17 April 2009

Facing the music

So, after months and months of a mixture of avoidance and denial, the truth is obvious: the strapless stays are not likely to stretch out to my size, and neither will I shrink to theirs. Rather than abandoning them, I'm still going to try to make them work. So tonight, I pulled the reed out of a few channels on either side of the center front, and picked open that seam. I managed to find all the materials that I had started with, and I drafted out an additional piece to insert. I cut it about 6 inches wide, plus seam allowances, although I think I'll only need 4 inches or less of extra room. I've left the rest of the boning in, so I should be able to get a good idea of the final fit. Except for the fact that I'm out of white thread (?!), which means that this is on hold again at least until I can get to the store.

Adding a large adjustment like this in just one spot, rather than distributing it throughout all the pieces, will change the shape of the stays a bit, although hopefully not too much. The dips for the arms will move around towards the back, and although they were too far forward in the current incarnation, I might need to trim down the side front points for comfort. The center front point will also be notably longer if I keep the current slope of the edge, although, again, I can trim it down as needed.

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