OK if only some of the length was taken out that way, though.]
• shorten total waist length 1"; since the armhole had been raised this actually meant adding 1/2" to the length above the waist
• likewise, those length alterations taken together also meant a relative addition of 1" length below the waist
• when blending the side seams below the waist, I erred on the side of adding more hip room

I may still add some extra width at the side and underarm seams when cutting. Width-wise (except for the sleeves), this is still a 38, and I should wear a "39", more or less.

Possible new project

I've taken out Schnittquelle Malmedy to consider sewing in a solid, dark violet-ish boiled wool. I have a lot of "special" boiled wools with fringed or otherwise bordered edges, single-sided patterns, etc. This seemed like a good pattern to use on a "plain" fabric; the curved cut edges won't work with borders, and the wrong side will show on the collar (it would also be great for a double-sided fabric, but all of mine happen to have nice borders and I want to save them for patterns that can use them easily.)

The overall size of the pattern seems about right. I traced off the sleeves, incorporating a bicep alteration in the process; I'm now working on a tracing of the front. I'm currently preoccupied with various length issues. I prefer (require?) a very shallow armhole depth. So I've taken quite a lot of length from the armhole and added some back above the waist, but I might have to rethink how to juggle all this and have the roll line and the closure end up where I want them. Plus, I also need to think about whether I really should take out quite as much armhole depth as I'd like. Realistically speaking, this should be able to fit over RTW, which generally has deeper armholes than I like.

I've set aside the blouse for now, but I do plan on finishing that, one way or another, by the end of the month.

More on the blouse

I got the buttonholes and buttons done, and tacked down the facings on the inside. The fit in back is still not quite right, but I've neither moved the darts up nor done the clipping that will eventually have to happen. The fit in front is... well, it depends on what's under it, and what's under it today is evidently not at all suitable.

That aside, I'm underwhelmed by the whole thing. With the small print, all the gray, and the collar, it ends up looking very austere. I'm having my doubts that this was the best thing to do with this fabric, although I can't think of anything better at the moment.

In any case, I could have something completely finished and wearable, if not perfectly fitted, in very short order: strictly speaking, it just needs the hems, armhole seam finish, dart clipping, and a few thread ends dealt with. So that is an option if the rest of the fitting seems unbearable. What I might do, though, is let it sit and move on to something else, at least for the next couple of days.

Blouse fitting

I've got all the pieces of Neue Mode 22957 together now. Thoughts:

• I don't have the buttons and buttonholes on yet. I think I will need to add them before I can really be sure about most of the issues below. In turn, that means I have to decide on the hem length, at least in front... ugh.
• I'm glad I sized down in the shoulders. It may still be too wide across the back. This is partly my fault for forgetting to plug the alterations I'd made to my LWD (second test of my fitting shell) back into my cross back measurement. I might be able to cut the back armholes inward, but I also don't want to overdo it and end up with too little reach room.
• There are definitely other back fit issues as well. I suspect they amount to too-little hip ease masquerading as swayback. Moving the back dart shaping upward seemed to help (it used to go all the way to the hem and I've now stopped it 2" above my cut edge), so I'm going to try moving it up further.
• The shoulder line might be a bit too sloped, or it could be that I don't have the fronts lined up quite right and they are tipping apart. See first point about closures.
• I had been worried about the front dart shaping, but it seems like it might be OK.
• The gathering really is concentrated in the top of the sleeve cap, as the illustration indicates. Fine with me.

Fitting shell vs. muslin vs. Neue Mode

I made one sleeve and put it on my muslin (which is not made of muslin at all — since I have a muslin shortage — but rather a weird fused fabric). It fit into the armhole quite well considering how unsuitable the fabric was, but I decided that I could stand to narrow the shoulder line by about 8mm and the upper chest about 2.2cm. So this might need to feed back into a future draft as a wider armhole diameter and narrower front width. As for the shoulder seam length, I'm not sure off the top of my head if Müller & Sohn have you use a shoulder line width measurement, or if they come up with it automatically from the back width (which is given more ease in their blouse draft example than in the base pattern).

Having considered all that, I had another look at Neue Mode 22957, which is what I'm now thinking of making next. Since it has puffed sleeve caps, I want a very neat fit in the shoulder width, so as not to build out the shoulder line even more. I decided to cut a 34 in the upper torso, blending into 38 under the arm. The 34 is somewhat shocking to me, but it seems to produce the right armhole depth and shoulder width, and combined with the 38 further down, makes it easy to get the sleeves wide enough (of course, the gathers help too). So apparently my torso might be quite cylindrical. Explains several things.

There are a couple of other alterations I've done, and I'm a little concerned about the shape of the back armhole in the Neue Mode (too much of a J rather than an L?) vs. my blouse draft, but I'm probably going to go ahead and cut in fabric soon. The combination of sizes also had the advantage that the 34's buttonholes are the only ones marked, and end up spaced just about right in spite of the reshaping.