Although I learned an amazing amount, my finished garment was a bust. My first attempt was a mystery bottomweight I bought years ago from Hancock's, in a lovely purple. Super soft and slinky, it had amazing diagonal stretch. Which my fitted garment hated. There ended up being a ton of fabric pouching above my breasts that no matter how much fitting and pinching and pinning I did, refused to go away. I looked like I had three boobs. Which I'm sure my baby would love.
So I realized the problem was my fabric, as well as incorrectly fitting my FBA. I enthusiastically cut for a G cup - I have Es. So the next attempt was a more restrained adjustment with less width at the sides. This time I had puckers and pulls only on the right boob. Why!!??!
I remade the peplum top in a mystery fabric from Walmart, a very pretty fabric that I hated to cut into. And I ran into the same problem. This time, however, I am proud to say that I had to cut a much smaller size, as well as make only an E cup FBA. Feels good to make smaller clothes, I must say. Did it fit? Nope! WHAT??!!!
I finally figured it out. I am an E cup. Or should I say, one E and one C. Guess which one my baby nurses from? You got it! The left one is an E, and the fabric over the right one puckers because it is smaller. Larger darts also don't work because I am so short-waisted that there is not much room for reworking the darts.
I asked on my favorite Facebook sewing group for help, and got some amazing suggestions. One was to pad the smaller one to even them out. Brilliant!! But so - final. Padding makes me feel like I left my perky boobs behind, with my perky twenties. I honestly can't face padding a C cup to make an E cup. I never thought I would pad anything on my generous body. So I decided to wait till I'm done nursing, about six months from now, and then try sewing a fitted garment again. Anyway, since I'm nursing full-time I really couldn't wear this top since it has no access. I don't feel too bad about this, but I really should think more about what I sew before I sew it.
So au revoir, Ms. Deckert. I will see you soon. Your book and class rock, I must say!
And now, for some terrible potato-camera pictures. I really couldn't be bothered to take good photos of this disaster.
