A Complete Course in Dressmaking/Lesson 4/Fitting
FITTING
When a person's shoulders are sloping, wrinkles are apt to appear diagonally from the neck to the underarm of the garment that is cut from a standard size pattern. It is a good plan to baste the shoulder and underarm seams and try on the garment before stitching.
To fit a sloping shoulder, take up the shoulder seams to conform to the slope of the shoulders. This means that the garment will be taken up deepest at the armhole and probably only the seam allowance at the neck.
Of course this makes the armhole smaller. Slash the material under the arm until the garment is comfortable, being careful not to slash too deeply. The armhole is enlarged by the seam taken in sewing in the sleeve.
When a person's shoulders are unusually square, the wrinkles come crosswise below the neck, front and back of a garment cut from a standard size pattern. In this case, too, take up the shoulder seams, but take them up deepest at the neck. If the neck of the garment is too small, slash it with the points of the shears.
When a woman's chest is unusually broad in proportion to the width of her back, it is a good plan to buy two sizes of the pattern, using one for the back and one for the front. The same plan can be carried out when a person is narrow chested and wide across the back.
Copying Any Style: You have the foundation principles now that will enable you to copy any blouse style. When you see a style you want to copy, first decide the class to which it belongs. Study the diagram in the book that is nearest to the style and decide what changes you will have to make.
The diagrams in the lesson are not just to read about and look at. Copy each diagram three or four times. See if you can work each one out without looking at the book.
Go beyond the styles shown in this lesson. Hunt up pictures of a dozen or so collars of different design and copy each of them. Do the same with front closings and sleeves.
It's practice you know that makes perfect.