Making Pattern Adjustments to the Marilyn Dress by Sew Serendipity

Last week I showed you my Marilyn Dress, while the fit was pretty good it still required a few tweaks to straighten the waistline. 

After trying on the finished garment I felt that the side seam was in the correct position but the front needed to come down approx 2cm (1") and the back needed to go up 2cm (1"). As I mentioned last week, you should make a rough toile out of a cheap fabric to sort out these issues before moving onto the final fabric.

We need to change 4 pattern pieces for this adjustment, the bodice pieces and the waistband pieces.

Original Bodice Pattern Pieces (Size XS down to S waist)

Adjusted bodice pieces, the original pattern pieces are in black and all adjustments are in red. 

Bodice Back

Raise the back of the bodice (left) by measuring up 2cm along the centre back seam. Draw a line from this point to the bottom of the side seam to create the new under bust seam. 

Bodice Front

Lower the front of the bodice (right) by measuring down from the centre front 2cm. Draw a line from the bottom of the side seam through this point. Extend the centre front down to meet this line to create the new under bust seam on this piece.

Original Waistband Pattern Pieces (size S)

Adjusted waistband pieces, the original pattern pieces are in black and all adjustments are in red.

The adjustments for the waistband pieces are much the same as the bodice, except you have to move the under bust seam (top) and waist (bottom) seams.

Waistband Back

To raise the waist at the back of the waistband (top), measure up 2cm from the bottom of the centre back seam to find point A. Draw a line from this point to the bottom of the side seam (point B) to create the new waist seam. Measure up 2cm from the top of the centre back seam (point C), draw a line from this point to the top of the side seam (point D) to create the new under bust seam. Join points A and C to create the new centre back seam.

Waistband Front

To lower the waist at the front of the waistband (bottom), measure down 2cm from the top of the centre front seam to find point E. Draw a line from this point to the top of the side seam (point F) to create the new under bust seam. Measure down from the bottom of the centre front seam to find point G. Draw a line from point G to the bottom of the side seam (point H) to create the new waist seam. Join points E and F to create the new centre front seam.

My final marilyn dress made using the adjusted pattern pieces, the waistline is now straight :D I still wear the cherry version of the dress but this one is a much better fit. I have a made a few other marilyn Dresses for other members of my family and I will be blogging the pattern adjustments made to these garments over the next few weeks.
- Ky