Alterations to Bodice Pattern for Larger Bust

Hi Dreher62,

Welcome to eSewingWorkshop.

The best thing to do is to watch the bodice block pattern video lesson so that you can draft your own customized block pattern which will fit you just right. Then you can style it and add your seam allowances.

However if you want to make alterations to your existing pattern to make it fit you, the first thing you need to do is to draw the seam lines on your pattern for each seam where you will need to do any alterations, if the seam lines are not already there. Do this according to the pattern instructions. In this case you will need to have the shoulder seam lines, armhole seam lines and side seam lines on the front and back patterns.

Now you need to measure your bust circumference, waist circumference, lower and upper hip circumferences and then measure those same areas on your pattern to see how much you need to add.

The amount you will need to add to the back and front sides of your patterns, will be a quarter of the difference for each area mentioned above.

Next, you need to do a test using muslin, to see how it fits. If you see that you have excess fabric on the side seams hanging below the armholes and/or at the armholes you need to add bust darts to your pattern or increase the intake of your existing bust darts.

To calculate the intake amount needed for the bust darts, fold the excess fabric at the armholes and below the armholes in half, and then pin to create darts ending towards the bust point but not on it. Measure the intakes of these darts, add them together to get the intake for your new bust dart, or the amount you need to add to the existing bust dart.

Once you have drawn the new bust dart on the pattern: 17. Drawing the Side Dart, close and tape the bust dart to keep it in place. Because of the dart, the front side seam line will be shorter when you measure from the waist mark to the armhole, compared to the side seam line on the back pattern. To fix this draw a new side seam form the waist mark to the armhole on the front pattern and extend the line further up.

Now you need to measure the front and back side seam lines, (not the edge of the seam allowance) from the waist marks to the armholes. Add the two numbers and divide by 2. This will be the new side seam line for the front and back patterns.

Measure from the waist mark on the front and back patterns, along the side seam lines and mark. You will notice that the front side seam has gone up and the back side seam has gone down. Now you will need to redraw the bottom half of the armholes from the new mark on the side seam lines, both on the front and back patterns.

Next you need to center the shoulder seam lines as well for the front and back patterns. You can find the video instructions on our site here: 19. Centering the Shoulder Slopes and Aligning the Armholes

After doing all the alterations on your pattern, make sure to adjust the seam allowances as well.

I hope this helps you, happy sewing,

Nehzat