Toile Fitting - 3rd step - how to make a wedding dress

The toile is finished - or as finished as you need it to be: you haven't bothered to include fastenings such as zips and/or buttons and buttonholes. You've sewn the major seams: side, shoulder and perhaps set in the sleeves. Wearing the appropriate underwear and shoes, try the toile on.

Firstly, sit, stand, walk, bend and reach, in fact take every relevant position to thoroughly test garment fit. Keeping in mind that you may want your garment to fit closely to the body with the minimum amount of ease, which would limit the amount of movement. Remember for your bespoke garment, ease is as much a matter of practicality as it is personal taste.

In the studio, whenever possible, we fit the toile through the side seams. For example, you may have chosen the larger size for your bust and hips, redrawn the sizing line for a smaller waist but decide that the waist could come in a little bit more - fitting from the side seam will let you do this easily. However, where necessary, deepen seam allowance on sleeve underarm seams so that sleeve and bodice armholes match. See Fitting From Side Seam Diagram below.

FITTING FROM SIDE SEAM

However you may have slightly more complicated fitting alterations which you will have to undertake to get the fit just right.

Let's look at several major ones:

Problem: A stand up collar is too high.

Solution: Preferably adjust the collar NOT the neckline. If collar is shaped, re-stitch a deeper seam along collar's top edge (upper right illustration below). If collar is a folded bias band, take deeper seam at neckline edge of collar only (lower right illustration below).

COLLAR TOO HIGH

Problem: A low U-shaped or V-shaped neckline gapes (left hand illustration below).

Solution: Lift bodice front at shoulder near neck to remove excess fabric between bust apex and shoulder. Taper adjust to nothing at armhole (right hand illustration below).. Alter facings to match.

GAPING AT NECKLINE

Problem: Front opening, or lapped edge on wrap skirt, sags slightly (left hand illustration below).

Solution: First try re-pinning the hem. If unevenness is extreme, or if it is back that sags excessively, try correcting by raising waist seam line in sagging areas until hem is even. A third solution is to support the sagging edge with concealed snap fasteners (especially if fabric must be matched crosswise). These could be tacked/basted into place in order to examine effect (right hand illustration below).

SAGGING AT FRONT OPENING OR WRAPPED EDGE OF WRAP SKIRT

Problem: Too much ease in sleeve head; material ripples (see image below left).

Solution: Unpick then remove sleeve from toile. Smooth out sleeve head - gently steaming out ripples. Set a long stitch length on your machine then ease-stitch 3mm from seam line - with threads left long at both start and finish of stitching, within head area (sleeve head seam allowance now measures 1.8 cm). Pulling on long ease-stitch lengths, ease sleeve head to fit armhole. Re-tack sleeve to armhole, aligning new ease line with armhole seam and maintaining 15 mm seam allowance between underarm notches (see image below right for more detailed information).

TOO MUCH EASE IN SLEEVE HEAD

Problem: Wrinkling on either side of darts (see left illustration, below).

Solution: Darts may be too straight to conform to your curvy body. Re-stitch dart, curving

them slightly inwards. Taper carefully to points (see right illustration below). Darts may need shortening.

WRINKLING AT EITHER SIDE OF DARTS

Problem: Fabric bulges or sags below the dart (left hand image, below).

Solution: Darts are most likely too short. Re-stitch to a longer length, maintaining the original width. Sometimes this problem arises when dart has not been tapered smoothly to point in stitching. Re-stitch (right hand image, below).

FABRIC BULGES OR SAGS BELOW DART

And remember if you've got any fitting issues when making your own wedding dress, do not hesitate to add a comment. We'll get back to you as soon as we can. :)