Dia Sweater Full Bust Adjustment - Part 2

February 07, 2019

In the previous post we gave an introduction on how to determine if you need a full bust adjustment and how much you need to add to the front bodice of your Dia sweater. To makes things a little easier, we’ve added a special FBA front bodice to the Dia sweater pattern. This FBA front bodice, comes without seam allowance and is a great starting point to do a FBA.

First of all, print out your FBA front bodice in the desired starting size using the layers function. This tutorial will first create a bust dart which we will eliminate later by using the diamond style lines.
You’ll need:

• FBA front bodice
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Pattern Paper
• Pattern weights / Tap

 

PREPARE THE FBA FRONT BODICE

The FBA front bodice comes with the style lines of the diamond patterns pieces, which will make it much easier to recreate those lines after you’ve done the FBA. Start by holding the front bodice to your body and determine your apex (other word for nipple) and mark it on both sides of the pattern. 

 

DRAFT

1. Draft a horizontal line towards the side seam, starting from the apex (pink line)
2. Draft a line towards the apex point, starting from ⅓ of the armhole and then straight down to the bottom of the pattern piece (green line)
3. Repeat for the other side

CUT

1. Cut the green line from the bottom of the pattern piece to the apex and up to the armhole stitching line, marked with an “+”.
2. Cut the seam allowance towards the “+”, but not completely through. This is the main pivot point.
3. Cut the pink line from the side seam to the apex, but not completely through.
4. Repeat for the other side.

 

SPREAD
Now we’re going to add the extra width directly to the green line that went down from our apex point. Secure the center front of your pattern piece (with pattern weights or tape) and choose one side to start with. Start spreading while keeping your main pivot point in place. Spread your lower bodice (yellow) down & to the right. Keep spreading until the width between the 2 green lines is half the FBA amount you need. Make sure to keep the green lines parallel to each other.

TAPE
Carefully put scrap paper underneath all the holes on your pattern, without shifting it around. Tape everything down. Repeat all the previous steps for the other half of the front bodice as well.

Finally, Draft a line (blue) between the vertical green lines of the FBA, half way on the lower front bodice (yellow). Cut and slide the left lower part down, to match up with the bottom of the front bodice.

As you can see, by doing the FBA, we’ve created 2 darts in the front bodice between the pink lines, where there wasn’t any before.
Now you have 3 methods, depending on which version you would like to sew:
Method 1: diamond front - remove the darts by using the diamond style lines 
Method  2: basic front - remove darts from the basic front bodice
Method  3: basic front - keep dart

PLEASE NOTE: when adding more than 7cm (2,75”) through your FBA, we recommend to go for option 3, keeping the dart. Either way, for all 3 options you need to redraft the bust dart.



METHOD 1 - REMOVE DARTS BY USING DIAMOND STYLE LINES

Step 1 | Before you can eliminate the bust darts, you have to redraft it. Draft two lines from the apex towards the side seam following the dart (created by the FBA) underneath. Cut out the dart along those lines.

 

 

Step 2 | Draw a line all the way down, following the direction of the original seam line of pattern part H. Cut along that line until the top and bottom part of pattern part H are separated from the front bodice. Line up the side seam (marked with “+”) and from there close the dart. Tape together.

 

 

Step 3 | Depending on your personal FBA amount, there will be a (big or smaller) difference in length between the legs of the dart, causing the lower part of pattern part H to stick out, see red arrow. Place some paper under the side seam of your pattern piece, tape together and redraft the seam (pink line).

 

 

Step 4 | Separate pattern piece G from the bodice (blue).

 

 

Step 5 | Continue with the front bodice pattern piece F (yellow). Draw a line all the way down, following the direction of the original seam line of pattern part F.
Cut along that line until the top and bottom part of pattern part F are separated from the front bodice. Line up the side seam (marked with “+”) and from there close the dart. Tape together.

 

Step 6 | Grade pattern piece F, by following the instructions from step 3.

 

 

Step 7 | Draft a new bottom line for pattern piece D (blue line), by following the diagonal of the diamond (green arrow). Cut along that line, to separate pattern piece D (yellow), pattern piece E (blue) and the total diamond from pattern.

 

 

Step 8 | To remove that final little dart in pattern piece D and E, draw a horizontal guideline through the apex point. Draft two lines from the guideline towards the side seam following the dart underneath. Cut out the dart along those (pink) lines and close the dart. Place some paper under the side seam of your pattern pieces, tape together and redraft the seam (pink line). Repeat for pattern piece E.

 

Step 9 | Discard pattern pieces A, B, C (the diamond) and G that were cut from the basic front pattern. Remember, those pattern pieces are without seam allowance! Instead, print out the separate pattern pieces A, B, C and G from the pattern file. Collect all the pattern pieces - D, E, F and H - that were affected by the FBA. Add seam allowance around your adapted pattern pieces.

METHOD 2 - REMOVE THE DART FROM THE BASIC FRONT BODICE

Step 1 | Draft two lines from the apex towards the side seam following the dart (created by the FBA) underneath. Cut out the dart along those lines.

 

 

Step 2 | Draft a line down from the apex point. Cut along that line. Close the dart, starting from the apex point (marked with an “+”). Tape together.

 

 

Step 3 | Place some extra paper behind the total (altered) side seam of your front bodice. Now, fold your front bodice in half, so the “unchanged” side (indicated in blue)  is folded over, to act as a guide to redraw the side seam. If needed, place and tape some extra paper behind your front bodice.

 

Step 4 | Finish redrawing the side seam and cut off the excess paper. You’ve now removed the dart from the front bodice, but with more room for the bust. Compare the side seam length of the front and back, and add length to the back side seam if necessary.

 

 

Step 5 | Cut your basic front pattern piece in half and add seam allowance. When cutting your fabric, place it on the fabric fold.

 

METHOD 3 - KEEP THE DART IN THE BASIC FRONT

 

Step 1 | Keeping the dart might be best, if you added a lot in the FBA. This way, the sweater will follow the curves of your body a bit better. If you do decide to take it out, the shape will become a bit more boxy. If you want to leave the dart in the front bodice and sew it, you still need to redraft it, but the method is slightly different from the previous ones. Mark your dart point, 2,5 cm (1”) to the right from your apex point.

 

Step 2 | Draft two lines from that point towards the side seam following the dart (created by the FBA) underneath. Measure both legs of the dart and match them up by adding some extra width (if necessary) to the side seam.

 

Step 3 | The dart is now ready. Cut your basic front pattern piece in half and add seam allowance (pink). The green line is the new stitching line. When cutting your fabric, place it on the fabric fold.

 

 

YAY!

You’ve successfully accomplished doing a FBA on the Dia sweater by using one of the 3 FBA methods! Now you can continue altering the pattern to your wishes, by blending sizes for your waist and/or hips and adjusting the length by following the lengthen/shorten instructions in the Dia sweater tutorial.

Finally some last things to remember:

• The chain effect: Alter all corresponding pattern pieces. In the case of the dia, you have to alter the (high low front) bottom band pattern piece.

• Method 1 + 3: the side seam remains unchanged - you don’t have to adjust the side seam of the back pattern piece.

• Method 2: compare the side seam length of the front and back, and add length to the back side seam if necessary.

• Make sure to select the correct size sleeve - it should be the same size as your selected high bust size, so it still fits into the armscye (armhole).

• Make a muslin. Yes.

If you have any further questions, leave me a comment below! Or ask your questions in our facebook group! 

We're also looking for testers in all (challenging 😉 ) shapes in sizes for our upcoming patterns. If you're interested, consider signing up for our pattern tester newsletter and be the first to know about upcoming testing opportunities!

 

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