# The New Dressmaker/Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5
ALTERING SKIRT, YOKE AND DRAWERS PATTERNS FOR FIGURES THAT VARY FROM THE AVERAGE
Altering Gored Skirts for Figures with Round or Prominent Abdomen or Prominent Hips—Altering Circular Skirt Patterns for Figures with Round or Prominent Abdomens or Prominent Hips—Altering Yoke Patterns for Figures that are Large or Small in the Waist—Altering Drawers Patterns for Figures with Prominent Abdomens
ALTERING A GORED SKIRT PATTERN FOR A PROMINENT ABDOMEN. On figures of this type a skirt pattern unless it is altered will stand out at the front and at the sides. These women as a rule have flat backs. A small pad worn under the corset at the back will fill in the hollow of the figure below the waistline.
For a round or prominent abdomen or prominent hips it is advisable to cut half the skirt in cheap muslin before cutting your good material. In working with the muslin find out just what changes are necessary to make the skirt fit your figure. Then it will be safe to cut your material.
Ill. 53. Altering a Gored Skirt Pattern to Fit a Prominent Abdomen Illustration 53 shows the alteration that is necessary to make a pattern fit a figure with a prominent abdomen. The front of the skirt pattern must be extended an inch or more at the top, this extension gradually decreasing to nothing at the hip.
In extending the gores the waistline becomes smaller, so the side edges of the gore must be increased to keep the waistline the original size. (Ill. 53.) This extension at the sides should slope to nothing at the hipline. (Ill. 53.) Lay your pattern on a cheap muslin, mark the allowance at the top and side edges of the gores. Mark the outline of the original pattern on the muslin with colored chalk so that you will have the original shape as a guide in fitting, but cut the muslin by the new larger outline.
Cut out the muslin, put it together and baste the skirt to an inside belt. Try it on. If it takes a good line on your figure and does not swing toward the front it is safe to cut your good material just as you cut the muslin. Do not use the muslin for a cutting pattern for its edges stretch and become unreliable. Always cut from a paper pattern.
A WOMAN WITH A ROUND ABDOMEN should take the side-front gore of the pattern and mark the hipline on it seven inches below the normal waistline. (Ill. 54.) At the hipline on the back edge of the gore take up ¼ of an inch. (Ill. 54.) This ¼ of an inch will change the entire balance of the gore, making the pattern hang straight instead of swinging toward the front.
If it is necessary in a skirt of many gores you could do the same thing to the next side-gore, but do not carry this alteration back of the hip. You can increase the size of the dart-shaped plait if necessary until the back edge of the gore above the hip forms a ​Ill. 54. Alteration on a Gored Skirt Pattern for a Round Abdomen Ill. 55. Altering a Gored Skirt to Fit Prominent Hips straight line with the back edge below the hip. (Ill. 54.) The back edge must never become hollow or concave. (Ill. 54.)
FOR PROMINENT HIPS take the gore pattern in which the front edge comes over the fullest part of the hips. Pin the pattern together and try it on the figure, to be sure which gore this is.
A simple alteration is made in this gore such as is made for a round abdomen. Take up a dart-shaped plait ¼ of an inch deep at the back edge of the gore, letting it slope to nothing at the hip. (Ill. 55.) If necessary in a skirt of many gores, the next gore toward the back can be altered in the same way. But the shape of the back gore should never be changed in altering the skirt pattern to fit the prominent hip. These principles can be applied to any gored skirt pattern.
ALTERING A CIRCULAR SKIRT FOR A PROMINENT ABDOMEN. If a woman has a slightly rounded or a decidedly prominent abdomen an alteration is necessary to give her extra length at the top. If this alteration is not made in cutting, the skirt will draw up in front and stand out in an ugly manner.
The amount of the alteration will depend on the prominence of the abdomen. It may be necessary to add from ½ an inch to 1½ inch to the skirt at the center-front, letting this allowance slope to nothing at the hip. (Ill. 56.) If the abdomen is decidedly prominent it is better to lay the skirt pattern on muslin first, mark the outline of the edge of the pattern with chalk or bastings and leave sufficient material beyond the outline to raise the waistline as much as necessary. It should fall in a straight line from the fullest part of the abdomen to the bottom. In extreme cases it may be necessary to put a dart at the center-front, but usually a slight easing into the belt of the skirt at the front will be sufficient. Ill. 56. Altering a Circular Skirt Pattern to Fit a Prominent Abdomen
In extending the top of the skirt you make the waistline smaller, so if the waistline was the correct size for you in the first place it will be necessary to increase the size of the new waistline to keep it to the original size of the pattern.
If only a small increase is needed, the skirt can be lifted a little at the back, which will increase the waist size. For a decidedly prominent abdomen slash the top of the muslin at three places to the hipline (Ill. 57.), lay the pattern on the muslin and mark the new outline on the top, separating the slashes sufficiently to make the new waistline the right size. (Ill. 57.) This will take a little width out of the lower edge of the skirt, for you will find it necessary to lay plaits in the pattern in order to make it lie flat on the material.
​Ill. 57. Increasing Waist Size of a Circular Skirt Pattern Cut out the muslin in the new outline, baste it to the inside belt and try it on to be sure that it drops in a straight line and doesn't poke out or swing at the front.
If the muslin skirt falls in good lines cut a paper pattern with the corrected lines at the top and the right size at the waistline, using the original pattern to cut from. Don't cut from the muslin. Or you can cut directly from the original making the same allowance on your good material that you made in cutting the muslin.
Ill. 58. Altering a Circular Skirt Pattern to Fit Prominent Hips ALTERING A CIRCULAR SKIRT PATTERN FOR A FIGURE WITH PROMINENT HIPS. Mark the hipline on the pattern seven inches below the normal waistline. At the hipline on the back edge of the pattern take up a dart-shaped plait ½ inch deep and taper it into nothing at a point just over the fullest part of the hip. (Ill. 58.) Slash the pattern from the upper edge to the hipline to make the pattern lie flat. (Ill. 58.) This will increase the size of the waist. The extra fulness can either be eased into the belt or taken up in a small dart when making the skirt. In cutting the skirt fill in the narrow edge above the plait, keeping the back edge straight. (Ill. 58.)
ALTERING A YOKE PATTERN. If your waist is large or small in proportion to your hips it will be necessary to alter the waist size of a circular yoke pattern. The alteration is very simple.
If the waist size is too small for you slash the yoke pattern from the upper edge to the hipline, making the slashes in three places. (Ill. 59.) In opening the yoke pattern on your material spread the upper edge until it is the right size for you. (Ill. 59.)
If the waistline is too large for you, make three dart-shaped plaits on the yoke pattern, laying the plaits on the upper edge and letting them taper to nothing at the hipline. (Ill. 60.) The depth of the plaits depends on the amount of alteration required.
ALTERING A DRAWERS PATTERN FOR A FIGURE WITH A LARGE ABDOMEN. If a woman has a large abdomen and cuts her drawers exactly by the pattern, her Ill. 59. Increasing the Waist Size of the Yoke Pattern Ill. 60. Decreasing the Waist Size of the Yoke Pattern ​abdomen will pull the drawers beyond the front. If the drawers are lifted at the back to correct this tendency, the entire garment will be made shorter.
In cutting drawers for a prominent abdomen allow an extra inch or two at the top, tapering the allowance away to nothing over the hip. In circular drawers the upper edge of the drawer pattern must he slashed and spread to give the drawers the original waistline, which is made smaller in making this allowance. This alteration is practically the same as altering the top of a circular skirt for this type of figure. (Ills. 56 and 57.)