Butterick 5880

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

I need to shorten this dress. As the dress comes in the pattern it reaches my ankles. The dress needs to be 6 inches shorter. What would the best way to shorten the overlay for this dress be? I Do know that I need to start at the side seam. Where should I have the new length of the dress merge with the current pattern? I hope this makes since.

Thanks
Alina.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

oh no! Since you have to hem it up by so much, I would put a chalk mark on where you need to hem so you have a visual on how much you need to do the overlay. The problem, of course, is that the overlay is not hemmed but rather has a seam at the bottom. To have the same look, you would have to remove seams, take the overlay out and put in a new seam that would make it shorter. I realize that this would be a pain in the neck and you could instead do a normal hem at the bottom of the overlay by just turning it under but you would still have to open the side seam that it’s stitch to and do a hem all along the whole length of the overlay for it to look uniform. After you fix the overlay you can then restitch the side seam and do the rest of the hem underneath. It will definitely be quite an undertaking but I hope you finish it so you can have a cute dress to wear.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Thank you so much for your response. I was unclear. I am altering the paper pattern, no fabric has been sacrificed just yet. 🙂 I was hoping to shorten the overlay, and the rest of the dress, before cutting it out. Starting at 6 inches up on the side seam, then I have to redraw the curve of the overlay but I am not sure where I should make it blend back to the paper pattern’s original line. Does that make since? I am pretty sure that shortening the entire curve by 6 inches (the seam allowance you mentioned at the bottom overlay) would distort the overlay.

Also, If you’d like to tackle another paper pattern alteration problem i have one more. I have started my Full bust alteration on the bodice. And those side darts are in odd places. Once I draw my FBA lines, the line from the apex to the side seam cuts across the darts severely distorting them and also is at a vastly different angle. After I have finished the FBA I cannot for the life of me figure out where to re-draw the two darts, making them bigger including the new side darts intake made from the FBA. I hope that made since too.

Thank you again,
Alina

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

you don’t know how relieved I am to hear that you haven’t started the process yet and don’t have to rip out a million stitches. Ok, shortening the skirt portion is simple just fold up the amount you want shortened. The overlay is the trickiest part, as you and I both know. The pattern itself suggest to short from the bottom of the overlay. What I would do is mark up the amount you want shortened on the side that has the multisize lines. This is the side that’s going to match the hem of the main skirt so I think it’s the most important to mark where it needs to come up. Then from this point I would hand draw a new curve to blend into the curve on the other side. I know it’s not technical but sewing isn’t always technical and sometimes you just have to make your own art. But do it in pencil so you can redraw until it looks like a smooth curve to you. I would make a copy of your new overlay pattern instead of just chopping it off but if you do chop off the bottom, keep it so you can always tape it on again, if you need to.
Now for the fba. First, make sure you take a look at the finished bustline measurements printed on the front bodice piece. It’s meant to fit a little looser. Doing an fba on this pattern is a little tricky because it’s not a traditional looking bodice like the one I use in my example. The reason is because those short sleeves are built into the bodice so the side you’re looking at has no visible armhole curve which is where you normally pivot from. What you can do is if you own a normal looking bodice (same size), you can lay it over the front of this bodice. It should kind of give you an idea of where the armhole sits. (don’t expect the side seams and neckline to match up, it’s just to use as a guideline.) Draw your own armhole and at the top of the shoulder and new armhole line this is where you start your pivot. You’ll still place your mark of where you’re extending to above that double notch. After you pivot, you’ll even trace around the whole sleeve area just as you would if it was an armhole. Now your pin goes to the area above the double notch and you pivot back to meet the bottom of the side seam.
And now for those tricky, tricky darts. So you put your pattern back to its original position but the jagged part of the side seam goes at a completely different angle than the original. I hate that. If it was me, I’d just go ahead and extend out the lines of where the darts currently are in the original and reshape the end. If you close the darts on the pattern, you’ll notice that you end up with one smooth side seam curve. This is what you want. You can see me do an example of shaping my dart in this tutorial https://www.professorpincushion.com/professorpincushion/how-to-make-patterns-from-existing-clothing-intermediate-tops/ around the 14 minute mark. If this sounds confusing, just remember that the goal is to have a nice smooth line on the side seam once your darts are sewn close. So your darts don’t have to move, you’re just reshaping the side seam line to fit the darts.
And, of course, I always recommend that you make a trial run with a muslin to test your alterations. Sorry if this seems like a lot. I don’t want you to feel discouraged and it may be some trial and error but it’ll be a good learning experience and perhaps, in the end, you’ll feel more comfortable with altering patterns.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Thank you so much! For the advice on the skirt and overlay. Shortening the overlay has had me confused. I had never heard of the pivot and slide method you talked about for a FBA. I have always used the slash and spread method. I am going to watch your video again and give it a try for this pattern. I think it may work better because of the darts.

Thank you so much
Alina

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