{"id":4055,"date":"2018-08-15T16:21:38","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T20:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailysew.com\/?p=4055"},"modified":"2018-08-15T16:21:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T20:21:38","slug":"how-to-alter-a-sewing-pattern-for-scoliosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/how-to-alter-a-sewing-pattern-for-scoliosis\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Alter a Sewing Pattern for Scoliosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"how<\/p>\n

All of us have asymmetrical bodies even asymmetrical faces. Yet all the clothes for sale are symmetrical. Usually, our body’s uniqueness can fit into these clothes but for some, especially those with scoliosis, a very common condition in which the spine can form a sideways S or C, finding clothing to fit well and be comfortable in isn’t that easy.<\/p>\n

It helps if you can sew. In the last post, we talked about what styles and sewing patterns are best for women with Scoliosis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it’s also good to know how to alter a pattern to fit when one side of your back is fuller and higher than the other side. It’s not as easy as just adding length because we’re not just changing a back but an armhole, and possibly a sleeve too.<\/p>\n

Well, after looking it up in a few reference books on fitting I found the following alteration suggested over and over. The best explanation though, that I found, was is\u00a0in Sandra Betzina’s Fast Fit; Easy Pattern Alterations For Every Figure<\/em><\/a>. My library had a copy and yours may too. It’s a good book but it is currently out of print.\u00a0You can find it for sale used, I did.<\/p>\n

But even Sandra’s explanation was a little confusing. I need pictures. Super clear instructions are a plus too.<\/p>\n

So, here goes, my take, with Sandra Betzina’s help, on how to alter the back bodice, and corresponding sleeve, to fit a higher and fuller back.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

The Alteration<\/h3>\n

To fit an asymmetric back and shoulders you only need to do an alteration to one side of the pattern. The side that needs the added fullness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Since most patterns only come with one sleeve pattern and usually just half of a back bodice you’ll need to make another of each.<\/p>\n

Trace the back bodice pattern and the sleeve pattern so you end up with two of each. Now you have a left and right sleeve and a left and right back bodice piece.<\/p>\n

If your pattern, out of the package, has the back bodice labeled “cut on fold” you will still trace it to make a second pattern. After making alterations to the side that needs it you can tape the two halves together down center back OR you could add seam allowance to center back and make your garment with a center back seam.<\/p>\n

If your pattern does have a whole back bodice piece, slice it up center back and do the alteration to the side you need. When done you can tape the two back pieces back together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Label the patterns left or right and check that they are mirrored, you don’t want to end up with two right sleeves – you want one right and one left \ud83d\ude09\u00a0 To be crystal clear before you cut into your fabric, label on the top side, not the backside to remind you which side of the pattern is up in order to be a mirrored piece.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Sleeves are marked front and back with notches. The double notch in the sleeve is always the back. Set in sleeves are not symmetrical either. The backs of our human arms are fuller than the fronts and we move the upper arms forward most of the time so we need more fabric in the back of the sleeve to bring those arms forward.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Determine which side represents the full side of your back, Right or Left? Which side do you need more fabric on? Remember the top side of the pattern represents the right side of the fabric.<\/p>\n

On the side representing your full side, draw an L (a backward L if it’s the left side or a normal L if it’s the right side) from halfway across the shoulder to the bottom of the armhole. Not the very bottom, just anywhere below that notch.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Cut the pattern apart on this line.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Tape some paper to the larger piece of the back bodice at the cut you just made.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Measure out from the cut edges 1\/2 inch or 2.5 cm.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

A 1\/2 inch (2.5 cm) away from the center back and a 1\/2 inch up. Draw a line on the paper taped to the main pattern piece.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Tape the piece you cut away from the back bodice on to the lines you just drew.<\/p>\n

You may need to adjust (increase or decrease) this amount after making the muslin of your garment. You will need more separation if the fabric still pulls across your back and less separation if the fabric \u201cpuddles\u201d on your back.<\/p>\n

This alteration gives the full side of the back more length and width to fit over the fullness.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Smooth out the shoulder seam by keeping it the same (as it was before altering it) at the neck and letting it rise as it goes toward the armhole.<\/p>\n

This is what Sandra Betzina said and I read that to mean placing a straight edge at the neck\/shoulder corner and lining it up at the now raised shoulder\/armscye corner. And that makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n

Oh, and redraw that shoulder seam notch on your new cutting line<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Smooth out the back armhole by splitting the difference between the two seamlines. Take away the same amount from the seam that is over as you add to the seam that is under. Use a curved ruler or french curve to find a pleasing and smooth curve that roughly splits the difference and draw it in.<\/p>\n

Transfer the notches to the new seamline if you have to.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Back done, but what about the sleeve? It needs adjusting now that the back armhole is longer than the back of the sleeve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Draw a horizontal line across the sleeve cap above the sleeve notches. It needn’t be at a particular distance above the notches, just above them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Cut to but not through the seam line at the front of the sleeve.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Lift the sleeve cap back the same amount you raised the bodice back (\u00bd\u201d or 2.5 cms this first go around). By keeping the pattern attached at the front of the sleeve it will naturally taper the spread to zero at the front armhole.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Again, tape in some\u00a0paper to fill in the spread.<\/p>\n

Smooth out the back sleeve cutting line the same way you’ve smoothed out the back armscye – split the difference.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

The back shoulder seam on the full side is now longer than the front shoulder seam by a 1\/2 inch. That’s okay. Instead of altering the front you will run an ease line (a row of long stitches) on that back shoulder seam. Pull slightly on the bobbin thread of that ease line to bring in or scrunch up the extra half inch. Of course, you want to spread the extra fabric evenly over the shoulder seam. Line up your shoulder seam notch when sewing it together. It should fit nicely.<\/p>\n

Steam is always your friend (unless your fabric can’t handle it) to ease in fabric and after easing it in. Steaming can sometimes help you remove tiny puckers that occur when easing fabric.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

You’re done. You can tape the back pieces together along center back if it was marked “cut on fold”. With a whole back pattern you will not cut on the fold, but from a single layer of fabric instead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yokes and Raglan Sleeves<\/h3>\n

How do you alter backs that have a yoke across them or a raglan sleeve seam?<\/p>\n

Simply put, you add what you need to those seams when you can.<\/p>\n

You’ll still only alter the side of the pattern which corresponds to the fuller side of your back.<\/p>\n

A yoke seam is a perfect place to add more length. Depending on where the yoke travels across your back, you might add a quarter inch to the back and to the yoke, or the entire 1\/2 inch to the back bodice.<\/p>\n

Then you will only cut down vertically to add width.<\/p>\n

A raglan seam will work the same way.<\/p>\n

I have plans to make more mini patterns and show you in detail how to do this back alteration for patterns that have back yokes or raglan sleeves. And when I do It will be right here. Thanks for your patience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All of us have asymmetrical bodies even asymmetrical faces. Yet all the clothes for sale are symmetrical. Usually, our body’s uniqueness can fit into these clothes but for some, especially those with scoliosis, a very common condition in which the spine can form a sideways S or C, finding clothing to fit well and be […] Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,44],"tags":[60,228,330],"class_list":["post-4055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitting-tips","category-sewing-skills","tag-fitting","tag-pattern-adjustment","tag-scoliosis"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2018-8-tds-bg-how-to-alter-a-pattern-for-scoliosis-ft.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EZxn-13p","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4055"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4060,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055\/revisions\/4060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}