How would you fix this?

[gem]

I know a lot of you have dismantled and remade/resized garb pieces, sometimes drastically, so I'm hoping you have some advice for me!



My bodice WIP is Misbehaving Mightily (ignore the wonky tabs; they're just pinned on).  Somehow, despite using a pattern I draped on myself & made mockups of, it's way too big in the waist. The fit is OK everywhere else, and it's completely sewn together, so I have no choice but to take it apart in order to fix it.

You can see in the photos how much excess there is. Right now my best idea is to take it from the side seams, which will allow me to keep the fronts straight and not have to tinker too much with the existing boning.



(It's actually a little more than that, but the binder clip wasn't deep enough to catch it all. It's at least 1.25" on each side.)



The bodice is four layers stacked together (the two fashion fabric layers plus two layers of boned canvas interlining) and then overlocked at the edges. I would really like to avoid having to unpick all of the layers to separate them completely, because the overlock has a tendency to distort/stretch the fabric slightly.

Do you think I'll be able to get in there & take it from the side seams without pulling it totally apart? Or do you have a better suggestion? (Maybe even slashing open the SSs altogether and replacing the seams with lacing? And if I were to go that route, maybe it would be easier to take some of it out of the back, which is unboned, and add lacing there, as well?)

Ideas?

Gramercy!!

[isabelladangelo]

Since the side seam line looks like it's right where it should be, I'd cut out a triangular piece from the bottom front side - not touching the back side at all.  You might have to even out the bottom edge a bit but it should keep the side seam where it needs to be and take the extra bulk out of the waist as well. 

[gem]

Ok, not quite sure I'm following you. It sounds like you might be suggesting just slashing off this section?



My first concern is that there are three cable ties in that section--one right along the front edge, and two just inside the gap for the lacing holes. So that's a structural issue to work around, as well as a practical one (having to cut through that boning to remove the slice). The side seams have boning that's easy to move. My second concern is, wouldn't it disturb the front line? The side seams would stay in the same place, but the front would end up all wonky, wouldn't it?

Or I could be COMPLETELY misinterpreting what you meant--which is more than likely!!

[Kate XXXXXX]

I think the side seam is a little forward of where it needs to be, so I'd be slicing a wedge off the front and back at the sides...  Oh, and take that as a long thin wedge all the way up the side seam to the armscye. Don't take anything off the armscye, mind...

[isabelladangelo]

Gem, the bottom front side, not the bottom front.   

The side seam is right under your arms.  Take off the triangular piece from the front piece only at the side seam.   

[gem]

Kate, that's more what I had in mind originally. (And I could just as easily have clipped the excess out of the side seams and left the front true for the photos; I just only had one binder clip handy!)

ETA: Isabella, thank you! That makes much more sense! I did briefly wonder if you meant that, too--and yes: the too large section is almost ALL in the front; the back seems to fit better. I might take 1" out of the front and 1/4" out of the back, just so I don't have to take everything out of the fronts, and lessen the chance of distortion.

But how much of the bodice would you guys recommend taking apart in order to make this adjustment? Just as much as I need to reach the side seams?

This also makes me wonder if part of the problem with the original back length wrinkling might have been a touch of swayback, which would better have been solved with a center back seam like I have in my kirtle and my Campi dress (not that you can see the CBS in either of those photos, since I hid them very well!)

I may work up the nerve to do this sooner rather than later after all! 

[isabelladangelo]

I'd take out the entire side seams to get a nice even cut line to sew up. 

[DonaCatalina]

But as Kate said... be careful no to take anything out of the armscye.
But you might have to take a thin strip out of the front pieces just to pull the side seams and the armscye forward a bit when you take some of the side seam out.
Otherwise, every time you reach forward for something, the front edge will cut into your shoulder and armpit.