Replies

1. 
   Fran_vallette | Jan 28, 1999 09:50pm | #1

   *
   My dress gaps in the waist in the back and I cann't figure out why , please help!!!!!

1. 
   L_Schmitt | Jan 29, 1999 06:36pm | #2

   *There are several possible reasons. For example: Is the front too short from the waist up? Is the back too long from the waist up? Is there enough ease at the hips -- especially on the back pieces?You might want to determine where the waistline is on the original pattern, and then transfer those markings temporarily to the garment so that you can see how the pattern's waistline compares with your true waist. It is also possible that the knit fabric you have selected does not behave in quite the same way as the one used by the designer. Another possibility is that the pattern is not one well-suited to your body type.

1. 
   Julie_Culshaw | Feb 08, 1999 01:53am | #3

   *Perhaps you have a sway back. If you have a deep indent at your back waist and then come out sharply on your derriere, you have a sway back. Take a tuck in the excess fabric and transfer this to a dart in the pattern tissue.

1. 
   carol_broscheid | Feb 08, 1999 06:04pm | #4

   *Please explain how to do this. I have never seen a tuck in the center back transferred into a dart Thanks

1. 
   S._Roman | Feb 10, 1999 02:06am | #5

   *Try the dress on inside out. Pinch the fabric where you want the middle of the dart. Pin this. Then put a pin where you want the beginning of the dart and where you want the dart to end. Then start the dart at the top pin and sew towards the middle pin and then back out to the bottom pin. I hope this is not too confusing. Practice on a piece of scrap.

2. 
   carol_broscheid | Feb 10, 1999 08:45pm | #6

   *What confused me was I thought you were talking about taking out a horizontal dart at the back waist, vertical darts I understand! I have seen instructions for dealing with a sway back that say to take a horizontal tuck so as to shorten the back length. I have never tried this although I have this problem (sway back) because it throws the pattern off grain and even though you then straighten the grainline on the pattern the pattern still looks odd -- as though it would not hang properly. Have you ever done this alteration for sway back?