Port Elizabeth Alterations

A reader asked me to share a photo of my Port Elizabeth pattern piece with my full bust alteration (FBA). So, I decided to make a quick little tutorial. I'm also including a little drawing on how I marked my waistline tucks. My illustrations are not great but I think they make the process clear.

FBA

I did not do a classic FBA because I did not feel the need for extra width across the chest, instead I added only length to the front pattern and made the neckline smaller to prevent gaping. Here is a drawing of the un-altered Port Elizabeth front pattern piece.

The first step is to check if the bust point on the pattern matches with your actual bust point. If you need an FBA it probably doesn't match. You can hold the pattern up to your body to do a quick tissue fit to establish the new bust point; or you can measure yourself from shoulder to bust point and check if the measurements in the pattern are the same. I had to lower my bust point by about three centimeters.

Then I slahsed the pattern along the lines shown in the illustration and shifted the pattern slightly. I folded away about 1-2 centimeters at the neckline. This makes the neckline tighter, prevents gaping and automatically creates room for a side bust dart.

I also discovered that I had to add length to the pattern piece. So I slashed the pattern along a line from the bustpoint perpendicular to the center front and spread the pattern about 3-4 centimeters. I filled the gap in with paper and drew a new dart. The tip of the dart is a couple of centimeters away from the bustpoint, exactly between the two slash lines.

And there you have it. That's it! In a little pre-fitting I discovered that I had to lower the dart a little more but that was no problem. Darts can easily be lowered if you discover you marked your bustpoint too high.

Waist Tucks

To give the Port Elizabth a little more shape and to define my waistline I added simple waist tucks to the back and front patterns. I determined where to add them by drawing a straight line from the bustpoint to the hem. Along this line to the left and right I drew the tuck lines. I repeated the same on the back piece, drawing the tucks along a line approximately 9 centimeters from the center back. The tucks end just above the waistline. How much to tuck away is a matter of experimentation. I sewed the tucks up last, pinning them first and trying on the blouse to see if I had pinned too much or too little.

I hope you found this little tutorial useful. I really like how my Port Elizabeth turned out and find the tucks very flattering. It's a really nice pattern to work with. Have fun with your alterations!