Butterick 9765: The progression of fit II

I can't resist, I had to give you all a sneak peak of the Butterick 9765 in muslin form, because I am really excited about the progress of my adjustments. As you may have read, I completed my first full bust adjustment on this dress bodice, and it worked! Additionally, I have been working with my skilled sewing instructor Lovita to rearrange the darting for maximum flattery. You can see all the details in the photos. These are not the best photos, but they do give you a good idea of the shape and style of the dress.

First and perhaps most excitingly, we modified the pleating at the shoulders, and instead of the box pleat called for in the original pattern, we shifted the pleating into two inside-sweeping pleats that drape the fabric toward my center. I think the results are immensely flattering. The box pleat pulled the fabric into a poof in my armpit, but the new pleats create soft folds of fabric toward my center. Don't you think I look thinner already? We mimicked the shoulder pleating on the skirt as well to pull the pleats toward the center. This way I maintain the skirt fullness without the poofing bulk of a box pleat.

There are still several areas to fix. I am going to shorten the bodice by an inch or so to bring it up to my faux natural waist (as you can see I don't actually have a waist in the tradition sense of a narrow point on my trunk, but I do my best to mimic having one!). The skirt will also be shortened, a lot! And of course, I need sleeves. The pattern calls for boring sleeves, but I want to reinvent into a youthful cap sleeve of some kind. And of course the dress will needed shortened by many inches. I think I will keep it just below the knees for comfort and vintage flair.