Yeeeaaaayyyy I did it! 🙂
For those who haven’t been following me that long: My shoulder bones are very pronounced towards the front and are not classic forward sloping shoulders. I simply have something extra at the front of my shoulders! That’s why I need a lot of space there, but otherwise I’m rather slim.
So I’ve tried a lot of things over the years. From larger sizes, broader shoulders, the adjustments given in textbooks for forward sloping shoulders, etc… But nothing really worked!
But now I’ve finally got it right!
Bodice (dress):
1. I added a wedge (final width 1.5cm | 0,6 inch) to the front shoulder line.
2. No adjustment of the rear shoulder line (ultimately: my solution!)
Sleeves:
1. At the top of the sleeve, at the marking for the shoulder seam, I inserted a wedge (final width 1.5cm | 0,6 inch) towards the front of the sleeve, which ends at the level of the underarm seam. However, this greatly reduced the width of the sleeves towards the bottom, so I added the removed width back at the side line.
2) I removed some width from the back sleeve. In other words, I made the adjustment for forward sloping shoulders on the back sleeve, but this time I didn’t change the shoulder seam of the bodice back, but left it as it was. Luckily, everything still fitted well with the sleeve width for sewing in.
I now have sleeves that fit and that I can move around in to some extent. Sleeves that don’t stretch at my shoulders, don’t crease too much and look good!
The front view:
The side view:
The back view:
Spoiler alert: Nevertheless, for now I won’t be using them! hmpf
The reason for this is simply… I make my dresses for everyday use and sleeves somehow mean a restriction of freedom of movement, especially with non-stretch fabrics and figure-hugging dresses. And that’s exactly what I personally like about dresses!
And to be honest… Girls I don’t understand it, is it the look that makes you wear sleeves and simply accept this restriction, or is it just me who is so “freedom-loving” and therefore prioritises other things? Or do sleeves actually fit you in such a way that there are no or hardly any restrictions? Or do you just not move? 😉
Nevertheless, I’m super proud of myself because if I ever actually need a nice looking dress with sleeves, just for the purpose to look good in it, I’ll be able to make one and I’m really happy about that!
I might also try to add a gusset at the underarm at an other time so that I can move my arms a bit more, but even that won’t give me the freedom of movement I need in everyday life and for my work, because for my work I need to be able to lift my arms high above my head.
from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2uA2Q2L5mY/?img_index=1