Cutting it fine....Part 8

 So.

The damned trousers are finally finished, apart from needing to be pressed again to within an inch of their lives, which is a task for another day.  I've finally hemmed them and will wait to try to them on till I've recovered from all the stress.

Yesterday at my sewing class I tackled grading the pattern for the top.  Or to be more precise, ONE of the several patterns for tops which I've accumulated over the past month.  They all bring something different to the party, and if I had the skill and the confidence I'd hack elements of them together in a Frankenpattern styley but I'm already losing the will to live so I've chosen just one of them.

Inevitably, just by using my tape measure, I could tell that the pattern, as it was, wasn't going to fit.  It was too big on the bust and too small on the hips, so I had to alter the darts then grade it from below the darts to the hemline.  

I made a new pattern, with the adjustments, and this morning I cut a toile from a remnant of the old dust sheet.  It didn't take long, just the darts, shoulders and side seams, and I was able to try it on.

Scene:  Sandra appears in the study, wearing the paint-spattered toile top, to ask for PP's opinion.

Me: *explaining* So obviously the neckline and armhole facings aren't there to provide structure, but I think the length's not too bad.  What do you think?

PP:*thoughtfully*  Hmmmmm.   Turn round.  It's a bit short at the back, and the neckline is too big.  It also highlights your humph.

Me:*eyes narrowed* My HUMPH?!

PP:*obliviously* Yes, your humpy bit.  Below your neck and across your shoulders.

Me:*with great restraint* Hmm. But APART from accentuating my humph,  and ALL the other shortcomings, how does it look?

PP:*makes a great show of standing up to have a closer look and having me turn round several times*  It shows your bra.

Me:*witheringly* But I won't be wearing this saggy old sports bra will I?

PP: *definitively* Well, I think you should add a half inch to the inside of the neckline and it would sit better.  It needs to be longer at the back too.

Me:*crestfallen* Buggrit.  I'll need to adjust the neckline facings too then, and they look quite complicated.....

PP has already sat down so Sandra walks disconsolately into the dining room to remove the toile and attempt to adjust the pattern again.

Me:*muttering* Bloody cheek.  Highlights my humph does it?  Who does she think I am.... Quasimodo?!  *mutter mutter mutter*

After much muttering, measuring, sighing, tracing and cutting, a new paper pattern emerges, along with new combined neck/armhole facings.

As for the back length issue, I'm minded to make the back piece one 'fabric tile' longer than the front and add side slits.  I might also add some plain bias binding on the slits, in one of the colours from the fabric, to make them a feature rather than an afterthought. 

However, the all in one neck and armhole facings are a whole new level of bamboozlement, as attaching them to the top involves twisting bits the wrong way round and inside out then funneling them the right way out through the tubes which have been created..... nah... me neither.

The online tutorial for the top includes a helpful video for the facings, which are described as 'tricky'.  I've watched it eleventy times and at points I'm almost convinced I get it, then boom.... no idea.

Anyway, I'm waiting for some interfacing to arrive, so I'm  not even going to attempt laying out the fabric yet as I have to centre it on a fold, front and back, and try to have a complete 'tile' at the shoulders and hem.

Remind me again.... who's idea was it to take up dressmaking and make a holiday wardrobe?