I’m switching gears to start thinking about my underdress.
I knew I wanted:
- Something nice enough to be worn alone
- A deep square neckline (so it couldn’t be seen under the neck of my gown)
- Princess seams to lessen the need for bust darts
- Knee length, to not add to the bulk and warmth of wearing it, but also
- Long sleeves with a prominent cuff, since those will be seen
Does this pattern exist for plus size women? After months of searching, I’m fairly confident that no, it does not.
What does exist is Butterick B5719.
It has princess seams and is about the right length. The neckline’s wrong, but that’s pretty easy to fix. It’s sleeveless, but I can grab the sleeves for the jacket. It even has cup sizes, which saves me from having to make a full bust adjustment.
It’s also ostensibly “women’s sizing,” which is a fancy way of saying plus sized. But not too plus, apparently. My measurements are a full 6-8” larger than the largest size.
Good news: adding a uniform 6” to bust, waist and hip should do it, since I can take out the little bit of shaping at the waist.
Bad news: I’m going to have to hack the hell out of this pattern. Six inches is actually a lot to add – about three full dress sizes. I’ll also need to adjust the shape of the front and back neckline, hope the sleeves for the jacket fit the armscye on the dress, and add cuffs and a self-facing to the neckline.
So the plan right now is to redraft directly onto muslin, stitch it up quick and dirty, and try to verbally walk Shoryl through helping mark any adjustments I need to the muslin.
And I need to do all that while packing my entire condo for a major remodeling project.
A Twist of Metaphor 