Simplicity 2015 1080 Dottie Angel FBA series part I

I'm in the middle of my second version of the Simplicity 1080 Dottie Angel dress and I have a feeling I added too much to the FBA.  I did it differently this time than I did on the first one--it has a side dart but the armscye line was cut to the shoulder instead.  I'll see when I get home and measure it and the Version 1 purple dress if it's as much too big as I feel it's going to be, and then try to figure out where I went wrong.

Meanwhile, I just spent my lunch hour cutting out and altering scale models of pattern pieces becuause, yes, I'm that kind of person.

So . . . pattern pieces:


From left to right:
1) Original pattern piece
2) FBA 1 (the purple dress): Dartless
3) FBA 2 (the blue and red paisley dress): Side dart anchored at the shoulder
4) FBA 3 (proper FBA): Side dart anchored to the armscye

Pattern pieces cut and expanded:


All of these were expanded the same amount.

Note: After you expand FBA 1 and FBA 2, you'll have to straighten out the shoulder, which will have a dip in the middle where the slash opened.  This is easy, you just need to make sure you remember to do it, and that the length of the altered front shoulder matches the length of the back shoulder.

1) Original pattern piece: Not altered
2) FBA 1 Dartless: Width added only.  The cut for the side dart is overlapped toward the bust point.  This actually shortens the pattern piece, so the seamstress will need to add length to both the front and back pieces if she doesn't want it shorter.  The main reason this didn't work for my purple dress was that I used an applied belt instead of the back ties; if you're using the back ties that the pattern is intended to have, and check the height you need for the front tucks, this works well for a small- to moderate-FBA and preserves the simplicity of the pattern.
3) FBA 2 Darted, anchored to shoulder: Didn't really change the length.  Adds a bit to the upper chest which could be a problem for women with narrow shoulder and/or lean upper chests, but might not be too noticeable on a pattern like this that isn't fitted, anyway.
4) FBA3 Proper FBA: No width added to upper chest.

FBA 1 versus original:


FBA 2 versus original:


FBA 3 versus original:


Note difference in cap sleeve/armscye between these two.

FBA 1 versus FBA 2:


Pretty similar.

FBA 2 versus FBA 3:


The biggest difference is at the shoulder.

More later when I get the second dress finished  . . . 

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