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Broad or Narrow Shoulder Adjustment - The Willa Wrap Coat Sew Along

Saturday, January 30, 2021


Today's post is the final pattern adjustment for the Willa Wrap Coat that we'll be doing before we finally start sewing next week!



How much to adjust by...


Where your arm and shoulder are connected (to find this, lift your arm up and down, you'll feel where the movement is happening) is where you want the top of the sleeve cap/end of the shoulder line to be sitting. If the shoulder is sitting too far down into the sleeve, you'll want to perform a Narrow Shoulder Adjustment to bring that back up. If the sleeve is pulling up, into your shoulder, you'll want to perform a Broad Shoulder Adjustment, to bring the sleeve back down.


Making a toile and measuring where the end shoulder line sits on you will give you a good idea whether you need to adjust this at all, OR by how much.  Before you do anything though, make sure you check out the Additional Finished Garment Measurements included with your Willa Wrap Coat. Compare Measurement G - across the back shoulders - to a coat you have that you already like the fit of (or that you know you want to adjust) and go from there. This will give you a good idea whether you'll want to make any adjustments here before you even make your toile. 



You'll Need:


  • Your front and back Willa Wrap Coat pieces (both the outer and lining pieces)
  • Ruler
  • Tape, scissors and spare paper



Steps: 


1. Draw in seam allowances along the shoulder line and the upper portion of your armscye, noted as the red dotted line below. 

Mark approximately the centre of the seam allowance along the shoulder line (make sure it's the seam allowance, not the outer edge of the shoulder you're marking!), noted by the solid red line below.




2. Draw in 2 lines. Line A runs from approximately the centre of the armscye to the solid red line marked above, and Line B runs from the top corner down to Line A.




3. Cut along Line A from the top shoulder down, leaving a pivot point at the seam allowance circled below (trim into the seam allowance toward the pivot point to open this up).




4. Cut along Line B, from Line A, leaving a pivot point at the corner, circled below (trim into the seam allowance toward the pivot point to open this up).





Narrow Shoulder Adjustment


1. To perform a Narrow Shoulder Adjustment, move Line A in toward the centre of the coat, overlapping with the main pattern piece. You want to shorten the shoulder line by the amount you deemed necessary at the start of this tutorial - this is indicated by the red line below.



2. Open up Line B and swing the top of the pattern piece up, in line with the remaining shoulder line on your main pattern piece. Tape in place. True up any outer edges and tape some spare paper underneath to fill in any gaps.



3. Repeat this adjustment for the back shoulder as well as all lining pieces.




Broad Shoulder Adjustment



1. To perform a Broad Shoulder Adjustment, move Line A out toward the side of the coat. You want to lengthen the shoulder line by the amount you deemed necessary at the start of this tutorial - this is indicated by the red line below. ,You will need to pop some spare paper underneath to fill in the gap.



2. Bring the top of the shoulder line down and overlap Line B to match up with the shoulder line on your main pattern piece. Tape in place.



3. True up any edges and repeat this adjustment for the back shoulder as well as all lining pieces.



See you for some sewing next week! You can purchase your Willa Wrap Coat Sewing Pattern here.


xx

J

Forward or Backward Shoulder Adjustment - The Willa Wrap Coat Sew Along

Friday, January 29, 2021


Performing a forward or backward shoulder adjustment on Willa may seem like it's going to be hard because of the grown-on collar, but it's actually as just straightforward as for any pattern in my opinion. The key is making sure you keep track of the neckline dots on the pattern - but first, let's figure out how much of an adjustment you need...



How much to adjust by...


Hello toile! Have I hammered in how important making a toile is? This is your key piece of kit when trying to figure out if you need this (or any!) adjustments. Pop it on and standing straight, have a look at the shoulder seam. It should be sitting straight out from your neck, along your shoulder line, to the top of the sleeve head. If it is sitting to either side of the top of your shoulder line (either towards the back or towards the front), you will want to perform a forward or backward shoulder adjustment. 


Along the end of the shoulder seam (around the top of the armscye) measure how much your seam is sitting off the top and use that measurement to see how much of an adjustment you'll need.


A Forward shoulder adjustment will be a more common adjustment to make as our 21st century lifestyle's have us hunched over computers/car steering wheels/phones etc more often than not, making our shoulders sit forward rather than straight. 


Note: this tutorial shows a Forward Shoulder Adjustment, for a Backward Shoulder Adjustment, do the opposite. 



You'll need:


  • Your front and back Willa Wrap Coat pieces (both the outer and lining pieces)
  • Ruler
  • Tape, scissors and spare paper


Steps:


1. The first thing I recommend you do before doing any shoulder adjustments is to draw in your seam allowances. You don't need to do them around the whole pattern piece as they are here, just around the shoulder/back neckline is fine.



2. Depending on the adjustment you're doing, you'll either be moving your shoulder seam forward (for a Forward Adjustment) or backward (for a Backward Adjustment). 

Below, I'm showing you the newly drawn seams for a forward shoulder adjustment - starting at the inner marked shoulder notch and wedging out. You are removing the wedge from the front shoulder and adding it to the back. Do the opposite for a Backward Shoulder Adjustment.


3. Before you cut into your pattern to make your adjustments, I suggest removing the seam allowances along both the front and back shoulder seams and the back neckline on the front coat pattern piece as the shapes of these will change depending on how dramatic your adjustment is.



4. Remove the wedge from the front coat shoulder, and add it to the back shoulder.



5. Your back shoulder will now need to be trued up. Once this is done, you can add your seam allowances back in on both the front and back shoulders (and the front 'back' neckline).


6. Don't forget to do the same adjustment on your lining pieces! The back lining/facing is in pink below and the front lining/facing is in gold.


7. Tape your lining pattern pieces together, matching up shoulder seams and repeat the steps above.


7. The last thing to consider is whether you need to adjust your sleeve cap. If you've only made a small adjustment (approx 1cm at the shoulder line max) then you can probably leave the sleeve as is. If you've made a larger adjustment, I'd recommend moving the sleeve cap over so that it sits as comfortably into the armscye as possible, giving you maximum movement.


Cut a straight line along your sleeve cap (I do this above the notches).




8. Move the cap over by the same amount you adjusted your shoulder line by - move the cap to the left (as below) for a forward shoulder adjustment, or to the right for a backward shoulder adjustment.
 
9. True up your sleeve cap seams.



You can purchase your Willa Wrap Coat Pattern here.


xx

J

Small & Full Bust Adjustment on a Dior Dart - The Willa Wrap Coat Sew Along

Thursday, January 28, 2021


It's bust adjustment day here at the Willa Coat Sew Along


But before we talk about how we do a small and full bust adjustment on the Willa Wrap Coat, let's talk about what a Dior Dart is...


What is a Dior Dart? AKA a Darted Princess Seam




Willa doesn't have a true princess seam - true princess seams run down over the top of the apex of the bust, or at least, very close to it. Willa's 'princess seam' runs more toward the side of the bust, with a dart sharing the shaping at the side of the centre front panel. This dart is called a Dior Dart.


This type of shaping is great for thick fabrics, as it shares the shaping load across the dart and the side panel seam, meaning any potential bulk is shared out over a few places, rather than just one.


I chose to call the way Willa was shaped as a 'darted princess seam' because everyone knows what a dart is, and everyone knows what a princess seam is. Where as 'Dior Dart' isn't a very common place name. Apparently this type of dart shaping originated with Christian Dior and it sounds like a great story to me, so, let's stick with it.


Performing a bust adjustment on a Dior Dart is pretty much the same as performing a normal one. And while you could rotate the dart to the shoulder, stick the whole pattern back together, do the bust adjustment, and then put the Dior dart and princess seam back again - and this would be the most accurate way to do it - that is not only time-consuming, but very fiddly. And any changes this makes to the side panel is extremely minimal.


Also, because you'll be doing a bust adjustment on a pattern that already has bust cups included, the adjustments you'll be doing are hopefully going to be small enough, that any changes to the side front panel will be essentially non-existant, especially in a style like Willa. So, I opt to just perform the bust adjustment on the centre front coat, and add/remove the necessary bust fabric at the Dior dart, ignoring any adjustment of the side front panel. 


Which brings me too...



Do You Need a Bust Adjustment?



Remember, Willa does come with multiple bust cups, A to F! So, before you dive in, take a few minutes to see if you really need one.


Keep in mind that I have integrated 2 cups per front bodice though, as Willa is a relaxed wrap style around the front, meaning it's much easier to fit than a regular tailored coat. 


There are 2 cup fronts per pattern set - A+B and C+D in the Original sizings and C+D and E+F in the Curve sizings. This does mean that if you fall into the smaller cup, there may be a touch more fullness at the bust, but again, this is really not noticeable due to the way the coat fits.




Measuring for a Bust Adjustment


If you sit to either side of my size guides in the available cups, you may decide that you need to perform a bust adjustment. Because I already provide you with several cup size options, start with the pattern pieces that sit the closest to your current measurements. This way, you won't need to do a massive adjustment like you may have needed too if the current cups weren't provided.


To work out what cup size you are, take the difference between your Full Bust circumference Measurement and your High Bust circumference measurement. Compare this difference to the cup measurement tables here.



  • Measuring for a Small Bust Adjustment AKA SBA


If you need to perform an SBA, I'm assuming here that your bust is smaller than an A cup in the Original sizes - the difference in the High Bust and Full Bust for an A cup is 1cm(3/8")  in my patterns OR you're smaller than a C cup in the Curve sizes - the difference in the High Bust and Full Bust for a C cup is 5cm (2").


Original Sizes example: If both your full and high bust measure 84cm (33 1/8"), you have a difference of 0cm/". If you start with the size 10 A+B cup pattern pieces, you can opt to perform a 1cm (3/8") to 3cm (1 1/4") SBA.


Curve Sizes example: If your full bust measures 102cm (40 1/8") and your High bust measures 99cm (39") you have a difference of 3cm (1 1/4") which puts you at a B cup. Using the size 16 C+D cup bodice, you can perform a 2cm (3/4") SBA, since the C cup has a difference of 5cm (2"), you only need to remove 2cm (3/4") to get to the 3cm (1 1/4") B cup difference.



  • Measuring for a Full Bust Adjustment AKA FBA


If you need to perform an FBA, I'm assuming here that your bust is larger than an D cup in the Original sizes - the difference in the High Bust and Full Bust for an D cup is 7.5cm (3")  in my patterns OR you're larger than a F cup in the Curve sizes - the difference in the High Bust and Full Bust for a F cup is 12.5cm (4 7/8").


Original Sizes example: If your full bust measures 104cm (41") and high bust measures 94cm (37"), you have a difference of 10cm (4") - which is an E cup in my patterns. If you start with the size 14 C+D cup pattern pieces, you can  perform a 2.5cm (1") FBA.


Curve Sizes example: If your full bust measures 139cm (54 3/4") and your High bust measures 124cm (48 7/8") you have a difference of 15cm (5 7/8") which would put you at approximately a G cup in my patterns. Using the size 26 E+F cup bodice, you can perform a 2.5cm (1") FBA.



You'll Need:

  • Your Willa Coat Front Coat Piece (A) and lining pieces for the initial adjustment (you will need to adjust the length on the rest of the coat bodice pieces though) 

  • Measuring tape & scissors

  • Ruler/pen/sticky tape



Steps:


1. Take your Front Coat pattern piece (A) and draw in the seam allowance for the armscye (you can draw in the full seam allowance OR just a little piece approximately at the centre). Do the same for the Front Lining piece (G). 



2. Draw in 3 lines. Line A runs straight up from the bottom hem of the coat to the tip of the dart. Line B runs from the tip of the dart to approximately the centre of the armscye and Line C runs from the centre of the dart to the tip. 

Note: From here on out, I will only show the adjustment being done on the Front Coat piece (A), BUT you will need to perform the exact same adjustment on the Front Lining piece (G).




3. Cut up line A pivoting into Line B, and stopping at the seam allowance line marked in step 1. From the outside, snip into the seam allowance up to line B, leaving a pivot point.


4. From the outside in, cut along Line C, leaving a pivot point at the tip of the dart. You are now ready to perform either a Small Bust Adjustment (SBA) or a Full Bust Adjustment (FBA).




Small Bust Adjustment (SBA)



1. Using the SBA measurement you got earlier (lets use 1cm for this example), draw a line 1cm to the right of what was Line A on the centre front side of your pattern piece - dashed line in red below. The arrow is indicating the 1cm gap.


2. Swing the left portions of the pattern into the centre of the pattern piece, lining up the tip of the dart with the red dashed line.


3. Swing the bottom left portion of the pattern back up, so that it lines up straight with the dashed line. Tape in place.



4. Depending on how big your SBA was, you may find that your dart either now no longer exists OR is very tiny. This is common if you have a cup size smaller than an A cup, and is just part of adapting clothes to fit your body.

If your dart is very tiny, it may be better to ease that small amount of fullness into the side front panel when it's attached. And if your dart no longer exists, there is still a small amount of shaping in the princess seam. If you really want to Dior Dart, you can play around with adding in a faux seam to get the same finished look.


5. True up the length of the centre front panel by drawing a line at the bottom hem. Cut along this line and bring up the bottom so it is in-line with the side. Tape in place.



You will need to adjust the bottom hem length of all the remaining 'bodice' coat pieces, including the linings/facings.


You also need to will then need to taper out at the waist/hip by the same amount you performed your bust adjustment, to correct the original waist/hip measurements. Depending on how big your bust adjustment was, you can disperse this across the 'princess' seam and the side seam if you want too. 


Adjust pocket placements back to their original markings (unless you're moving them for personal preference).



Full Bust Adjustment (FBA)



1. Place some scrap paper underneath your pattern piece. Then, using the FBA measurement you got earlier (lets use 2.5cm for this example), draw a line on your scrap paper, 2.5cm away from the left of what was Line A on the centre front side of your pattern piece - dashed line below. The arrow is indicating the 2.5cm gap.

Swing the left portions of the pattern out to the left of the pattern piece, lining up the tip of the dart with the dashed line.


2. Swing the bottom left portion of the pattern down, so that it lines up straight with the dashed line. Tape in place.


3. True up the length of the centre front panel by drawing a line at the bottom hem. Cut along this line and bring the bottom down so it is in-line with the side. Tape in place.


4. Re-draw in outer dart end and bottom hem/front corner.

You will need to adjust the bottom hem length of all the remaining 'bodice' coat pieces, including the linings/facings.


You also need to will then need to taper in at the waist/hip by the same amount you performed your bust adjustment, to correct the original waist/hip measurements. Depending on how big your bust adjustment was, you can disperse this across the 'princess' seam and the side seam if you want too. 


Adjust pocket placements back to their original markings (unless you're moving them for personal preference).


Remember to perform the bust adjustment on your Front Lining piece (G) as well!! 


You can purchase your Willa Wrap Coat pattern here.


xx

J

Length Adjustments (including above the Bust) - The Willa Wrap Coat Sew Along

Wednesday, January 27, 2021


Lengthening and shortening is a pretty basic pattern adjustment you can use for any pattern. The steps are the same for adjusting the length of sleeves, pants, skirts and bodices. One of my testers for Willa noted wanted to know how to adjust the length above the bust in her feedback, which is why I decided to show you this adjustment on that particular part of the pattern. Though like I said above, the same concept is true for where ever you need length. 



How much should I adjust by? Above the Bust Adjustment


This is where your toile will come in handy. You shouldn't need (and I don't recommend!) dramatic adjusting of this area. You only have a small amount of room to move here (as you don't want to mess with the armscye) but if you need more than 1cm (3/8") of adjustment here, I would recommend going back and reassessing your size choice first.

If you're getting wrinkling above the bust, pinch this out and measure it. This is the amount you will need to remove. 

If it's feeling too tight above the bust (make sure you aren't mistaking this for a too-tight high bust circumference, as it's the length we are adjusting here), measuring from your underarm (high bust) to where your full bust sits and comparing this to your pattern piece will give you the best idea as to how much length you might need.

Only perform this adjustment between the high bust and full bust to prevent any distortion of the armscye. Otherwise your sleeve will not fit into your coat!


How much should I adjust by? Sleeve Length


As I've said throughout this Sew Along, this is where a coat you already have comes in handy! Measure the sleeve and compare it to the Finished Sleeve Measurement for Willa (included in your instructions). OR, measure the outside of your arm (along the elbow) with a gentle bend in it and compare from there.


How much should I adjust by? Coat Length


Don't you think Willa would look amazing as a dramatic, long trench-style coat? Or maybe you want it shorter and sportier? The choice is yours. As it stands, Willa is designed to sit just below your bum to keep it nice and warm on those chilly days...


You will need:

  • Willa Coat pieces that need adjusting (make sure you get both the lining and outer versions of which ever pattern you're adjusting).

  • Measuring tape

  • Tape, scissors and spare paper if making anything longer



Steps:


Note: I am showing you how to adjust the length of your pattern using the 'Above the Bust' pieces. The Sleeve and lower portion of the coat already include Lengthen/Shorten lines, so you can skip the first two steps below.


1. For adjusting length above the bust, you will need pattern pieces A, B, C, D, F, G, H & I. The steps are the same for each pattern piece, but you will need to do this adjustment to all of them for consistency.

2. Draw Lengthen/shorten lines across your pattern pieces, at a 90degree angle to your grainline. To make sure you don't mess up the armscye, it's important that you draw your lengthen/shorten lines between the high bust and just above the full bust (the dart, in this case).


3. To lengthen, grab some scrap paper and draw a horizontal line on it. Match one of your pattern pieces to this line and tape in place.



4. Measure out the amount of length you're wanting to add onto your scrap paper (where the arrow is indicating below) and draw a second line matching this measurement.


5. Place the bottom section of your pattern on top of your scrap paper, lining up grainlines. Tape in place.

6. True up your outer pattern edges and remove excess paper from behind.






To shorten your pattern piece, do the same as the above except overlap your pattern pieces by the desired amount.


You can purchase your Willa Wrap Coat pattern here!


xx

J

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