So it is confirmed: I have a weird freakish upper body with a plethora of fitting issues… or so one would think if one had seen the nightmare of crumpled fabric on me that was supposed to be my Pastille bodice.
I stared at it, pinched fabric, checked the book, made notes, pinned things, twisted and turned, but there were so many things wrong with it I can’t even be sure what I was looking at…. I know it was too big. That much was clear. Loose wrinkles abounded, in all directions, front and back. After I had pinned and drawn in at least an inch on all seams it had begun to look like a garment, albeit a poorly fitted one, but that was enough to convince me a better starting point would be to redraw the bodice a size smaller and start over. Ugh.
I am the forever optimist so I will end on a positive note: the size grading on the skirt part seems to be enough, apart from needing to whack a couple inches off the length (I folded up the pleats on the pattern pieces and cut a plain skirt for the muslin). I find it weird that both Colette patterns I’ve sewn have been long on me, as I’m 5’9″…. oh well, thank goodness for muslins!! 🙂
Symon Sez 
February 10th, 2012 at 7:28 am
Stay optimistic! Okay my two cents (although you’ve probably done this), I think the Crepe front bodice and the Pastille front bodice are very similar, and if that’s the case, maybe a horizontal tuck alteration will help, I just learned how to do this via Gertie’s crepe sewalong: http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/12/crepe-sew-along-5-pattern-alterations.html
I can’t wait to see how the final dress turns out!
February 10th, 2012 at 7:41 am
Thanks for the encouragement!! I actually spent a lot of time on this, and am on my third muslin. I went down a size and then another, and did my first FBA… and i think I’m close to a win. My problem was that I was sewing two sizes too big and still getting a tight fit on the bust, and loose folds everywhere else!! Totally solves the mystery of why nothing RTW ever fits too!!