When the Fitzroy Blouse came out, I knew instantly that it was something I wanted to sew. I love the look of a V-neck top, especially for my body type, and the shawl collar on this blouse creates a beautiful V-neck that I find particularly flattering.
Buying ready-to-wear blouses has always been challenging for me because of my larger bust and pear-shaped figure. If I buy a size that fits my shoulders, the bust and hips tend to gape open. Conversely, if I buy a size that fits my bust and hips, the shoulders are often too wide. Knowing that sewing a custom blouse with a few fit adjustments would give me the perfect fit, I decided to dive into the project.
The first step was choosing the right size. My measurements are high bust 36", full bust 40", waist 33", and hips 43". With a 4-inch difference between my high bust and full bust, I’m considered a D-cup. Based on my high bust measurement, I probably should have chosen an 8D, but since my hip measurement indicated a size 14, I started with the 10D. If I were teaching a fitting class, I’d likely recommend starting with the smaller size, but fitting is more art than science, and experience plays a big role.
Before making any adjustments, I sewed a muslin to understand what changes were necessary. As expected, some adjustments were needed. From the front, the blouse looked okay, though the bust dart seemed slightly high, and there was a bit of pulling across the hips, but nothing major.
The side view revealed that I needed a forward shoulder adjustment. Wrinkles behind the shoulder indicated that the entire sleeve needed to be rotated forward. Given that I spend a lot of time working on a computer and sewing, my posture has been affected, so this adjustment is fairly standard for me.
I was satisfied with the sleeve length. However, the back view was a different story. I usually need a high round back adjustment due to my posture. If your collars tend to stand out from the back of your neck or feel like they’re pulling toward the back, you need this adjustment. To check the fit, I wore a necklace. The neck seamline should align with where the necklace falls at the back of your neck.
From the photos, you can see that the back is also too narrow, with horizontal wrinkles between my arms indicating the need for more width. Additionally, the hips were too narrow, as evidenced by the pleat pulling open. I’ll address the hips later.
Equipped with this information from the initial muslin, I began pattern adjustments and tissue fitting. Since the pattern includes a reverse box pleat at the center back, I removed the pleat during tissue fitting to determine where the true center back hits on my body. It’s crucial to perform fit adjustments in the correct order, as they can influence one another. First, I did a ½-inch high round back adjustment and added 1 inch to the back width (adding 2 inches to the overall circumference, as 1 inch is added to both sides).
Since I increased the shoulder width by an inch, I either needed to ease that inch in during sewing or handle the additional width with a shoulder dart. Given my rounded shoulders, I require a dart anyway, so I resolved two issues at once. After another tissue fit, I realized I needed a ½-inch swayback adjustment due to excess fabric at my back waist.
With the back adjusted, I revisited the front and decided to lower the bust dart by 1 inch. For the final tissue fitting, I determined that my hips required ½ inch added to each side seam (creating a total of 2 inches in the final garment).
Regarding the forward shoulder adjustment, you can make this change on the flat pattern or simply rotate the entire sleeve forward. Both methods yield the same result. I usually make the change on the flat pattern, but since I hadn’t done this adjustment before on a shawl collar, I hesitated. Now that I’ve completed the blouse, I realize it would have been fine to rotate the sleeve forward. Still, I’ll continue with that method for this pattern and make a note on the pattern to remind myself next time. I also ensured the center back pleat was reattached!
In my next version, I used a crisp shirting fabric. The fit on the shoulders and back is perfect. My side seams fall exactly at my sides and hang perpendicular to the floor. The position of the bust dart is spot-on, and the sleeve hangs correctly as well.
During sewing, I had to decide about the hip width. I had added 2 inches to the width at the hips, but with the box pleat added back in, I felt there was too much ease, making the fit appear sloppy, especially from the front. I decided to remove the extra ½ inch from the hips.
From the back, it seems the center pleat is being pulled open by my hip width, and while this may be partially due to the fabric's crispness, I ultimately preferred the blouse without the added hip width.
For my second complete version, I used a lightweight, drapey fabric. No fit adjustments were made, as the pattern was identical to the crisp fabric version. You can see how the type of fabric impacts the look. The drapey fabric flows smoothly over my curves, while the crisp fabric maintains its structure. Both versions look great, but the most noticeable difference is how the center back pleat lies.
If you're new to fit adjustments, it can feel daunting at first. However, every adjustment I made for this blouse—high round, back width, shoulder darts, sway back, bust dart position, and forward shoulder—are adjustments I regularly make. Even when I weighed significantly more, I still made these same adjustments, just starting with a larger size.
Having a sewing buddy for fittings is helpful, but you can certainly manage alone. I use a mirror and my smartphone to take plenty of photos. I've also started recording videos during fittings, moving around in them, so I can see how the garment looks while I move. This has proven to be a valuable tool.
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