Plan A & Plan B

Plan A: I traced the pattern. Then I cut it out without seam allowances to have a look at on Zillie and decide how to proceed. The good news is that I'm pretty sure I'll like this top on me if I can work through the alterations. The bad news is the alterations are going to be many. But I knew that going in.

As you can see below, the underbust band is under Zillie's bust. But …



… that's just an illusion! I have the whole garment pinned a couple of inches down from the true shoulder.



And there's still quite a bit of real estate in the nether regions left uncovered.



I stared at the pattern draped on Zillie many times today. Part of me wanted to start slicing & dicing to add length and width "by eye." The other part of me was thinking how messy and unexact this would be and how I want to preserve the original lines as much as possible.

Plan B: Returning to Square 1 and grading up the pattern in a more controlled manner.

I used the grading lines on the pattern sheet (the pattern in pink) to go up 3 sizes, from 42 to 48. More specifically, I measured many points on the pattern between the printed sizes and then increased by those amounts at corresponding points on the pattern sheet to create my new size. I did this on the pattern sheet itself because, hey, what's one more set of lines, right? If you click the photos to enlarge them, you should be able to see my black pen lines a little more clearly.





This grading process really didn't take that long. I sat at my cutting table with the TV on in the background and I was done in about an hour. Next, I'll trace again but this time following the lines of the "new" size and adding seam allowances so I can cut a muslin. I know I'll have to do regular pattern alterations, but first things first. Let's see how this up-graded pattern fits Zillie and how accurate my grading is.

Judy asked in the comments about the origin for the Duro name. Duro refers to the London-based designer Duro Olowu who reincarnated this style a couple of years ago and made it his own for the runway, with bold prints and colors. It's trickled down to the masses and it seems that all dresses (and tops) with this basic look are becoming known as Duro dresses (tops) even if they're not Duro originals.