If you find that the bodice of your Lynn Pinafore is too full in the bust, you can do a Small Bust Adjustment. An SBA is good to do when the waist and shoulders fit you, but there’s too much fullness in the cup, resulting in a droopy bodice that just doesn’t sit well on you.
Read on to learn how Lauren, who has got an sewing cup size A, did an SBA on a size 10 bodice pattern.
"I asked Vanessa about the best way to go about doing an SBA to my bodice, and this is what she suggested:
1 – Fold out volume (1/2” at the top in the shoulder, to 1” at the under bust) 2 – Straighten the curved line under the bust I also decided to:
3 – Add 1 inch to the underbust gathering line, so I could spread the gathers out more - which was more flattering over my small bust, and
4 – Shorten the bodice by 2 inches (1 inch of either side of the shoulder seam) I started by marking a line down the middle of the bodice, from the shoulder to the waist gathers. I was careful to mark the line both on the bodice and the bodice lining (line 1). I used my clear ruler to then draw lines to either side of that line – ¼” to either side at the top and ½” to either side at the bottom (lines 2 & 3).
Then, I simply folded back at line 2 and brought it over to meet line 3.
Once the fold was taped in place, I laid the straighter portion of my french curve along the bottom bust to mark a new trim line.
On the left piece in the photo below is the unaltered front lining. On the right is the adjusted bodice, with volume folded out and trim line marked across the waist gathering line.
Last, I redrew the shoulder line, matching endpoints. I completed all steps on the bodice & bodice lining.
You can see on the toile to the left that the bodice is too long for me, so to shorten it I decided to take out length from both the back and the front.
To shorten the back strap I drew two straight lines 1” apart on both the main piece and lining piece, and folded this out.
To shorten the front, I drew two lines parallel to the
shoulder seam, cut along the lower line and overlapped it by 1 inch. The neck stayed perfectly aligned after folding, but I needed to redraw the arm hole and used my french curve to do that.
Below in the video you can see where I've cut and overlapped the front shoulder.
And here's the finished front pattern piece!
I hope these photos and videos are helpful to you if you need to make the bust of the bodice smaller. The last photo below is me in the finished dress!"
Lauren @lmichelleforrest
