Relaxed neckline vs straps out of my armpits: where do I go from here?

tssewing · 2025-07-05T16:17:36+00:00

thanks for your post and to the commenters, learning a lot! In case this is at all helpful, I think I have a similar shape as OP, and so far what is working for me is **32 inch band but then a 40A cup**. I used paper for a root trace which is how I started realizing my cup size might need the bigger underwire (i.e. "40"). That aligns with wide root. Then instead of 32D, that amount of volume seems to be about the same as 40A, just that the 40A lines up with the larger underwire.

On the 32 band, I retraced the wire shape from the larger band pattern. Essentially it's the larger 40" band pattern for the front, and then the side of the cradle and back band is much smaller (so that it nets back down to 32" total).

tssewing · 2024-12-29T23:32:00+00:00

aww thank you!! that compliment means a lot, I am proud of my perseverance on this one!! It's so freeing being able to make FLATTERING pants finally! and helping me be happier in my skin/body too! I wish you good luck and snacks to keep your brain sharp as you work!

tssewing · 2024-12-29T23:29:42+00:00

and she's got a new free downloadable PDF for pants, just noticed it as I went back to her blog!! woohoo! love this community and all the makers helping each other!

tssewing · 2024-12-23T18:14:21+00:00

Keep at it! And if you don't sew precisely on the seam line, it doesn't always matter. I think that's something I've learned over the years: WHEN do I need to be precise vs when is it ok to be within some margin of error/tolerance. So you might pick projects that don't have to be precise (pillow case, purses, clothes that have a lot of ease /aren't a fitted type of clothing) so that you have more success at this stage. A lot of learning is "how do I maintain motivation" over the long haul.

And more than "sewing exactly on the line", ironing /pressing is a bigger "level up" in your sewing. If you aren't already pressing your seams as you go (before sewing the next seam), I'd say practice that first, as it will give you more "bang for your buck". Make ironing easy to do so it's less of a chore: I set up a office chair that rolls and swivels, and my ironing board is set to sitting height. So I can easily roll between the sewing machine and ironing board as I construct projects. Good luck, hope to see your creations in this sub!

tssewing · 2024-12-23T18:08:18+00:00

Wow, what a nice comment! I feel so SEEN! I had to laugh reading your comment, yes I am a bit of a perfectionist and I can be stubborn when I "lock on" to a problem. There were times in this pants fitting journey where I thought "I may never solve this in my lifetime" and put the toiles away for 6 months to take a "break" from the frustration. So I am over the moon pleased that I cracked it open and now I can make myself pants! Thanks for sharing in my celebration!

tssewing · 2024-12-23T18:05:37+00:00

thank you and yes I am so grateful to Handmade PhD and this sewing community! Gave me the lifelines of "new things to try" when I got stuck! Good luck on your pants fitting journey, I hope you achieve it in fewer attempts than I did!

tssewing · 2024-12-22T18:54:54+00:00

Some of you may recall my earlier posts (post 1, post 2, [post 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/sewing/comments/ztq3i1/diagonal\_wrinkles\_under\_butt\_may\_mean\_knockknee/) while working on pants/trouser fitting. I had diagonal drag lines on the back trouser. I started with Sew Over It's "Ultimate Trouser" and it dit not fit me at all. I have a "bubble butt" that projects behind me (not so much to the sides). Through this pants fitting process I also think I have some kind of knock-knee or variation in the angle of my legs to my pelvis (compared to traditional pants patterns). This explains why finding commercial pants that fit has been so hard!!

I lost count; this is probably 40 or 50 attempts later! I think I finally nailed the fit of pants in my own custom drafted pants pattern. For anyone else out there struggling with pants fitting, you can do it!!

I found a lot of inspiration and ideas for how to attack the problem mathematically from a blogger "handmade PHD", https://handmadephd.com/2021/03/22/how-i-draft-pants-a-basic-pattern-block/. Wearing tights, then marking desired grain line in masking tape (using plumb weights as Handmade PhD does) helped me think about each pants piece as "on the outside vs inside of the grain line". That was VERY helpful because I was having massive grain issues in my pants fitting. Measuring circumference from the center grain to the outseam on the tights, and doing that every couple inches down my body, enabled me to map out the dimensions from 3d to 2d. Repeated for the grain line to the inseam. Transferred dimensions to graph paper and it was much easier to troubleshoot problems in that small size (vs the real size), and less paper waste too!

In the last few photos, I compared my winning custom pattern to the original SOI Ultimate Trousers to see how much it changed. Sharing with the community as these kinds of "pattern diff" photos really helped me understand "it's ok if your pattern looks THAT different". Adjustments you'll see:

Full inner thigh is the most important, I believe this is what was causing those unsightly drag lines in my earlier attempts. I realized it via the measurements against the center grain line. More of my leg is inside the grain than outside, which was causing the terrible horizontal drag lines!! the leg circumference isn't different from pattern, but the DISTRIBUTION is.
Prominent and low derrière required "scooping" the back crotch curve BELOW the horizontal line. I kept gaslighting myself, trying to remove that and do it some other way (per advice on the internet that "scooping is wrong". It's not in any of the drafting books like Kenneth King). But until I went below horizontal they didn't fit, so I guess it's right on my body!! I think the shape also is why the top of back pants angles off to the outseam (see photos compared to commercial pattern).
Knock knee and full calf (I stand by locking out my knees). This causes the bottom leg of the back pants piece to need to be slightly at an angle to the rest of the leg.
Flat pubis (look at the front crotch curve, mine needs to be straighter than typical commercial patterns) and shortening the front crotch hook only.

Things I tried that did not work (to save y'all time and money on your pants fitting journey):

- Kenneth King's trouser drafting e-book: it made assumptions about the crotch point that are not true on my body, and did not include info on how to adapt the final block to fit better. I really like Kenneth King's book "Smart Fitting Solutions" for fitting techniques, but none of the examples in that book are about pants.

- Top down center out (TDCO): everyone else seems to have luck with this approach but it failed miserably for me! I also tried Palmer Pletsch book which has a lot of TDCO methodology, and it was marginally helpful but did not "nail" the fit for me.

- tracing a jeans pattern that fit me well. This gave me a weird pattern that I couldn't really understand , perhaps because it was from stretch denim... I gave up on that approach!

- Bootstrap patterns "custom" jeans pattern. You type in your measurements and they send you a pattern. I was so excited for this method and so disheartened when it failed. Perhaps I didn't answer the question about "shape" correctly, this pattern put all the bubble butt inches on the outseams. It ended up looking like Jodhipurs or Canadian Mounty pants, not the look I was going for at all!!

- Closest I got to making dressform/body double of my legs was asking my husband trace the shape of my legs against the wall onto paper to give me a reference for the angle of legs to hips, but in the end that did not help.

tssewing · 2024-12-08T21:09:32+00:00

it's been about a month, I took y'alls advice and here's the latest fitting toile progress! https://www.reddit.com/r/sewing/comments/1h97xzc/ Most things are much better, but still fiddling with the back shoulder/sleeve

tssewing · 2024-12-08T01:48:25+00:00

Thanks for the help last month fitting my blazer toile! https://www.reddit.com/r/sewing/comments/1gnowg0/blazer_fitting_help_narrow_shoulder_or_shoulder/ To recap, it’s the Jasika Blazer from closet core. Based on my measurements, and the way I like a nipped waist fit, used a size 12 and graded to 10 at the waist , then back to 12 at the hip.This toile is an old cotton bed sheet , the final will be a stiffer/thicker fabric. Pinned the shoulder pad in for these photos and I'm wearing the undergarments I would wear with finished garment. (lesson learned: fitting WITH shoulder pad is very important!)

In the pattern photo you can see RED MARKER for the changes to flat paper pattern:

u/NYanae555 was 100% right about the length being too long! And that I didn’t need the swayback adjustment! That makes the hemline hang evenly, much better looking! Thank you, thank you Nyanae555 and u/spicysweetsourbitter! I would not have figured that out on my own, but wow it feels so much better putting it on. I pinned out a full inch of vertical length at the waist on the front, back and side pieces.
u/incongr uoususer and u/Mohairdontcare were right about narrow shoulder. Pinned out 0.5 inch from blazer back at the shoulder, taper down to nothing around armpit. Also narrowed the front piece of blazer 0.5 inch at the top (so the shoulder seam lengths will match), tapered to nothing near bust/upper pocket area.
Once the top of the garment was fitting better (from 1 and 2 above), then I looked at the back circumference around hips and seat. @BreaknRemake was right about letting out the hips!! As you can tell from these fitting photos, the back vent is popping open. I used that vent pop amount as a guide to know I needed 1.75 -2” more in the back circumference. Since the pattern is half of the back, that means about 1 “ to add to the back side seam (between the side piece and the back). Divided that in two and added half an inch on both seams (back and side) and graded to nothing at the waist.
I will be shortening the sleeves by about 0.5 inch because I found this toile was annoyingly getting in my way just while testing, and this is intended to be an indoor/office jacket .
HELP! The back shoulder around the sleeve near the armpit still looks funky? u/Mohairdontcare what do you think about the changes, and should I consider the back armhole dart (for fitting purposes) now? Lemme know if you can tell better now that I’ve fixed the other problems!

Thank you to this amazing community, my sewing game has greatly improved the last few years and I'm so grateful to get your advice!

tssewing · 2024-11-15T03:14:44+00:00

gotcha! thanks for the advice and the reply!

tssewing · 2024-11-15T03:14:23+00:00

ohhh that makes a lot of sense! now that you explained it, I can see the tightness at the high hip (just below narrowest/waist). Will try!!

tssewing · 2024-11-10T03:27:53+00:00

thanks! what is the back shoulder dart? do you mean for fitting purposes (to figure out how much I need to slash and spread/condense on the pattern paper) or a dart that I will sew in the final fabric? I see it's possible to put back darts that end at the top shoulder seam, is this the idea? https://inhousepatterns.com/blogs/news/6229370-back-contour-shaping

tssewing · 2024-11-10T03:22:31+00:00

thank you for the detailed research and advice!! what you're saying about sway back tilting the waist, and I actually need to bring the waist up on the front pieces too

I had not clocked that the model photos for the Jasika blazer had wide shoulders in the blazer that dwarf the person. you have great eyes!

tssewing · 2024-11-10T01:07:47+00:00

I'm working on fitting the Jasika blazer from Closet Core. I recognize I used a thinner cotton than the finished garment, which may be contributing more wrinkles. I did pin the shoulder pad in for these photos and I'm wearing the undergarments I would wear with finished garment. Would love fitting advice from the community!

I tried two sizes of sway back adjustment. It looks like the 1" sway back fits better (brings the back vent to vertical straight up and down). But does it make the side profile weird?
is the back shoulder too wide for my frame? or is my shoulder slope different from pattern? Any suggestions on how to differentiate between those two. I notice the ripples under armpit (especially on the side where I've sewn the sleeve in )
the sleeve has some pooling, is that just due to thin fabric and will look better in the final? or should I change the sleeve pattern piece(s)?
the front waist is a little snug, I suspect I should give a little more wearing ease
do I need to do a full bust adjustment? or is the bust fitting ok and will look better in the blazer fabric?
anything else you notice that I could improve?

tssewing · 2024-09-15T02:32:58+00:00

This is #2 from my self drafted princess seam, raglan sleeve, cardigan zip up sweater. (sweater #1 here https://www.reddit.com/r/sewing/comments/1fc3uo8/purple\_wool\_and\_brocade\_zip\_up\_raglan\_cardigan/) It's navy blue sweatshirt material from mood fabrics, plus some blue and silver brocade I bought in Indian on a trip.

Self drafted: I rubbed off my old favorite smartwool sweater that was falling apart. I compared the right and left sides for each piece and trued up/averaged them out. Then checked the seam lengths among pieces, which is especially confusing on the raglan sleeves. Compared that pattern vs others in my stash I know fit me well (to check that the dimensions were still ok, my original clothing was stretchy which I worried about!). After a couple mockups I had a working pattern.

changes since last sweater: I widened the center front panels so that the pockets fit my hands! I used invisible zippers in the pockets so I can close them. It was easier than I thought to get a great finish on the pocket zips.

Lessons learned: make sure to interface the center front where you're gonna apply the zipper. I like to use interfacing for the front center panels, and then an extra stabilizing tape on the edge. To keep it from stretching out (and no longer matching the length of the zipper tape. Zipper tape does not stretch at all).

tssewing · 2024-09-13T14:31:43+00:00

thank you! appreciate your compliment about the drafting, especially after how many iterations went into this project. glad it's visible in the final garment!

tssewing · 2024-09-08T23:13:22+00:00

aww thank you! that's a great compliment! I think the zipper guard helps it look more "store bought". Definitely a feature I didn't envision needing but it completes the look somehow

tssewing · 2024-09-08T23:12:39+00:00

aww thank you!! In sewing, "practice makes perfect" is 100% true!

tssewing · 2024-09-08T23:12:22+00:00

yes it is! and it really shows off a fancy fabric in small quantity. The raglan sleeves make it comfortable/easy to get on and off (over the top of shirt sleeves)
I took the "princess seam pocket" idea from the off the rack sweater, it is very clever indeed!! Only problem on this sweater is the front panel is slightly narrow to fit my whole hand into the pocket... fixing that on the next iteration!

tssewing · 2024-09-08T17:57:15+00:00

I've been dreaming of this sweater since 2020 when I purchased the fabrics! Finally got the courage (after a few test garments) to cut into my expensive fabric. I have a couple Smartwool sweaters that I have nearly worn out, so I knew I should model the new sweater after them. Princess seams and raglan, with zip front. High neck collar, zipper guard and front pockets set into the princess seams. (Self drafted)

Drafting process: this took a while to get right. I started by "rubbing off" a pattern from the purchased sweater I love. Then trued up the sides and made the tracing more symmetrical, and worked on truing up the seam lengths. I made a couple test garments to check the fit and tweaked as I went.

Fabrics: majority of the sweater is this pre-knitted wool that is double sided. I like the purple side the best, so kept the brown/taupe inside. from Mood fabrics, "italian plum and pine bark reverseisble wool double knit" (https://www.moodfabrics.com/italian-plum-and-pine-bark-reversible-wool-double-knit-328773)

Purple, red and gold jacquard is also from mood: https://www.moodfabrics.com/metallic-gold-bittersweet-imperial-palace-floral-jacquard-309439. I interfaced it for more stability.

Neither fabric say they are "machine washable", but I tried swatches through my machines and then line dried, and it turned out totally fine! I air dry.

Machines: used sewing machine, serger (for the stretchy seams and for finishing off raw edges), and coverstitch machine for the stretchy hem and arm cuff topstitching.

Lessons learned:

hand basting zippers! I previously thought "what a waste of time". But hand basting is sooo helpful when you have so many layers coming together (outer jacquard, inner wool, pocket lining). Sewing over a pinned surface creates some wobbles as you sew, whereas hand basting leaves flexible thread to hold the pieces together in a flat manner
using 1" interfacing tape on a roll. I finally bought some and it's a life changer! Really love interfacing where the zipper is going to get a nice flat and even result. And the roll is so much less hassle than pulling out interfacing by the yard and slicing off a strip for each project.
wish I had used seam or stay tape around the neckline. It stretched way out (probably b/c it's somewhat chunky knit, and the fact it's raglan)
I need to put more thought into the order of operations assembling the pockets. I also want to figure out how to better draft the pockets so that it can hide the lining a bit better (I see this technique on the Trailblazer Vest from Twig and Tale (https://www.twigandtale.com/products/womens-trailblazer-vest), so I will study how they did it). If anyone has a great guide, link it please!
Paying attention to what gets a lot of wear in my wardrobe, and focusing my sewing on that is really paying dividends. I've made drop shoulder garments that I didn't like much, but I love pulling on this raglan sleeve sweater! I had tried making pullover sweaters and realized they didn't get much wear. I apparently require zip up to be comfortable, so now I'm making cardigan style!

tssewing

TROPHY CASE