Baby Steps to Couture: My First Full Bust Adjustment on Princess Seams: Part 1-Moving the Apex Down

I am in a wonderful Facebook group, called Sewing Inspiration and Tutorials. I got the advice on how to do this from there and this tutorial.

Really this is my second attempt, but it is my first successful one!

First I traced my pattern and eliminated removed all of the seam allowances.

The first part of this adjustment involves moving the apex down. You have to make sure that the fullness is in the right place or you will have some weirdness going on.

So first I measured from my shoulder to my apex and compared the measurement to the pattern. My measurement was 15 inches as compared to the 12 inches on the pattern. This means that I need to lower the apex of the dress about 3 inches.

To lower the apex, I drew a box around the apex using the notches as reference points.

Next, I cut the boxes out and moved them down 3 inches and taped the pieces in place. (Now, I would suggest putting tissue paper beneath before you do this. It just makes things easier, but I put an envelope beneath so you could see.)

I taped the pieces to the tissue paper and trued the lines the best I could.

Next, I needed to mark the level of the apex on the side panel. Since it was an 1.5 inches below the notch on the center, I measured the same distance on the side. (60-58.5=1.5)