Skinny from the back. :)

Today I'm talking about the Patterns for Pirates Boundless. And it is going to be long. If you want, you can skip straight to the pictures, but fair warning, I did a LOT of modifying to get to this, so you may want to hear me out. :)

I have a love/hate relationship with the Patterns for Pirates Boundless. It looks great on so many body shapes. It is SUPPOSED to look good on my inverted triangle body type. But it has always made me look pregnant.

I have other dresses that stop at my empire line and are gathered. They look fine. Actually better than fine, they look great. So why does this one fail? This is a lesson in anatomy and I'm happy to share it with you.

Is she fat or pregnant?

My underbust measures 30". Just 1" below my underbust I measure 34". Most people go from underbust to waist, getting progressively thinner. My rib bones flare out right under my bust. They literally stick out. It makes wearing a full band bra impossible because the bones flip the band up and push the underwires into my sides (ouch) This means that any fabric that is gathered into my underbust gets thrust out as it flows down my body. Hence, it makes me look pregnant. This is bad if you are not pregnant. It is extra bad if you've lost a lot of weight, worked hard to get a flat tummy and you still look pregnant. Talk about a confidence destroyer. For the record, this is my crazy anatomy (it could be you too). This is NOT the patterns' fault.

But jump forward to today and with my pregnancy announcement yesterday, I can feel 100% confident sewing the Boundless, because no one ever looks twice when a pregnant woman looks pregnant. #FTW

For the record, the Boundless didn't quite fit me. I could have made adjustments, etc to get the fit just right. But guess what? I'm lazy. And I already knew that I had the Layer Me Up fitted to me perfectly. Why reinvent the wheel? So I used the LMU pattern pieces to draft out the bodice using the side seams of the Boundless. This took a little playing with the pattern, but I'm glad I did, because it saved me HOURS of muslining.

To get the perfect fit, my front pattern piece is slightly longer at the side seam than my back pattern piece. I eased the difference into the side seam and it is barely noticeable. I've actually been doing this a lot lately. Its a cheater method to not have to do a dart and works great on knit patterns. It gives the bust of my dress just a little more length to make it all the way down the body, WITHOUT making the back longer (which would create wonky hems).

I made this specific dress with a woven fabric skirt. On my knit patterns, I use the skirt width that matches my hips (XS). So far, that has left me PLENTY of space for my baby bump. But for my woven skirts, I've stuck with the skirt that goes with my size medium bodice. That seems to leave me enough ease. So if you're doing a woven skirt and you're pregnant too, size up the skirt 2 sizes, so you can be sure it will fit over the bump. Alternatively, you could measure your bump (if you are further along) and add a few inches of ease to that measurement to be sure your skirt is big enough.

Definitely Pregnant.

My woven skirt is of course the Wonka Plaid from Urban Rag Trader. Don't forget to use the coupon code from yesterday's pregnancy announcement (linked above) to save 15% off your order.

Now that I've got the fit down, I've already done a few different versions of the Boundless, including a nursing friendly cross over hack. I'll be sure to share that with you soon.