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| The Met, 1774-93 – Evidence of a gown let out to accommodate wide shoulders. |
As you all know, in our sewing journeys, no matter the years that have passed, things change. Our skills increase, our tastes alter, our knowledge grows, and our bodies change.
My body recently underwent one of these changes, and rather quickly too. It’s like my 30th birthday came, and the body gods laughed and sent me an extra two inches for my waist. THANKS!
This means that just about all of my costumes no longer fit, so when I pulled out the gowns I planned to take to Colonial Williamsburg in March, it’s a good thing I tried them on, because all of them needed changes.
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| Photo is by Dogfish Briggins, pirate extraordinaire. You can see that the shoulders are very wide, and that the bodice has stress wrinkles where I coerced it to close. The neckline is also quite high and gapped over the top of my stays unattractively. |
One dress, the red Revolution Dress from way back, needed quite a bit of work. After wearing it to an event the other night (above), and seeing a photo of myself practically popping out of it, I decided to re-work the shoulders in addition to cutting the neckline down quite a bit. Some of these flaws were leftovers from when I first made the dress, and didn’t understand well-fitted shoulders, or that necklines should be lower, so it’s not all to do with my body getting bigger.
On the left side here is the new neckline and the shoulder strap set more onto the shoulder (not so visible in the photo, but quite a significant change). The right side is the “before.” I often cut my necklines lower than the top of my corsets/stays now, and will fill the area with a ruffle or neckerchief. I find this more flattering on my form.
I also moved the buttons closer to the CF a little, to allow more room without opening seams. Similar changes were made on the Parisian gown – I let the side seams out a smidge, moved the hooks/bars, and lowered the neckline.
This is a good lesson to myself in leaving adjustability in a gown – let those seam allowance stay unclipped! – just in case things needs to be changed a bit in the future. 🙂
3 Comments
M'lady
February 21, 2014 at 12:05 PMSo if something is flatlined that would give more options (leaving seam allowance) for adjustability?
Lauren Stowell
February 21, 2014 at 9:36 PMHi Lady D – Yes, definitely. I find it much easier to re-work things when I've flatlined the bodice.
fixitfaerie
February 24, 2014 at 11:26 PMI love the color of red on this dress. And the hat, the outfit is just beautiful. (I see what you mean about refitting, I hate to do it, but it always looks better.