I re-sized a 1972 Simplicity tee-shirt pattern and cut out the test garment last night with some scrap left over from my Very Frilly Blouse.
The pattern was originally for a 36″ bust, and Simplicity has a long history of running big. I measured the pieces and realized that it was set to fit a 40″ bust, so I folded the pattern in and then re-traced it on another piece of tissue paper to correct for contours at the neckline and sleeve. I measured my re-trace and saw that it should fit my 34″ bust with about 2″ of ease, which is pretty much considered the ideal amount of wearing ease at the bust for most patterns.
I chose option #2, because I didn’t have enough fabric for long sleeves, and because this lightweight, pastel fabric didn’t suggest a long-sleeved top anyway.
Here’s what I ended up with. Pretty satisfactory as far as I am concerned. It fits me better than it does this dummy – her 1914-ideal figure doesn’t jive with tee-shirts that well.
On a related note, I finally got it together to fix my modern dummy. She’s just a plasticky mess, and her internal structure has become brittle and has shattered, piece by piece. This morning, after I finished that tee-shirt, I took a roll of duct-tape and about 45 minutes, and re-built her inner workings as best I could, then reinforced her at key points. She’s no longer adjustable. I just stuck her at my size and called it good. Since I don’t do sewing for other people anymore, it doesn’t really matter that my dressmaker’s dummy only does one size.