Lenox Shirtdress Fitting

I've been wanting to sew a shirtdress for a while (actually years) and finally decided to bite the bullet and make it happen. I'm using the Lenox Shirtdress by Cashmerette. My measurements standing are High Bust = 41, Bust = 46", Waist = 38 1/2", Hip = 46". When I sit down the waist and hip measurements increase to 41" and 48 1/2" respectively. (This is pretty common, people are shaped differently sitting than standing) Since I'm planning on making this out of a non-stretch woven, I want the finished waist measurement to be at least 41" or the garment will feel too small when sitting. I'm not worried about the hip measurement since the pattern is a free hip. Based on this I chose to make a size 18. 

The measurements for the finished garment are 48 1/2" bust and 39 7/8" waist, so the waist is going to be a bit tight as written without adjustment. I ended up adding 2" to the waist, to get up to the size 20 finished waist measurement. This was done based on the Cashmerette instructions for grading between sizes for patterns with princess seams, adding 1/2" of additional width to the side seams at the front and back of the body pieces, the waist band, and the skirt (the skirt pieces ended up at a straight 20 size, but I kept the pleats at the size 18 locations to align with the princess seams). 

I made my first pass on the dress using some old sheets, with the adjusted pattern pieces. Cashmerette also has a sleeve expansion available for an extra $10 including a full bicep short sleeve and long sleeves. I started out with the full bicep sleeve - I know my measurements well enough to know that the regular bicep is not going to work for me. I did the full collar, front bands, and pockets, mostly to practice the construction. 

I shot a video of me in the muslin to see how it works on my body.

The result was pretty good! Not perfect, but the body modifications work well. 

The big issue was the back and sleeve fit - the back felt tight and when I raised my arms and the sleeves felt tight. But there was plenty of room around the bicep with my arms down.

Side view of dress showing tight sleeves

It was tough to tell what exactly was causing the issue, so I pulled the sleeves out and looked at how the armscye fit without the sleeves. It looked OK, so I ended up re-drawing the sleeve to flatten out the sleeve cap and make a bit more room there. The actual bicep space was ok, I had an inch or two of ease, but there wasn't enough mobility in the pattern as written. Especially since I plan to dance in this dress (if we ever go back to social dancing) and being able to move the arms is important. 

Revised sleeve pattern

The final version is pretty good! There's a bit of extra ease in the body between bust and waist but honestly not enough to worry about and I think most of it is necessary for movement. 

Back view of the dress showing arm mobility

Next up is sewing the dress in the real fabric! 



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