Not the FBA I Need — Janet Szabo

Yesterday was productive. I knocked out a pair of Renee pants in the stretch bengaline. I have not yet tried them on because it is so hot that I cannot bear the thought of snug fabric on my legs. They look good, though, and the bengaline was reasonably easy to work with. They are sitting on the “to be hemmed” pile, which I plan to tackle today.

I also figured out what is going on with the Tessa Sheath Dress. Spoiler alert: Not all FBAs are created equal.

I cut out and ran up another muslin with the Joann ponte I got in Missoula. It’s a dusty pink color, which is a much better color than black for identifying problems because I can actually see what’s going on.

[This would be a pretty color on me if it were a bluer dusty pink, not a brownish dusty pink. I would dearly love to have a conversation with the person responsible for choosing fabric colors for Joann Fabrics. My first question would be, “Why all the mud?”]

For this muslin, I traced the XL shoulders, then graded down to the Large with FBA. I put the dress on—and darn it, I still had excess fabric at the bust. I could have pinned out darts again, albeit smaller than the ones on the black version. I took out the side seam and cut off some of the extra width from the FBA and ran up another seam. Better, but still not quite right.

And then it hit me. The problem isn’t so much the FBA, it’s the kind of FBA. Look at this picture (and yes, there is a reason I am not a fashion illustrator).

This is basically the shape of the full bust pattern piece for the Tessa Sheath Dress. Do you see how the piece starts to widen immediately below the base of the armhole opening? That is where I kept having to pin out excess fabric.

Now look at this picture:

This is what I’ve normally done for a full bust adjustment in stretchy knits. This is the “boob bump” a la Zede Donahue of the Sewing Out Loud podcast. Her version begins an inch or so BELOW the base of the armhole opening, scoots out, and scoots back in again. It makes the side edge of the front a bit longer than the side edge of the back, but that extra fabric just gets eased into the seam.

I don’t need a full bust adjustment to begin beneath my armpit. I need less fabric there, not more. When I pinned that excess out and adjusted the bustline, the armhole seam—which had been full of wrinkles—straightened out.

I got out the Standard bust pattern piece and laid my full bust pattern piece on top so I could compare them. What I really need, I think, is the Standard bust front pattern with a Zede boob bump so that I only have extra fabric where I truly need it.

Melissa, I wonder if this is why you prefer the original Laundry Day Tee with a boob bump rather than the LDT with the full bust front. I didn’t notice this issue in the LDT, but then again, that bodice widens under the armpit and keeps going, and I made the second one in a very drapey rayon jersey.

I might be able to take the other side seam out on the pink muslin and test out this theory, or I could find more clearance ponte and make a third—and hopefully final—muslin before making a real dress. And I do want to make a “real” dress.

This explanation lines up with what I am seeing in the Love Notions pattern group on Facebook. For a subset of people with a specific shape, the Love Notions kind of FBA probably makes a lot of sense. For people like me, this kind of full bust pattern piece puts extra fabric in a place I don’t need it. Maybe all of this is blindingly obvious to more experienced sewists, but I’m having to analyze and intuit my way through this process.

Hemming today, and then I’ll revisit the pile of fabric and patterns and see what I want to tackle next. I might just spend a couple of hours hemming napkins on the serger. Napkins don’t require fitting adjustments. My brain could use the break.

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The plants in the garden are loving this heat. My sister’s acorn squash is coming along nicely.

I grow these for her and she takes them home in her suitcase when she comes to visit.

I planted a few other kinds of squash, too, but I can’t remember what they are. They were from the plant sale. I think one of them is a butternut. One might be a spaghetti squash. We’ll find out eventually.