Hello, readers!
Have you ever felt quite confident about your abilities to only find yourself with a sewing fail? That’s exactly what happened to me recently. I was gung-ho to work on a post for Lingerie Month and signed up to make a vintage slip pattern. I’ve sewn several slip patterns from the 1920’s to contemporary and it’s usually a quick sew that goes from cutting to wearing before the day is out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with this particular pattern. Enter Advance 4134.
Advance 4134
Advance 4134 is a slip pattern from 1946. It’s a fairly straightforward pattern with princess seams, a sweetheart neckline, low back, varying lengths, and an option to add lace. It’s rather easy to find vintage slip patterns in larger sizes. I’ve seen them up to a 50″ bust (I think I might have seen 52″, 54″ and 56″ as well) in patterns going back to the 1910’s. Apparently, if there’s one thing that pattern companies of the past would provide to fuller figured women, it was slips.
This particular pattern has a bust size of 42″, which meant that I had to size it up 6″ to a size 48″. I started out by tracing the pattern out on Swedish tracing paper and then adjusted the size using the slash and spread grading method. I am pretty adept at re-sizing patterns to fit me as I do it with nearly every pattern I sew with. This probably added to my arrogance as I generally breeze through this process.
Re-sized pattern pieces pinned to silk charmeuse
Yep. I’m still kicking myself for not making a muslin of this pattern, or at least basting the Swedish tracing paper (which is sew-able) pieces together to test the fit. Unfortunately, Ms. Cocky here, just pinned the pattern out on her silk charmeuse and cut and sewed away. Dumb move.
I took the time to sew French seams in this slip and everything was going together smoothly. That was until I saw how terrible the side seam dart on the bodice front looked. At first, I assumed that it was my error when I enlarged the pattern. So I took that dart out and moved it. And then I moved it again. Remember, this is silk charmeuse I’m sewing on, so every needle mark remained present. I used the drawing on the envelope for reference — both the illustration on the front and the line drawing on the pattern. I messed around with this for two days and finally just had to step away. I couldn’t understand how something could go from great to a fail because of one stinking dart.
The offending dart
I took some time away the slip as it frankly was pissing me off. I revisited it a few days later and fixed the dart up to where it seemed to work better and then adjusted the princess seams on the bust. It became workable without any extra fabric hanging under the armpit, but I am still not 100% satisfied with the result. It didn’t become the 1940’s slip of my dreams that glides swiftly over my undergarments and gives me a smooth shape under a 1940’s dress, but it became wearable, at least as a nightgown. It does look somewhat better on me than on my dress form.
I made the shoulder straps slightly larger than the pattern for two reasons. One that I really abhor turning skinny spaghetti straps and two that I like them a little thicker. The neckline is finished with self-made seam binding and hand-sewn into place, which is a finish that I like. I’m really happy with the back view as well. There is still a little bit of fabric under the arms. It’s not quite as prevalent on me with my lumps and bumps than on my dress form.
I’m still not certain if it was my pattern grading, the pattern or some other type of slip-up (pardon my pun). Looking back on the slip patterns that I’ve made, none of them have princess seams. They all have dart shaping or a type of bra top. I have made a sheath dress with similar princess seam shaping which didn’t have any “offending” darts. As I like the look of this pattern, I’m going to work on my pattern pieces and get the fit right. That’s something I should have done prior to cutting out silk charmeuse. I still feel confident that this slip will work out in the end. Having a well-fitting 1940’s slip under a 1940’s dress is my goal and if I can get this pattern to work for me, it would have all been worth it in the end.
I love that your slip pattern was vintage–that’s what caught my eye right away. I adore nearly anything vintage!
It looks quite good to me, but I know it’s much easier to see our own errors/issues in our work than in other people’s. I’ve never worked with the fabric you used. Is it tricky in general?
I don’t think this is an issue with your upsizing. The side of your boob is curved, and the fabric is not. Also, through that bit it is on the bias so will tend to stretch out. he combo of these two factors inevitably leads to that lipping outward on the top of the side panel. A dart is a fairly crude solution, naughty vintage pattern. I would recommend a small flat pattern adjustment – just fold out the dart and recut (the arm scye will angle a little more steeply) plus stay stitching this section and gently easing it into shape while it is on you. Same with the side back top. Ensure this easing is captured in the binding finish and all should be perfect! 🙂
That’s what I was thinking of doing with the pattern piece when I feel like fiddling around with it again. Thanks! I’m hoping it will work out.
It’s too bad this one caused you so much trouble. I was wondering, do you have any slip patterns you would recommend?
I like Burda 7186 (paper pattern) and Vogue 8888 a lot. Another slip pattern I saw recently was the Barbara Deckert one, although I haven’t made that https://www.etsy.com/listing/126606910/plus-size-1x-to-6x-cup-size-c-g-full?ref=shop_home_active_2
Thanks for answering, Tanya. The burda one looks great – and has a pattern for tap pants too!
What a shame, because it does seem to be such a lovely pattern. I hope you can sort it out when you regain the mental power to deal with this pattern again ;). At least it salvageable as a luxurious night gown!
I think I’m just going to make this slip into Vogue 8888 and fiddle around with the pattern pieces to make another one. If I’m not completely happy with it, I don’t think it will get worn.
It’s a lovely slip – shame it didn’t work first go round. I have a Simplicity dress pattern that has a dart off the princess seam – the princess seams are wide and the dart is literally coming out of the seam – not the neckline like this one. I wonder if the dart was just there to eliminate excess fabric under the arms? Can’t wait to see how you beat this one – and if you wanted to get rid of the offending pattern, well – I can send my address . . . . g
It seems to a be a bit of a shaping dart. When I get back to the pattern I’ll see if I can just get rid of it. If I can’t get it to work for me, it will be in the mail to you. 🙂
I’m curious on how you graded out the pattern; did you grade ‘evenly’ over all the pieces to size up to your measurements, or did you skew the grading in different areas proportionally? Perhaps you graded the sides too big (and had to eat them up with the dart) compared to the center front or if it was a FBA issue (or both)?
I have a similar pattern that I’ve thought about making, but I’m not quite ‘there’ yet on managing princess seams. I hope you try again with a muslin and see if you can make this workable.
I graded this pattern proportionately to fit my measurements. It’s still possible that I missed something, so hopefully I will get it squared away when I feel like revisiting this pattern again.
I feel your pain – I always have to have those little darts on princess seams, even on the French Chanel-like jacket that I made in Susan Khalje’s class, and she did the fitting, LOL!! I finally figured out it’s because my breasts are quite rounded on the outsides, so there really is no other way to get the fabric to lie smoothly. You might consider splitting that one large dart into two or three smaller, shallower ones, too.
Easing is the answer.
On natural fabrics that will steam shrink well, yes, that can give you a very nice result. But on synthetics and other fabrics that don’t steam shrink very well (which seems to be the case with charmeuse), a dart can work better than easing, because easing will leave puckers or a gathered poofiness right at the seam line if there’s very much to take in. Your comment above about stay-stitching is right on, though. Boy, those armscyes will stretch out in a heartbeat.
Not if you only ease it a little, as in enough to compensate for the bias and because it IS on the bias, it has a more natural sponginess and can absorb a surprising amount of ease 🙂 I wrote a more comprehensive comment further up.
Unfortunately, vintage doesn’t always mean “better”. But you came up with a good solution and I’m sure that as you fiddle more with the pattern, you’ll end up with something you love.
This is certainly true!
I was surprised to see a dart in a princess seam! That is unusual isn’t it? I think your solution was actually really good. You always tell such great stories – this was great fun to read and accompanied with such perfect pictures too! I haven’t used swedish paper but I have adopted this type of material that is sort of a cross between material and paper – I really love it. I did something similar recently with a Sewaholic Cordova jacket and ended up actually just tossing the whole mess 🙂
I’ve never sewn a pattern that has had darts in a princess seam. It does seem odd. I hope when I work on the pattern pieces, that I can eliminate that altogether. I might just end up taking this slip apart and using the fabric for something else as it really is a hot mess to me and I don’t think I’ll be satisfied. It really is terrible to waste so much time on a fail!
Maybe make two or three darts instead of one big one to take up the extra fabric? Very nice slip – I love the vintage slip patterns.
My hope is that when I work with the pattern pieces that I can eliminate any darts.
I know you will figure this slip out.
I hope so! I’ll be taking some time away from it before I work with it again.
Quick question. On the pattern I see a little shaping dart that takes up some extra under the arm. But on the finished garment I see a dart or seam that covers the whole side panel and continues all the way to the princess seam at the bust. Did you make this modification as a bust adjustment? Or am I just not seeing it correctly?
Yes, as discussed in this post, my main issue is that dart.
Yes. I just didn’t see a pattern piece with that big dart so I couldn’t mentally place where it got added in. Thanks. And good luck.
I have thought about this pattern then realized I had one similar around here. I’m not worried about you and this pattern because I know you will master it with sooner or later. I love how it turned out and I know once you tweet it some more, it will be prefect for you. I also want to thank you for tutorials too! They have helped me numerous times and I hope you continue to share more. I agree with you on this mishaps. If it doesn’t work as a slip it can always be a night gown, lol.
Thanks, Sabrina. I’m sure I can figure out what’s going on with the pattern pieces and hopefully get rid of the dart and make a slip that doesn’t look like a mess!
But you will still need to stay stitch and lightly ease. Stuck record here but this is not a flat adjustment only situation! 😉