The other day I posted about a lovely sundress I had sewn. Like everything I make, I had to adjust for my lack of height, but in this case, where to shorten the bodice wasn't illustrated on the pattern, or even very obvious. So, for the 0.1% of the sewing population that could use a tutorial for how to do a petite adjustment for the Siren Sundress, here's what I did:
I don't always trace my patterns, but when I have to cut up and manipulate pieces, it's a must! Above, I've simply traced the bodice piece in my size (34, though I should have gone with 32). My muslin indicated that I needed to lop off about 1 1/4" to raise the waistline, so I measured that out (dotted line along the bottom of the bodice, below) and trimmed it off.
Then, I placed the trimmed piece on top of the new bodice bottom, aligning the pieces at the side seam. Since the Center Front and other markings have shifted, I remarked them according to their position on the original piece.
At this point, I've reduced the length of the waist measurement slightly. So, to readjust the waist length, I repositioned the trimmed piece on top of the bodice, aligning the bottom and side seam (the trimmed piece hangs over the rest of the bodice). I taped on a new piece of tissue paper and traced the bump-out.
The diagonal edge of the bodice is cut on the straight grain, so I redrew the line to connect to the waistline to the shoulder, and then redrew the grainline to be parallel to my new cut line.
Last but not least, since I adjusted the height of the waistline, I had to move the bust dart. For this, I simply shifted the whole thing up by 1/4".
Below is the finished bodice piece, with the original trimmed piece just below, to see the full transformation.
This adjustment would work with any wrap-style bodice (like a true wrap dress). Have fun and good luck!
