Yesterday I sat down and adjusted the pattern to my size. Being an ample Pear shape it took some calculating. I had to adjust for the neck size, the armhole depth, the biceps, the bust, and the hips. I also wanted to adjust the length, as with an ample bottom the Mantle… at 21 inches long… would emphasize at all my wrong places… I started with lengthening the pattern. I adjusted for 8 more inches, which I will see with the test sample how that works. Then I split the pattern at the mid arm to shoulder. From that point I spread the pattern to adjust for the bust with a fan shape adjustment going down to the hip. I then added a bit more on the waist to hip area ion the seam allowance edges… As the ample bottom works like a built-in bustle.. I added some of that increase to the center back seam. The garment has back shaping in the center back seam.. defining the waist line… so I tried to many some form there while building out to my measurements. As I neared the end of the alterations the neck increase and the biceps were left to adjust for. The neck increase was not a lot simple needed an extra in… so in putting the arms and shoulder back to gether I added 1 inch to the split and then increased for the biceps farther down…. the fan shape was a bit of a problem as I did not want the sleeve edges to be huge… but I think I got it… So with the enthusiasm still going, I quickly cut out the sample – perhaps underlining? – I used Black Flannelette as it has a similar weight and drape to the black wool crepe I am going to use. Also as I live in the Pacific Northwest, I thought it would work as an underlining to make the jacket a bit warmer.

In my research on Gussets I found that indeed it was only neccesssary to cut out 2 squares for the gussets… If one was to use the triangles for the gussets then it would require cutting out 4, but the squares only required 2. This afternoon I hope to sew up the test garment and check on fit and form…