Good afternoon, friends! Earlier this week, Sophie-Lee debuted her gorgeous take on Sewaholic’s Granville blouse. Like her, I was instantly smitten with Tasia’s newest patterns, the Granville and the Oakridge. Both patterns are beautifully designed, rife with perfect details and thoughtful drafting decisions. Unfortunately for me, they’re also designed explicitly for pear-shapes. With measurements of 46-35-46, I’m a textbook hourglass, which can make tackling patterns designed for small busts a challenge. This hasn’t stopped me from buying Tasia’s patterns before, however. I love her aesthetic so much that I’ve talked myself into nearly every Sewaholic release! They sit on my pattern shelf, waiting for me to hack their proportions to bits.
For the Granville, today is that day. Or, rather, Tuesday and Wednesday were those days. The Granville has everything I’ve dreamed of in a button-down blouse: tower plackets, back princess seams, waist shaping, and a two piece collar. It was one Full Bust Adjustment away from becoming my platonic blouse. Like most darted button-down shirts, the Granville bodice only has a side dart, which makes the process of an FBA a little more complicated. However, don’t fret! I’ve fully documented the process for this adjustment, which you can use on any bodice pattern with one dart, not just the Granville and Oakridge.
Pick Your Size
Before we trace off our patterns and slash away, we need to pick a base pattern size. The rule of thumb for this is to pick a size based on your high bust measurement, instead of your full bust measurement. (For more information on obtaining these measurements, check out Tanya’s fantastic Beginner’s Guide on the subject!) If your high bust, waist, and hips don’t fit in one size, it’s completely normal to grade between sizes. My own current measurements put my high bust at 42, which is smack dab between sizes 16 and 18. I know that I have narrower-than-average shoulders for my size, but that I like a little extra ease through my bust and hips. As such, I traced off the size 16 upper bodice, then blended to a size 18 from the armhole down. This also enables me to take a slightly smaller FBA, since the 18’s bust measurement is 43 inches. Remember, a lot of fitting comes down to personal taste about such things! People arrive at their perfectly fitted garments through many routes, because there are adjustments for everything. This is just our jumping off point!
Prepare Your Pattern & Gather Supplies
Before you begin this FBA, you’ll need a clean tracing of the front bodice. I use Swedish Tracing Paper (available on Amazon), which is also sewable, if you need to do a mid-adjustment fit-check. When tracing off your pattern piece, be sure to include all markings, including the grainline and lengthen/shorten line. Once you’ve finished marking the pattern, hold the piece up to your body and mark your bust apex on this. If this point is substantially higher or lower than the pattern’s dart tip, I recommend moving your dart higher or lower, before proceeding. Dart tips should on the same horizontal plane as your bust apex, so that things don’t get all pointy! If there’s only a little difference, this is fixable during the FBA process, since we redraw our dart anyhow. However, if it’s more than 1/2” off, it’s best to take care of it early.
Now, gather your supplies:
1. Clear Tape
2. Scissors
3. Clear Ruler
4. Pattern Weights (I use giant washers!)
5. Pencil
6. Scrap Paper
Isolating the Bodice
Before we start our actual bust adjustment, we need to separate the bust of our pattern piece from the waist and hips. If we do the traditional FBA method, all of the width we add to our busts will also get added to our waistline and hips. We want to keep the waist and hip measurements from our traced bodice, so the blouse doesn’t lose all that lovely waist shaping. The way we do that is by adjusting only the bust area! Easy, right? Let’s start marking…
Draw a line three inches above the Granville’s lengthen/shorten line. If you’re using a different pattern, mark this line about one inch above the smallest point of the pattern’s waist curve. We want to preserve the waist’s curve inward, so that we can true up the lines later, when we rejoin the pattern. You’re going to end up with two parallel lines running the full horizontal length of your pattern.
Along that top line we just drew, cut the pattern clean in two! Set the lower portion aside, until we’ve finished this adjustment.
Voila! We have an isolated bustline. Now, we’ll add width and height to our bustline, without compromising the fit everywhere else.
Drawing the FBA Lines
If you’ve performed an FBA before, you’ll be really familiar with this next set of instructions. Once we’ve detached the lower bodice, we perform a standard FBA, just like we would in a two-dart bodice. We’re going to slice our bodice at key points around the bust apex, move them, and tape everything down again. Let’s start drawing in our cut lines, shall we? As you can see below, I’ve drawn in the standard lines on this bodice in pencil already, however I’m going to walk you through each line. When it’s time to mark that line, I’ll highlight it with a bright digital line, so you see everything clearly.
First off, we’re going to draw Line #1, shown in red above. Simply start at your waist, directly below your bust apex, and draw a vertical line up to your bust apex dot. (For some reason, I drew my pencil line through the dot and to my shoulder, which is unnecessary for this adjustment. Ignore that! Just draw up to your bust apex.)
Next, we’re going to draw Line #2 from your bust apex dot to your armscye, about 1/3rd of the way down from your shoulder. This is shown in bright green above. We don’t go any lower than 1/3rd of the armscye, because that can cause the armhole to distort too much!
Now, we’re going to draw Line #3 through the middle of our bust dart, to the apex point. There are two common bust dart orientations: pointed directly at the apex, or coming at it from an angle. If you’re working with a pattern that has a dart pointed smack dab at that apex, rejoice! Just draw a straight line through the dart, to the apex. However, many shirt patterns use an angled dart, for a more flattering fit. The Granville is one such shirt, which means we must draw a line through the middle of the dart, then pivot at the dart tip, and draw a horizontal line to the bust apex. You can see this little turn in the line, above, in bright blue. So easy, right? We just have one more line to draw!
For our final line, we draw a straight line across the pattern, one inch up from the waist. This is shown in purple above. (Mine is kind of distorted in the picture above, because of the camera angle, but it should be one inch up across the whole pattern!)
Slashing Our Pattern
Woohoo! It’s time to bust out those scissors and start cutting away.
For our first cut, we’re going to cut up through Line #1, pivot at the bust apex dot, then continue along Line #2, stopping just before the armscye. We stop before the armscye, so that a paper hinge is formed. That hinge is going to let us add width to the bustline, without messing up our upper bodice. Cool, right?
Next, we’re going to cut along Line #3, stopping just before the bust apex dot. That’s going to give us another little hinge to play with!
Brief Interlude of Math
Now that your pattern piece is all hinged, we can add in the fullness needed to compensate for our full bust measurement. How much extra room do you need, however? There are a few ways to determine how much extra fullness you need, but I go with the simplest version. How much difference is between your full bust and the stated bust measurement on the pattern size? Since I’m using a Size 18, with a stated bust measurement of 43 inches, there is a three inch difference. (Stated measurement: 43 inches; My full bust: 46 inches) That means I need to add an extra three inches to the bodice pattern!
Since a bodice pattern piece is only half of a full bodice, however, this means I’m making a 1.5-inch FBA.
3 extra inches needed ÷ 2 bodice halves = 1.5 inch FBA
(Extra Room Needed ÷ 2 Bodice Halves = FBA width)
Now, let’s start moving things around
Spreading our Pattern
One of the biggest questions I get asked about FBAs is where exactly we add our fullness in. Luckily, the answer is our easiest option: we add it directly to our vertical red Line #1. To do this, secure the center front of your pattern piece, then spread your hinged lower bodice down and to the right. Being careful to keep the slash along Line #1 straight, spread your pattern piece out until there are 1.5 inches* separating the split Line #1.
See how your dart and armscye have also moved to accommodate your new Line #1? That’s exactly what we want. Now, make sure every part is laying flat and your split Line #1 is still straight, with 1.5 inches separating it all the way down, then put pattern weights all over the place!
*Use the measurement you got from our Math Interlude. If you’re doing a 2-inch FBA, spread it 2 inches, and so forth.
Next, we need to cut our final line. Keeping your main bodice in place, cut along and clean through Line #4.
Move that new piece down, so that both parts of Line #4 are even with one another again. You’re compensating for the small bit of vertical room we added in our FBA.
Very carefully put scrap paper underneath all the holes on your pattern, without shifting it around. (Hooray pattern weights!) Tape this scrap paper down. At your dart, leave extra paper past the pattern’s end. We’re going to redraw that dart next and will need the extra room!
Redrawing Your Bust Dart
Now, it’s time to draw in a fancy new bust dart. To do this, first we have to mark your new dart tip.
There are some standard rules with darts that nobody tells you. You definitely don’t want this baby going all the way to your bust apex. That’s how dreadful, pointy hideousness happens! The standard rule of thumb is to position the dart tips one inch away from your bust apex. For curvy women, however, this rule doesn’t always hold true. If you have a large bosom, your actual bust apex takes up more room, after all. Over time, you will find what works best for you, but for large busts, I like the dart tips to be two inches from the apex instead.
To mark this, measure two inches to the right of your bust apex, then mark that dot for your side bust dart. Voila! A dart tip.
It’s now time to redraw your side bust dart! To do this, use your ruler and draw two straight lines from the original dart ends, to your new dart tip. I’ve done this in black above. Completely ignore the original dart legs. You’re blazing your own path and don’t need to follow those! Just go straight to your personal dart tip. Way to be a renegade!
We’re so close to the end! It’s time to get rid of that extra paper. To do this, fold your bottom dart leg to your top dart leg. Once it’s folded, cut upwards along the side, so that your side seam is straight, instead of poking out. I didn’t take a picture of this step, for some reason, so here is me doing the exact same thing to a different bodice:
And…drumroll please….
WE HAVE A FINISHED FULL BUST ADJUSTMENT! WOOHOO!
Unless you want to rock a crop top, however, we should probably reattach the lower bodice.
Rejoining The Pattern
Reuniting your pattern is absurdly easy, y’all. Place the lower half of your pattern where it was attached before, matching up all vertical markings and the center front. Tape it together!
Now, we have to deal with that ridiculous bit of business happening at our side seam. Take some scrap paper and tape it underneath your side seam, along the waist curve.
Starting just below your bust dart, gently draw in a new side seam curve, hitting the smallest point of your original waist curve. I’ve done this (very) poorly with a computer line above, so you can see my new side seam clearly. A French curve can be a great help with this, but you can also eyeball it, if you have a steady hand. Note: Depending on your bust-to-waist ratio, your side seam probably won’t be as dramatic as mine.
Cut along your new side seam. Check that your side seam length matches that of the back side seam, then adjust and redraw the back as necessary. Despite my dramatic side seam, my back matched up really well, so you shouldn’t have to fiddle too much.
Finally, do a happy dance. You’ve just performed one heck of an FBA on that bodice! High five, friends!
Hi, I’ve gone through your FBA for unshaped garments tutorial with great results, and this one is very easy to follow, but I have a question. You suggest lowering darts, then doing the FBA, but what if the bodice is too short to accommodate the lowered darts? I’m interested in modifying the Washi dress by Rae Hoekstra, but I’m sure this applies to many other patterns… Empire waist are rather flattering to certain curvy body types! My thought is to pivot the dart upwards first, then lower it, then finally do the FBA, but I’m new to sewing and I’m not sure if this makes sense!
I’m just getting ready to try my first FBA for my beautiful, curvy daughter and yours is the first one I’ve seen that I could make sense out of! Thanks so much and wish me luck…..I’m off to give in and buy some pattern weights now (been resisting it for years.)
New to sewing clothing, I tried my first FBA 1yr ago and was so discouraged I gave up. I am apple shaped on a petite frame (5’1″). My shoulders fit a size 18 but my waist & hips fit a size 22. After reading both of these FBA articles I am encouraged to try again. The pictures & narrative are so clear & understandable. I also appreciate the tips coming from the comments section. I have learned so much from this website. Thank you
Hi, I am a female priest just starting to make my own clerical shirts. My problem is that the collars are always far too big when I choose the right bust size. How do I make the neckline smaller please without taking inches from the bust? Many thanks, I found your collar tutorial very useful
Hello! Do you find the shirts fit you well through the shoulders? If not, I”d recommend choosing a size that fits your neck and shoulders first, and then using a Full Bust Adjustment to make it fit your bust – it’s much easier to make the bust larger than the shoulders/neck smaller. To do that, pick your size using your high bust measurement – the measurement when the tape is under your armpits and above your bust. Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for this info! I’m petite, but curvy too and have had such a hard time working on my 34E girls into a size medium top. But even with this info in still having a certain amount of trouble, as most of my top patterns have no darts at all. Many of them are made for knits which allow for a certain amount of stretch. But let’s face reality here. Stretch over a b cup isn’t the same as stretch over an E. So my first question is how do I do a full bust adjustment on a garment with no dart at all? And also an even more important question is, when you leave the little hinging spots, are they at the seam line or all the way to the edge of the seam allowance?? Thanks so much for this again.
Sorry I can’t answer your first question, but when cutting along the line to make a hinge, stop on the seam sewing line. Hope this helps.
I have a one dart blouse that I need to adjust. I want to do a 2″ FBA, but I also want to add 4″ to the hips as it’s a bit snug.
Would you recommend I do this FBA to add the 2 inches, and then work the slashes for the hip adjustment separately, or should I do the traditional FBA you’ve linked which would add 4″ to the hem also and call it a day?
I’m referring to this bit in the post:
“if we do the traditional FBA method, all of the width we add to our busts will also get added to our waistline and hips.”
My concern is that the 4″ won’t be evenly distributed around the hem, it’ll all be in the front, and I have junk in the trunk as well as the front!
While I’m not an expert in FBA’s, I would think you’d want to add the bulk of your hip adjustment to wherever you are fullest – in my case that’s definitely over the booty.
Also I’m not sure if you’re asking whether you should do a 4″ FBA – definitely only do as much as you need!
Hey there. I ended up using your tutorial for the original standard bodice, which added 4″ overall to the hem and it worked out FANTASTIC. Thanks so much! I’m so happy with the overall fit. It definitely looks not too baggy, which is my problem when upsizing to account for boobs. I actually have the shirt dress pattern in my stash and needed to do an FBA but was so terrified about it but you’ve made it do-able! You can see the little blouse I made here: http://www.eatsleepknit.co.uk/butterick-6185-collared-blouse-review/ I’ve referred people to your tutorials!
Hi Mary. I have the same question as Kate re doing a fba when there is only a waist dart. Also do you have a tut on fitting the back bodice to accomodate broadness across the shoulder blades but narrow on the rest. I thought I was a fairly standard size until I started trying to make a dress. What I have read on here so far is amazing. I will be back to read more soon
Your tutorials are lovely, thanks! I have a related issue to this post. I’m working with a vintage pattern that only has a front dart, no side dart, and I need to add a full 2 inches to the pattern half. The bodice ends right at the natural waist. Is there a way to do this that maintains the single dart, or do I need to add a side dart to make this work? I can’t figure out how to take out the added length in the side seam.
This is so handy! Thanks for the clear pictures and excellent instructions.
Hi Mary, hope you can answer a question (I’m still a beginner, pretty much, so forgive me!)
According to my measurements, I am cutting a 12 at the shoulder and grading out to a 16 below the armhole, similar to what you did in your tutorial. Do I cut a size 12 arm piece or a 16? Im sure this has an obvious answer but, like I say, I am still learning 🙂
Oh, and also … which size yoke? And I assume I do the same grading out of sizing for the other back pieces?
Go with a size 12 yoke – you’ll want it to be smaller across the shouders and upper back (I assume) and the yolk finishes well above your bust so it should be fine.
With regards to the sleeve – it depends on how big your arms are! I cut a size 12 in the shoulders and needed to use the size 14 sleeve as the 12 was slightly too small. Whatever size you’re choosing, try and keep the shape and length of the armscye the same (you want to do as little to this part as possible)
Don’t be embarrassed for asking questions – as some people say, the only silly question is one you didn’t ask (unless the person you’re asking is a jerk).
Thanks very much Sophie-Lee, I appreciate the reply.
It seems this would add length to the bodice where the adjustment was made. Did you make any changes when you taped the two pieces back together to account for that? or am I having a dense moment?
Excellent question, Jodie! We enlarged the side dart, as we did the adjustment, so it takes in a larger amount of fabric and your side seams still match up. That’s where that extra length gets absorbed in the pattern. It does add extra length to the center front, but that’s a full bust adjustment’s job–we’re adding length specifically to the bust area, to better curve around the bustline itself. If you are large-busted, this won’t result in a longer than intended shirt, but rather one that hits where intended in the design.
Thank you Mary! That makes sense now. I appreciate you taking the time to explain. Thank you for the wonderful tutorial!
WOW this is mind blowing.
I am sewing the Belcarra and loved the fitting on my hips, not so much the bust area until I chose a smaller size and made my first FBA. So much better but still not perfect as there was an added space to my hips that I wasn’t in love with. Someone in the comments said something about “maternity effect” and couldn’t agree more!!
Now I am eager to try this new method, I’m pretty sure it is gonna be so much better.
Next will be the Granville, which I bought thanks to the lovely reviews and tuts I’ve seen here.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
First FBA I’ve truly understood! Makes perfect sense and photos are really helpful…Thank you
I’m so happy you found it helpful, Ann! I hope your next FBA goes smoothly.
Wow, first-rate tut, well done…I think I’d better browse around here, thanks!
Wow. Thank you so much, Mr. Coffin! Coming from you, especially, that makes me so happy.
Holy guacamole! I feel like I could actually do this!
Woohoo! I hope it goes really well for you, Johanna!
Mary,
Thank you for taking the time to share this awesome tutorial for free. I really appreciate all that you do to make sewing for plus sizes more enjoyable.
Cutting off the pattern piece under the bust is genius. The icing on the cake is you showing us how to blend the seams back together.
Hugs or fist pound to you from me.
I’m really, really glad that you found this helpful! When I first saw this technique done, a few years back, it blew my mind. Being able to hack that pattern in half is shockingly liberating.
*fist pound*
This is an excellent explanation of this process. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise.
I’m so happy that you found it helpful!
Wonderfully clear tutorial as usual, thanks Mary! With Sewaholic patterns in the past, I’ve just selected my full bust size and graded down at the hips and waist (I’m also more of an hourglass than a pear shape). The fit has still been too tight though, so I’ve got high hopes for doing it this way instead! x
Thanks, Jane! I hope this does help out, with future Sewaholic patterns. I’ve done the same grading trick myself and this FBA method was a revelation, when it comes to fit. It take a little time (usually 30-45 minutes for me, but I’m slow), but the end result is so much better. Good luck!
WOW! Well done Mary and thanks!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy to help out.
Thats so useful – thanks! Is there any chance of doing a PDF/Print friendly version to have at hand?
I can definitely look into that! I’ll see what the best way is to get PDFs uploaded to the site. Thanks for the excellent suggestion!
A totally fantastic tutorial – I have all my Granville pattern traced but have yet to do the FBA … thanks for making that super easy!
No problem, T! I cannot wait to see your Granville!
This is the best FBA tute I have seen. All the others seem to ignore the ‘maternity dress’ effect, or just chop width from the whole side seam after adjustment but I think this works much better. Because I have a much larger bust than hips I often use a technique similar to yours but put a dart below the bust (and sometimes in the armhole too!) and sew the front in two pieces, which gives a great fit but my method needs fiddly matching and changes the look of many garments. .
Thanks so much, Jennifer! My number one tutorial pet peeve is, hands down, that whole adding width all over, then guessing on how much to take away thing. If you just leave the part of the pattern you’re not adjusting alone, it makes things infinitely more precise!
Great tutorial. I learnt how to do an FBA with Palmer Pletch. Your version is slightly different and allows for the smaller waist which is great. Am going to try out your version on a Simplicy pattern and see how I go. Will keep you posted. Now all I want to know is how to get rid of a dart once I have made the FBA. Can I just re-direct that fullness into a gathered yoke or MUST I have a dart?
From what I know of pattern drafting, you can direct it almost anywhere (although once the darts get over ~10cm you want to think about distributing it to two different places). These sorts of patterns look great with the fullness made into gathers to the shoulder, I think!
Thank you Sophie-Lee and Mary, going to see how I go. Love this sight.
Sophie is absolutely right. Once you’ve finished the FBA, you can move this dart anywhere, including rotating it in to gathers. It’s actually a really simple adjustment to make!
This is so great – so well written that a daunting task seems easy. Although I am glad I don’t have to do them
Thanks, Soph! I’m so jealous of your no-FBA status, by the way. Now that I’ve mastered them, they don’t bother me, but I made some really ill-fitting garments, back in college, when I hadn’t tried them yet.
Seriously, you write the most clear tutorials I’ve ever read! It is such a huge help when you explain the why in addition to the how. Everything just clicks. I am eager to take a crack at this FBA version – I may just have to order that Oakridge ASAP! Thanks again, Mary.
Thank you so much, Dana! As a writer, it’s really important to me for tutorials to be super clear and helpful. I pretty much always want to know the “why” behind things, which has led to some reaaallly interesting sewing experiments, on my part. I’m so glad that you find this one helpful!
Mary, thanks for that terrific FBA tute. I have a 10cm side dart and am really keen to do something about making that into 2 darts. Can you direct me somewhere for instructions? I checked SCC and all my pattern drafting books to no avail. Love your blog too – keep up the good work!
Mary may have a different answer, but I had this tutorial on my Pinterest board – it may help!
http://www.sewalongs.com/hawthorn/hawthorn-fba-bonus-splitting-the-dart
Fantastic question! I’m actually with Dana on this one — the Hawthorn tutorial is the best dart splitting tutorial I’ve found online yet. It’s on my agenda to write up a more in-depth one, however, so I’ll keep you posted on when that one happens!
Thanks for the clear tutorial, I’m thinking this could become my go to shirt pattern too!
It’s such a wonderful pattern, isn’t it, Kate? Every detail is exactly what I’d wish for. I hope you have good luck sewing it up!