Full Bust Adjustment With Darts

Trace your pattern piece adding all markings.

Draw a line through the middle of the dart from the waist straight up to the shoulder.

Square off from the line you have just drawn to the end of the bust dart.

Draw a line from the end of the bust dart to the center of the dart at the side seam.

From your new bust point, draw a line to the armscye, about 1/3 down from the shoulder.

This will help avoid creating a strange shape when we start to cut.

Draw a final line from the top of the waist dart to the center front.

That’s all the cutting lines you’ll need. Now it’s time to get the paper scissors out!

Cut the line you drew earlier from the middle of the waist dart up to your bust point.

Next cut from the bust point along the line you drew earlier to the armscye, stopping a few centimeters before the edge so the pieces are still joined. Don’t cut all the way through the armhole.

Cut up the middle line of your bust dart and across the line to the new bust point, stopping a few centimeters before the edge so the pieces are still joined. Don’t cut all the way through the bust point.

As we are working on half of the bodice, we need to work on half the measurement you made earlier to determine how much you need to adjust to your cup size, remembering we draft to a C cup. I.e. for an E cup which will be 2 inches bigger than a C cup, you need to add 1 inch onto a half bodice piece.

Slip another piece of paper underneath your pattern piece. 

Move your pattern piece apart, by the measurement you need to increase by, from the cut waist dart up to the bust point. Make sure you have the same amount running all the way along this gap.

NOTE – We’ve used a 1 inch increase as the example in the photo. Please use your own required measurement here as this is where the fullness is added.

Cut the last line you made in step 1.6. Cut all the way along the drawn line. Move this piece down so it’s parallel to your other pattern piece.

Check the measurement is still the same distance from step 3.1. 

Tape all pieces down to secure (shown in red).

You will be creating a new bust point, or end of dart. To avoid pointy darts, we need to move the bust point you created earlier across by 2 inches (this is the same for all adjustments). 

Draw a line from this new dart center out to each outer line of the dart, meeting at the original markings.

Mark the center of your new waist dart stopping at the cut line made in step 1.6. Draw a new line from each point of the old waist dart, meeting up at the new center.

Take each edge of the bust dart and fold it closed. Smooth out the paper at the end of the dart so your paper is flat. 

Cut the paper along your outer edges of the bodice piece, except at the waist.

Open the bust dart and lay your paper flat again.

Fold the waist dart closed and cut across the bodice waist.

NOTE – The image shown has notches cut out at the beginning of each new dart.

Your FBA is complete! Use this new bodice pattern to make a muslin (a test garment out of inexpensive fabric) to check the fit.