Frankenpatterning

I have been finding that since I have been sewing, I have become much more particular about how clothing LOOKS. I used to be much more accepting of things that were "close enough." Now I am much more aware of what the proper styles for my body shape are, what I am most comfortable wearing, and I have been much less patient with patterns lately that have some, but not all, of the traits that I am looking for.

For example, one of my favorite shirts that I have made recently is Burda 05-2009-110. The front, with the sewn-down pleats, is very flattering:


Here is the line drawing:

The shirt has an empire line that I had to lower by two inches in the original, and I also had to add some extra room in the biceps. Over all, the alterations were easy and I was fairly happy with the way the shirt turned out:


There were two issues that kept the shirt from being a "home run." The shirt has a nice shape, but the back also has pleats, and I find that those pleats just bulge out over my rear end, not a very flattering look! I also did not like the sleeves, as they were difficult to ease, and were a bit to short and narrow for my preferences.


So, I decided that I would alter the back to have darts instead of pleats. To do this, I traced a new version of the back, with the center pleats folded out, and then drew in darts using Butterick 4609 for the size, length, and placement:


I also decided that I wanted to change the sleeves and armscye. Recently, I made Burda 01-2010-133, a peasant shirt with front bib:


The sleeves were perfect, no working out excess ease, and the length and size around the bicep was idea. So I decided that I wanted to use those sleeves. To do this, I also had to change the armscye, so I laid the 01-2010-133 pattern over the armscye of my new tracing for 05-2009-110 and retraced it.

Here is my final "Frankenpattern," made in an embroidered black lawn (that picks up every bit of lint in the house!):


I know, you can never see the details on black clothes. So here are some lightened images:


You can see the alternating lines of embroidery in the above photo. Here you can see the altered back, with the pleats replaced by two long darts:


And the perfectly eased sleeve:


I am going to start tracing this sleeve cap and armscye onto every pattern I make, it went in so nicely!

And finally, from the side, you can see no pouf about the bum! (Although my multiple chins are clearly visible):


All in all, I am very happy with this version of the shirt, and think that this will definitely become the basis for many shirts in the future. One of my next projects is to redraft the pattern for the bib shirt (blue plaid) to add sewn-down darts on the front, and add the darted back, rather than the pleated back. But, before I do that, on the cutting table is a shirt for my husband Kwik Sew 2777. I will keep you updated on my progress!