Lengthen Torso/Shorten Hip, Medieval Dress

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi! I’ve discovered your wonderful website, and I love it! Thanks so much for this 🙂

I am a petite 5’3″ (and 1/2″!), but my torso is long. I’m also very odd in that my full hip is 1-1/2′ below my natural waist – not 7-9″ as most people. (Thanks to my rear, that number does stay pretty much the same down 7-9″…) My questions are: how do I lengthen a DRESS pattern in the torso when there are no pre-marked lines? Is it possible to increase the hip measure just below the waist?

I’m making Simplicity 1773 (actually how I found your site, was that tutorial!). I also need to increase the bust. Because the underdress is a 5-panel pattern, with 3 across the front, that means I need to divide the increase by 6, right? For an even increase on each of those seams?

TIA!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi there! Sorry for the late response, I’ve been sick and then trying to catch up.
I’m also a shortie! I’ve taken a look at the Simplicity 1773 and there is a line on it marked “waistline” above this is a set of double lines. This is the point where you would increase the torso to where you need to. You can actually cut along this lines, add a piece of tissue paper in between for the length that you need and then tape it back together. I would then mark on the pattern where your full hips start, measuring down from the waistline. Measure all three pieces along this area, subtracting all the 5/8th seam allowances. Then you can compare to your own hipline measurement. It depends on how much you need to increase the pieces by. If only need to increase by a little bit, you can just alter the pattern pieces with the side seams and still divide by 4. If you’re adding quite a bit, then I would do what you suggested and add a little to all your pieces. Definitely, make a muslin first with cheap fabric and baste your pieces together so you can test the fit and make sure you don’t need to make any additional changes. Good luck! 🙂

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