My Basic Barely Wearable Art Jacket on Me

I'm posting a photo taken yesterday. This was at the baptism of my grandnephew Damian and includes his parents, America and Matthew. The person on the end is yours truly wearing that jacket I was going to embellish with beads etc. before I wore it again. (Click on the photo to get a larger view.) I've been too sick lately to work on it but decided it would do for the event. I learned two new things about it--I still need to beef up the body because it just can't hold up the band. The body fabric sags in no time and the band kind of sticks out and flops around at the end of the sleeves and in back. I'm considering ironing a fusible black tricot inside. It might be better than adding a lining--it really needs more "oomph" in the body fabric. (Comments? I'd love to hear your suggestions--don't be shy.) I have a short neck and always reduce height of standing collars by half. The band is pretty high in back of my neck and was bothering me--I see I have it pushed back. Not everyone would find it to be a problem--this is just a note. So with this photo you get to see how it sits on my body--even if it's sitting a bit crooked here. I hadn't added bust darts so that's also why it pulls up in front.

Adjusting Pattern for wearable art clothing

I've changed my mind. I found some silvery/violet doupioni that looks like it will work with my Australian cottons. It means I have to leave out the lovely bright yellow piece but I'll build something around it that will use more vibrant colors. I've been looking at some of Rachel Clark's clothes and I think her vest pattern would be ideal for this fabric. More on all this later when I round up more photos and facts.

In the meantime, I have made the first cuts in the foundation fabric, and I have looked at the pattern. Yes, it's the usual rectangular shape that does not follow the curves of my body. I can deal with that, I just add bust darts (which play havoc with pieced fabric), and change the slope of the shoulders. (My shoulders are very sloped--I carried tons of books back and forth to high school--at least that's where I was told to put the blame.) The bust darts allow the fabric to hang down straight in front. Changing the shoulder slope usually prevents the back from "pooching" out at the hem.

Elsewhere, I heard that if you have dropped shoulders in a garment, with the seam falling near the bust, that to the eye it exaggerates the width of the bust line. What I've been doing is removing as much as 4 inches of the drop. I can't draw just a straight line, the armhole becomes an inverted V shape. If I curve the line, then I have to draw a curve onto the top of the sleeve. It's my biggest hassle in adjusting patterns now, to the point that I'm tempted to make this one with the big shoulder drop and see just what it does. I hate a lot of excess fabric flopping around either over my shoulder or under it. I welcome your comments. Please write to me at the address that appears on Google.