My “Dawn Alteration”

So, I thought I did a blog post on this quite a while ago. When I went searching for it on my blog, I couldn’t find it. Maybe, with moving and packing/unpacking, I just thought I did it. I did take the pictures because they are on my phone. So. Weird.

So anyway, people often ask how I do my “add an inch to the bodice but keep the armholes the same” alteration. It’s dead easy. I took some pictures to make it even easier. This is not an alteration I recommend for anyone else. I happen to be long torso-ed and my long-ness just happens to occur between my shoulders and chest. Weird, eh? Not many people have this issue, I have found.

So this is a standard bodice top (this is actually KS 4134, not KS 4143 – so much for labeling). I have found you can do this alteration on pretty much anything. It’s easier on something like this for sure.

 

I use the CB (or grainline) to make a perpendicular cut across my pattern piece. Then I slice around the armhole. I just kind of eyeball it when it comes to the armhole.

 

Then I just slide the paper down 1”, matching the CB or grainline. As long as your grainline is moved one inch, you don’t need to worry about the other distances. My preferred length is one inch. That makes the bust point, waist seam, and hip seam all line up with my body.

 

You can see the the side pieces don’t line up perfectly now. I just blend the two pieces together.

See? Easy peasy! I do this to the front and back of patterns. Mostly, I do this while I trace out my patterns so I don’t even need to cut and tape anymore. If it’s something like a princess seam or odd piecing, then I always trace it out and modify it like this.