Little Fitting Guide

From: theshapesoffabric.com
 Table of contents

General rule....................................................................................................................................................2

Fitting Skirts & Pants

Skirt/pants too long or short.................................................................................................4

Higher/lower hipline...........................................................................................................................6
Hip circumference too small/large.................................................................................8
Waist circumference too small/large..........................................................................9
High hip curve.............................................................................................................................................10
Larger thighs at sides.........................................................................................................................11
Sway back............................................................................................................................................................12
Prominent belly..........................................................................................................................................13
Full/flat buttocks.................................................................................................................................14
Fitting the crotch curve.............................................................................................................15

Fitting bodice

Waist circumference..........................................................................................................................17
Waist level........................................................................................................................................................18
Hip circumference too small/large..............................................................................19
Correcting the bust point........................................................................................................20
Gaping armhole........................................................................................................................................21
Armhole height.........................................................................................................................................22
Rounded back fix....................................................................................................................................23
Shoulder line length........................................................................................................................24
Sloped vs. square shoulders......................................................................................................25
Fitting bodice chest & back.......................................................................................................26
Small bust..........................................................................................................................................................27
Large bust.........................................................................................................................................................28
Sleeve length...............................................................................................................................................29
Upper arm width adjustment...................................................................................................31

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 General rule

“Follow the direction of the wrinkles.”

Tight horizontal wrinkles are a telltale sign that there isn’t

enough fabric to go around the body and the garment
needs more room to the vertical seams.

Tight vertical wrinkles mean that the garment is too short

and you need to add more length. For example when the
pants crotch level is too high up.

To make things more confusing, the rule works in the

opposite direction with loose wrinkles! Which basically
means sagging.

Loose horizontal wrinkles mean that the garment is too

long.

Loose vertical wrinkles tell you that the garment is too

wide and needs to be taken in at the side seams.

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 fitting
Skirts & Pants

3
 Skirt/Pants
too Long or Short

For straight skirts, such as the skirt block, you just lengthen or
shorten the hemline until it has the right length. If you are
fitting a flared skirt you can consider using the same method
as with the pants if you want to maintain the same hemline
width. Otherwise, just follow the side seam inclination.
c.front

c.back
c.front

c.back

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1. 2. For pants
there are two
options,
depending on
how much
you need to
modify the
front pant

front pant
back pant

back pant
length:
If it’s only a
bit, you can
adjust modify at the
knee lower part
level only.
Otherwise
divide the
amount on
both sides of
the knee line.
In any case,
check the
knee level
measurement
afterwards.
1. 2. In the
example
above the
pants
become
longer.
back pant

back pant
front pant

Below, they
front pant

become
shorter. To
shorten the
pants you
overlap the
sections.
Finally, adjust
the lines.

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 Higher/Lower Hipline

Similarly to the previous example you can also alter the hipline
height.
If it’s too high, the hip curves of your skirt/pants remain empty
on the sides because the widest part of your hips is lower. The
pants might also have the crotch seam too high up which
causes it to pull. In the case of a pencil skirt then your hips
might not fit as the skirt becomes narrower below the hipline.
If the hipline is too low, your hips won’t fit as the widest part of
the skirt/pants is lower than your hips. Therefore you’ll see
some tight horizontal wrinkles form where your hips are. The
skirt might hike up, too.
Notice, that this modification changes the position of pants’
crotch level. If you wish to lower/raise the crotch level only,
you can slash below the hipline.
c.front

front pant

back pant
c.back

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 lower
hipline

c.front

c.back
raise
c.front hipline

c.back

lower
hipline
front pant

back pant:

raise
hipline
Front pant

back pant

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Hip Circumference
too small/large

c.front

c.back
Wrong hipline
circumference is
easy to notice
when fitting. The
hipline will feel
either tight or loose.
And there are
wrinkles.
c.front

c.back

When adding width

to the hipline, just
ensure that the
difference between
the waist and hip
width doesn’t
become too
pronounced at the
side seam.
front pant

back pant

If this happens, you

can widen the
waistline, too, and
make the darts
bigger to
compensate.
front pant

back pant

8
 Waist Circumference
too Small/Large
To adjust the waist measurement, you can modify the darts,
side seams and the c-back seam (+c-front for pants). Divide
the measurement between different points.
If one dart becomes too large, you can add a second dart and
divide the dart width between the two.
Take in at c-back if your skirt or pants gape there.

Make larger Make smaller

1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3.

c.front
c.front

c.back
c.back

2. 3. 4. 4. 5.
1. 1. 2. 3.
front pant

back pant
back pant
front pant

9
 High Hip Curve

This refers to the hip curves that start almost right below the
waistline. The way patterns are normally constructed the
hipline curve is placed much lower, so the high hip curve
needs some space added higher up.
When fitting the skirt toile you should see tight wrinkles form
at the upper part of the skirt as the fabric is pulling. The pants
have diagonal wrinkles going towards the crotch seam.
Keep the original waistline measurement, but change the hip
curve shape adding space where needed.

c.front

c.back
front pant

back pant

10
 Larger Thighs at Sides

You might have wider thighs at the sides, which makes the
circumference below the hips wider than your hip
circumference is.
So you simply need to move the widest part of the hip curve
lower to accommodate the thighs.

c.front

c.back
front pant

back pant

11
 Sway Back

If you have a sway back, the skirt/pants will have too much
length at the back which causes sagging under the waistline.
The pants crotch might also be pulling towards the back.
Therefore you need to shorten the c-back length slightly and
for pants, maybe add some length to the back crotch line.

dart
becomes
shorter

c.back
back pant

12
 Prominent Belly
This is a bit more complex modification. The garment is pulling
at the front and needs more width and length in that area.
For the skirt, the whole c-front line becomes wider all the way
down to the hemline. But the pants have the crotch seam, so
the c-front line becomes slightly rounded to allow space for
the belly. Both skirt and pants c-front becomes longer. The
waistline measurement remains the same as it was, because
of the darts.
If the darts become too large, add another dart.

c.front

c.front

dart
front pant

front pant

13
 Full/Flat Buttocks

The full buttocks is similar to the previous correction. Only this

time you need more space at c-back, both in length and width.
For pants, you also need some more length at the crotch
seam.
If you happen to have flat buttocks, you can work in the
opposite direction to eliminate sagging.

increase reduce

p
la

la
er

er
ov

ov
c.back
c.back

c.back
increase reduce
back pant:

back pant

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 Fitting the Crotch Curve

The crotch curve length and shape affect the fit of the pants in
many ways. Here’s how to correct.

back: back: back: front: front: front:

curve more shorten lengthen curve less lengthen shorten

Fabric
gathers
under the
buttocks
ers
isk
wh
fab ing-

he
sag ling
pul he

pul ging-
in t nt

front pant

leg ind t
fro

sag ic

beh ng
ric
g

back pant

r
fab

li

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fitting
Bodice

16
 Fitting the Bodice Waist

The bodice waist might not always fit you right. It can be too
tight or too large, or the waist level could end up too high or
too low. These are simple issues to correct.

Waist Circumference

It’s recommended not to correct the bodice waistline all in one

point, but you should rather divide the amount between
different points: the front and back darts, and the side seam. In
the case of taking in, you have also the c-back seam. Just
notice that you can no longer cut the bodice back piece on the
fold after that.

c.back

smaller waist
c.front

1 2 3 4

larger waist
c.back
c.front

1 2 3

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 Waist Level

If the bodice waist level is too high or low, you can slice the
front and back pieces as shown here, and then either add
extra length or overlap the pieces to shorten. Adjust the lines
and darts after you’re done.
c.front

c.back

lower raise
c.front

c.back

c.front

c.back

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 Hip Circumference
too small/large

What if it’s the hip circumference that is too small or large? In

this case you usually just have the side seams to correct,
unless your pattern has princess seams.
If you end up adding a large amount of extra width at the hip
level, you might consider adding some at the the waist level as
well to make the side seam more harmonious. Eventually you
can then increase the waist darts.
c.front

c.back

19
Correcting the Bust Point

Fitting bodice pattern also means checking that the bust point
is placed correctly: If the bodice has the bust point all wrong,
the darts will not be right either. They could be pointing too
high up or too low, for example.
To check the placement, you’ll need your bust level
measurement and the distance between bust points. If one or
both of these measurements isn’t correct, you can adjust the
pattern as follows. In this example the actual bust point is
lower and further away from c-front.
After you’ve drawn the new bust dart, correct the waist dart as
well. It should start 2cm below the bust point. Close the bust
dart to adjust the shoulder line and dart allowance shape.
If you are correcting another type of pattern that doesn’t have
bust point marked, you can find an approximate location by
knowing that usually the dart points are located 2-3cm from
the actual bust point.

1. 2.
bust level

1/2
bust span
2cm
c.front

c.front

a
sh djust
3. 4. ou
ld
er
c.front

c.front

20
 Gaping Armhole

Here’s a common problem with a sleeveless bodice. The

armhole can gape both front and back. When there are
sleeves involved, this is only a good thing, as it gives the
needed wearing ease to the garment. But without sleeves, it
doesn’t look that nice!
The front piece is easier to fix, as you can rotate the extra
volume into an existing dart. If this dart doesn’t end at the bust
point, lengthen it at first so that it does, and once you’ve
rotated the volume, shorten the dart again. You’ll need to
correct the armhole shape afterwards.
The back piece doesn’t have suitable darts, so you need to
limit yourself to smaller corrections. Depending on where the
armhole is gaping, you can either remove some volume from
the shoulder tip or at the side seam under the arm (or both).
You’ll also manage to ease some of the gaping in if you finish
the armhole edge with a bias tape.

c.front
c.front

c.back

21
 Armhole Height

If the armhole is too high up you’ll find the bodice

uncomfortable to wear and the fabric tends to gather under
the arms.
On the other hand, if the armhole is too low, your arm
movement will be limited due to the sleeve being pulled
downward. In fact, if you want to be able to lift your arm more
freely, you need to raise the underarm line, which doesn’t
necessarily sound very logical.
The following correction changes the armhole height only.
Maintain the widths as they were. You lower/raise both the
bodice underarm line and the sleeve bicep line.
The sleeve will need to be modified less, maybe half of the
amount you lower/raise the bodice underarm line. Check the
measurements afterwards.

c.back

lower
c.front

higher
c.back
c.front

22
 Rounded Back Fix

Some people have a rounded upper back that needs fitting.

The bodice is basically missing some length and you also
need a bigger shoulder dart to follow the back shape. Here’s
how you get both. Maintain the c-back line straight.

c.back
c.back

23
 Fitting Bodice Shoulders

If you don’t have “standard” shoulders, you might need to

modify the shoulder line. You could have wider or narrower
shoulders, or they could be more sloped or straight/square.

Shoulder line Length

If you find the shoulder slope to be too long or short, you’ll
notice it especially with sleeves: there’s empty space at the
sleeve head and the seam falls off your shoulder. Or the sleeve
head feels tight as your shoulders need more space sideways.
Here’s how you would modify the pattern. It’s better to first
rotate the bust and shoulder darts somewhere else so that
they don’t get in the way.

wider shoulders
par
e

a
lin

lle
el

l li
all

ne
par

c.back
c.front

narrower shoulders
par
e

a
lin

lle
el

l li
all

ne
par

c.back
c.front

24
 Sloped vs. Square Shoulders

The sloped shoulders cause sagging and square shoulders

pulling of fabric. The fix is to move the shoulder tip along with
the whole armscye line downwards or upwards. The armscye
line length should remain the same.

sloped

c.back
c.front

square
c.back
c.front

25
Fitting Bodice
Chest and Back

chest

c.front
Here are two issues on
the opposite sides of
the bodice, front and
back.
Generally the back
needs more width than
the chest area of the
c.front

bodice, especially with

sleeves, because you
need to be able to
move your arms
mostly forward.

back To add or reduce the

width in these areas
means that you end up
adding or removing
some also at the side
seam to maintain the
armscye length as it
c.back

was.
Of course if there are
no sleeves, and you
are happy with the
underarm length as it
is, you could also leave
the side seams be.
c.back

26
 Adjusting the Bust

Bodice bust size is probably one of the most common

adjustments, but maybe more with ready-made patterns than
self drafted. Let’s see how to adjust the bodice for small and
large bust.

Small Bust

This is the easier one. Basically you need to eliminate some

width and dart volume by separating a little section of the
bodice and overlapping the dart volume as shown. Adjust the
side seam and the new dart.

c.front
c.front

27
 Large Bust

This is the classic FBA, Full Bust Adjustment. Often needed

because the cup size is larger than the standard B. As a result
of this modification, the bodice front becomes wider and
longer, and the darts become larger.
Begin by rotating the bust dart from the shoulder to the side
seam and then follow the illustrations.
After having added the required amount of volume, mark the
bust point using your bust level and bust point distance
measurements. Then draw guidelines that start at the bust
point, and finally the new darts centered around the
guidelines.

1. 2.
add
2. the required
c.front

amount
here

3.

keep
parallel

3. 4.
c.front
c.front

5.

5. 6.
c.front

c.front

28
 Fitting the Sleeve

Here are a couple of sleeve pattern adjustments.

Sleeve Length

Changing the sleeve length is simple. You could even just add
or remove length at the hemline, but to maintain the original
hemline width, slice the sleeve somewhere in the middle,
such as along the elbow line, and add or remove the required
length. Adjust the sides.
Find the new elbow level when you’re done if you need this
information. (You measure it from the top of the sleeve cap.)

lengthen shorten

29
 Upper Arm Width Adjustment

Sleeve
too tight

The sleeve could

be too tight or too
loose around the
upper arm. To fix
c.front

c.back
that, you can
either add or
remove width on
both sides of the
bicep line. When
you modify the
sleeve, you’ll
need to modify
the bodice as
well, or the
measurements
Sleeve won’t match
when sewing.
too loose
You could also
modify the sleeve
cap slightly, but
that will alter the
sleeve cap
measurement so
it requires more
fiddling with the
sleeve cap height
c.front

c.back

30
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