Step 6, 7, 8 & 9: cut down the shirt to match the pattern, cut and attach princess panels (test run)

This is actually going to be easy, now that I have a pattern, assuming I've done my pattern work properly.

But I won't know until I've tried it whether or not my pattern will work.  Therefore, I'm using the "disposable" shirt and muslin princess panels.

Here's the shirt, cut using the pattern I made, with seam allowances included.

Now I'll sew on the muslin panels.  Below you see the results.  I've decided I think it's good enough, and after experimenting with sleeves, I think sewing on the sleeves will actually solve the last of the fit issues I have with the shirt.

Step 4 & 5 - Sleeves off, pattern from men's shirt

Hello!  It's been a while.  I've been busy with other things, but I'm back.

I've purchased another men's shirt in the right size, one that was on sale and which wasn't necessarily one I liked in particular.  I needed one I could cut apart and experiment with, without feeling as though I was ruining the one I bought for the project.

First, I tried picking the seams where the sleeves attached to the shirt, but they were, under all the stitching, glued on.  Yes, glued on.  So, instead I cut them off of the body of the shirt, leaving the attachment connected to the sleeve.  It seemed that was the way to go, it gives me something to stitch to, and helps keep the shape of the sleeve.  Plus, I'm narrowing the shirt through the shoulders anyway.  Look:

I also removed the collar, so I wouldn't have to work around it, and sliced open the side seems.  You can see how well the body of the shirt actually drapes, the shoulder angles work quite well:

And, here are the pattern pieces I altered to work with this shirt, similar but different from the other pieces, mainly because they need to work with a different sleeve hole size and shape:

The center back needs to be lengthened, but that's easy.

Step 3 - Create a pattern from the shirt

It's always scary cutting something apart that you've worked hard on, in order to continue a project. Yes, I need to do this, but, yes, it's a bit scary.

Here is the fitting shell cut apart, without seam allowances.  I find this fascinating.

Now that I've done that, I'm going to do one last muslin, to make sure I've fit the thing the way I want to. This initial fit cycle is so important, if I don't do this well, I'll be quite unhappy with my final product.

Same pieces in paper, still no seam allowances.

I didn't get this published over the weekend, so here it goes!  More soon!

Step 2 - Part D - Fit - Part 2

So, here I am finally working on my shirt project again.  After my last fitting spree I thought about what I had done, and decided it wasn't good enough, and started again. (sigh)  That's what I get for having a "healthy" dose of innate perfectionism.  I'm not going to share the details, just know that I believe it was worth the extra time.

So, Here are some pictures of the fit that I've ended up with:

After (finally) getting a basic shell which I think fits, I needed to find the place on the shoulder of the shirt I'm altering which corresponds to the shoulder seam on the shell.  I somehow managed to put the shell on over the shirt, and figure out where the seam line would be.

Next I pinned up the shoulder so that I'd know where the end of the shoulder should be on the finished garment.

I'm feeling as though I'm so close I can taste it.  There is still a lot of work, but I'm getting there!

I'm feeling pretty happy.

Step 2 - Part D - Fit

Fitting the shirt is the next step.

The first and most obvious fit issue I noticed is that the apexes of the bust of the shirt are lower and further apart than my actual bust is.  I've marked the location with a marker.  There seems to be enough fabric to make an adjustment here.

I've gone to a bit of effort to verify that my marked apexes are actually the same distance from the center line of the shirt, and are at the same level horizontally.

I'm going to try pinning up the extra fabric between the princess seam and the apex, and see how that looks.

So, I don't think you can actually tell how much better this looks from this picture, because I've only sort of pinned the sides back, but I've taken in the center a bit with pins, fitting to my actual bust line, and I've started adjustments to correct for the shirt being tight around my waist, back and hips.

After pinning here, and adding there, and folding every which way, I actually ended up with a good fit.  Here are some pictures:

It looks better in person ... oh well. Anyway, after all that fitting, the side seam was no longer where I expected it to be.  With my daughter's help, we found and marked the place the side seam should be.

This has gone very smoothly.  I'm excited about the progress.  Next, I'll make a pattern from this fitting, make a muslin, and fit it one more time.

Step 2 - Part C - Putting the pieces back together.

I have removed *both* front panels of the shirt, and have cut out muslin fabric using my new pattern pieces.

I'm going to attach these pieces to the rest of the existing shirt.

First, I marked seam allowances on the muslin.  Around the armholes, I treated the sew line with Fray Check, a product which prevents fraying, and keeps the seam firm without having to actually sew the edge, and then cut along the sew line.

Attaching the side panels to the back is pretty easy, just a seam, like this:
Note: the full bust adjustment left the pieces a little longer than necessary, not a big deal.

Putting the front panel back in is a little trickier.  I am gluing it into place before sewing it.  Glue sticks are my best friend right now.

By the way, just in case you are wondering, no, I don't expect the shirt to fit correctly just because I did a full bust adjustment.  I'm assuming there will be other fit issues to tweak before I'm done, and I need the shirt with the muslin sewn in to be able to assess the fit properly.

Looking at the shirt and fabric piece before attaching it helps me visualize how it fits together:

Glue on the seam allowances, and the piece glued onto the shoulder and front placket.

  

I've clipped the seam allowance along the neckline so that it will fit nicely against the collar, then I'll sew along the edges, and make sure the button holes are still holes!

Here is the actual princess seam, pinned up before sewing it.  One thing it took me a long time to learn is that seams only need to fit together smoothly right along the sew line, the outer edges of the fabric are going to pucker and look problematic if you have different curves fitting together, but will be just fine after sewing if you have matched the sewing lines properly.

Finally, the shirt with the muslin panels is ready for fitting.

There are definitely still fit issues, but the full bust adjustment has done it's job, and I am now fitting a garment which actually has a chance of fitting correctly.

Step 2 - Part B - How am I going to do these alterations?

What I need to do is make a pattern from my "pattern shirt".

I'll turn the modified princess seam into a true princess seam, and then do a full-bust adjustment to that.

I will start by cutting along the seams (not taking them out) and removing the entire front panel of the shirt.

It looks like this:

You can see that I've used a marker to draw a solid line where the actual seams are, and a dotted line where I am cutting to make true princess seams from the modified princess seams which are already there.

Here are the pieces after they've been cut apart:

I traced these, and created a paper pattern.  I then performed a full bust adjustment on that pattern.

I'm not going to actually document the bust adjustment process.  Other people have done that better than I could, in fact, here's a link to the site I used:  How to Make a FBA (Full Bust Adjustment) on Princess Seams.

Here are the finished patterns: