Hello,

I have just got Dress Shop 8 and I’m doing the Torso Fit Test.

I’m just about to sew up the side seams but I don’t know how to match up the front and back sides. The back seam edge is almost straight but the front has a big curve going in at the waist. Should I ignore the curve and just sew a straight line from top to bottom or should I somehow try and ease them together?

Are the pattern edges so different because there is a fairly big difference between my Waist Front and Waist back measurement? My Waist Back is 29 centimetres and my Waist front is 36. There is also a 7 centimetre difference between my Bust Front and Bust Back.

Any advice on what I should do would be gratefully received.
Best wishes and thanks for all your help.
Kirsteen.

quote:

I’m just about to sew up the side seams but I don’t know how to match up the front and back sides. The back seam edge is almost straight but the front has a big curve going in at the waist. Should I ignore the curve and just sew a straight line from top to bottom or should I somehow try and ease them together?

Are the pattern edges so different because there is a fairly big difference between my Waist Front and Waist back measurement? My Waist Back is 29 centimetres and my Waist front is 36. There is also a 7 centimetre difference between my Bust Front and Bust Back.

The curve in the front side seam is very often more extreme than the back, usually because of the differences between Front Bust, Front Waist, and Front Hip meausrements. Making the front of your garment fit those curves means the fabric width must vary considerably - wider and bust and hip and narrower at the waist. That change in fabric width is split between darts and side seams and the side seam usually ends up pretty curved.

The back may or may not have as much difference in the chart values there. For most charts, back bust is not as much greater than back waist as one sees in the front. And usually, the waist to hip difference is greater, so the pattern often gets wider in the back hip area than the front hip.

But, "usual" does not mean everyone and the shape of your front and back side seams may not match those of anyone else. In Dress Shop, that is common. With any of the very fitted Dress Shop patterns (such as the torso sloper), making a garment that fits closely in both front and back will produce seams that have different curves. Once you switch to garments with more wear ease included, these differnces will smooth out some, though they may always be somewhat different.

So, the simple answer is that yes, you do need to ease those seams together as you sew them. When you are not doing test fit garments, you will have more choices and more control over this. You can increase dart width to smooth the outseam to something flatter. Those options are not provided with the test fit patterns, though, as the program is trying to get the best measurement numbers it can for your body before you begin making your own adjustments in those garments you make to wear.

Hope that makes sense....

That makes great sense. Thanks!
I thought the bust dart looked a lot smaller than it does on usual Dress Shop patterns. I just wanted to make sure I did the fit pattern correctly.
Best wishes and thanks for such a good explanation.
Kirsteen.