> I have made several fitted bodices over the years of this type and > always have the same problem. Unless I use a shaped center back seam, > the bodice gaps at the center back neckline and sometimes at the center > back waist. I have very pronounced shoulder blades and a sway back. > If I want to have a center back seam, then I can eliminate the gapping. > But if I do not (for some reason) want a c/b seam, is there some fitting > technique I am missing?
The only way I can get a flat back panel is when I'm using a raglan sleeve construction and my neckline is quite low: http://costumes.glittersweet.com/sca/kampfrau.htm http://costumes.glittersweet.com/sca/beham.htm http://costumes.glittersweet.com/sca/annameyer.htm http://costumes.glittersweet.com/sca/1560.htm this one does have a centre back seam because of contraints in cutting (one blanket for the dress.) The lining and inteerlining however are one piece each. (I do have drafted patterns of each of these, they just aren't online yet.) My curve occurs above the shoulder blades (yay for genetics and prednisone;) ) Luckily the raglan sleeve construction works for this place and time as I have not seen a centre back seam on German dress of this era. If anyone has seen one please forward the address to me as it would ease my mind as I do have a centre back seam on two of them;) I drafted my original pattern by pinning the fabric to my dress form in a straight line down the centre back. I used my hand to smooth the fabric around to the sides and pinned where the side seam would be (pins folloing the direction of the seam.) In shaping the piece it does depend on where you start with the smoothing and where you direct the fabric to, especially with a pronounced curve. You can also lower the back neckline a bit to account for individual shapes. It might make the drafting a bit easier too. You could also make the side back seams curved or make the angles different for each. So you'd pin the fabric at centre back and possibly pin the side panels in place then take fabric from the side edges of the centre back panel. Thing is, if you are achieving a good comfortable fit with what you are doing, just treat other ideas as experimentation. michaela de bruce http://glittersweet.com -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.7/60 - Release Date: 28/07/2005 _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
