Ready to make our new Nell blouse + dress pattern and want to know how to get a great fit? Well, you're in the right place!
Nell is available in printed and layered PDF formats, in sizes UK 6-34 / US 2-30 / EUR 34-62 / AUS 6-34.
Nell is designed to be loose-ish fitting, with bust darts to give some shaping to the bodice, quite a bit of ease at the waist, and a swishy, gathered skirt. All of this means that the pattern is pretty simple to fit, and so you might find you only need to make a couple of adjustments, or perhaps none at all!
In this post, we're going to cover:
- Making a toile
- Choosing your size
- Lengthening or shortening pattern pieces
- How to combine pattern sizes
- How to do bust adjustments for a bust darted bodice
- How to do wide and narrow shoulder adjustments
What's a toile and do I need to make one?
A toile - or a "muslin"- is an initial mock up of your garment in fabric you don't mind using for testing purposes. Making a toile is a great opportunity to test the fit of a sewing pattern, or practise a technique on sacrificial fabric before you cut into the fabric you've chosen for your project. If you can't summon the patience to make a separate toile, you may want to make a "wearable toile", which is a full version of the garment in fabric that you don't mind ditching if it doesn't fit straight out of the packet.
If you want to delve deeper into the subject, check out Tilly's blog post which goes through everything you need to know about toiles.
However, making a toile isn't necessarily a requirement for Nell. The bodice is designed to be easy-fitting, with some ease (AKA excess fabric) at the bust, and more at the waist and hips, so there's a lot more leeway on this pattern compared to a more fitted garment. With that being said, if you think you're going to make lots of adjustments to the pattern, or you find that ready-to-wear garments in a similar style to Nell don't fit as you'd like them to, making a toile of the bodice (at least) is a good idea.
How do I choose my sewing pattern size?
Using a flexible tape measure, find the circumference of your:
- bust - take the measurement at the fullest point i.e. around your nipples
- waist - where you bend at the side
- hips - the fullest part - it helps to turn to the side and look in a mirror to see where this is
Check the tape measure is sitting level with the floor - it can help to turn to the side and look in a mirror to check.
Circle your measurements on the ‘Body Measurements’ chart in the pattern instructions. If your measurement falls between a size (for example, if your bust is 39in rather than 38in or 40in), it’s usually better to choose the larger size as you can take the blouse or dress in more easily than you can let it out.
As Nell is loose-fitting, with a lot of ease at the waist and hips, the most important measurement here is your bust. If there's only one or two sizes difference between your bust and waist, choose your bust size and refer to the key on the pattern sheets that shows the solid or dashed line for your size – that’s the one to follow when you cut out your pattern.
If your bust and waist measurements fall across three or more different sizes, you might want to combine your sizes at the side seams. If this applies to you, check out the section below on how to combine pattern sizes. However, if you want to lengthen or shorten any of your pattern pieces, it's best to do this adjustment first, before you tackle anything else - the next section will show you how to do this.
A quick note on bust sizing. If you have a particularly large or small bust, choosing a size based solely on your bust measurement can mean that you'll end up with a blouse or dress that is either too large or too small. If you know your bust is on the larger or smaller side, have a look at the section below on how to do bust adjustments on a bodice with bust darts.
How do I lengthen or shorten the pattern?
Our patterns are drafted for a height of 5"5 (165cm), so if you're a little (or a lot) taller or shorter than this, have a particularly long or short torso or arms, or you want to change the length of the blouse or dress to suit your own personal style it's easy peasy to adjust the pattern pieces.
We have a blog post dedicated to explaining how to lengthen or shorten pattern pieces, which shows you step-by-step how to make this adjustment.
If you're lengthening or shortening the bodice pattern pieces, remember to adjust both the front and back bodices, as well as the front facing too!
We have included the following sets of lengthen or shorten lines on the Nell pattern pieces:
1) Bodice
If you often find that tops and dresses are a bit too long or short for you in the bodice, you can lengthen or shorten the front bodice, front facing and back bodice pattern pieces using the lengthen or shorten lines. We've included the back length measurements for all versions of Nell in the finished garment measurements section of the booklet, so you can check if this length is right for you.
The lengthen or shorten lines on the Nell bodices are between the bust dart and the waist. You can adjust your pattern here if you feel like you need a bit more length, or conversely a bit less, in the torso.
2) Sleeves
You'll find another set of lengthen and shorten lines on the straight sleeve pattern piece, which you can use to lengthen or shorten the bracelet sleeve version of Nell. The bracelet sleeve is designed to sit at the wrist, so if you have particularly long or short arms you can adjust the bracelet sleeve accordingly.
The short straight sleeve doesn't have any lengthen or shorten lines, but it's still very simple to change the length. If you want to shorten the sleeve, draw a line parallel to the sleeve hem, with the distance between the line you've drawn and the sleeve hem equal to the amount you want to reduce the pattern piece by and cut away the excess. If you want to lengthen the short straight sleeve, stick the bottom of the sleeve to a piece of paper, and draw a line parallel to the sleeve hem, with the distance between the line you've drawn and the sleeve hem equal to the amount you want to lengthen it by. Continue the underarm seam on both sides until it reaches the new sleeve hem.
We haven't included lengthen and shorten lines on the puffball / flutter sleeve pattern piece, because changing the length of these sleeves could distort the intended shape.
3) Skirt
The Nell pattern includes a skirt pattern piece to make the peplum blouse version. If you're making the knee-length or midi dress, you will need to draw the skirt dimensions straight onto the fabric. The fab thing about this is you can draw the exact length you like according to your height and style preference.
The skirt pattern piece is rectangular, so you if do want to alter the skirt length it's easy peasy to do. Either chop off (or fold under) the unwanted length or draw the new pattern length directly on the fabric.
How do I combine pattern sizes?
If your bust, waist and/or hip measurements fall in different sizes on the body measurements chart, you can grade between these areas to get a bespoke fit for your exact body measurements. Check out our blog post which explains how to combine sizes.
Nell is a looser-fitting garment with a lot of "positive ease", i.e. it's designed to be bigger than your body. Practically, this means you don't have to worry too much about combining sizes, as the easy-fitting nature of Nell means a few cm difference won't alter the overall fit too much.
So, if your waist measurement is one or two sizes different to your bust, then you probably won't need to worry about combining sizes in these areas - just go with your bust measurement.
If you're making the peplum blouse or dress version, the same applies to the hip measurement - the skirt is loose and flowy so one or two sizes difference between your body measurements won't affect the fit of the garment.
However, if you're making the straight blouse version and your hip measurement is three or more sizes bigger/smaller than your bust measurement, you may want to grade to a larger or smaller size at the hips.
How do I do a bust adjustment on a bodice with darts?
If you find that bodices generally tend to fit well, don't pull, or aren't baggy across the bust, then you can quite safely pick a size for Nell based on your bust measurement - woohoo!
But if your bodices don't tend to fit quite right, then you might benefit from a small bust adjustment (SBA) or full bust adjustment (FBA). If you're new to this kind of adjustment, don't be put off by the technical-sounding names! Like anything in sewing, it's just a series of steps and once you crack it, you'll never look back :)
Check out our blog post on how to do bust adjustments on a darted bodice. It's packed full of step-by-step diagrams to show you how to do each adjustment.
How do I do narrow and wide shoulder adjustments?
The shoulder seam on the Nell blouse and dress is designed to sit on your shoulder socket. To find out where your shoulder socket is, bend your arm at the elbow, lift it up and down to the side, and feel with the fingers on your other hand for where the "hinge" is, where your arm meets the shoulder socket. As you move your arm up and down you'll be able to feel where the socket is moving. This point is where the shoulder seam for Nell should sit.
If you know you have particularly wide or narrow shoulders, or if you find after making a toile that the shoulder isn't sitting in exactly the right place for you, you can adjust the front and back bodices to reflect this. Check out our blog post on how to do wide and narrow shoulder adjustments for more details.
I hope this post has helped you decide which (if any!) fitting adjustments you need to make to your Nell blouse or dress. Try not to get too bogged down in tonnes of fitting adjustments – remember Nell is meant to be easy-breezy so don't be tempted to over fit it!
We love seeing your me-mades, so please don't forget to tag us @TillyButtons with the hashtag #SewingNell in your progress shots and finished makes!
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Fabrics: Nerida Hansen Boho Geo viscose lawn; Merchant and Mills Wes linen; Higgs & Higgs dark blue 4oz denim chambray; The Edit Grid cotton lawn
Models: Sinead Dekker and Man Yee Woo
Photographer: Jane Looker
Hair and make up: Laura Anne at The Bridal Stylists
Samples sewn by Susan Young
