All babies and toddlers have got bigger bellies that usually disappear by the age of 6. My patterns for little ones have got allowances for full tummies.
But that if it’s not enough? Or if you want to alter a different pattern? There is an easy fix!
Measure your child’s waist and take your front bodice sloper. You probably don’t want to add anything at the chest area, only the tummy area.
Decide how much you want to add around the waist. Remember about the ease!
Note about the ease: For regular T-shirt 6-8cm will work but if you want to make a jacket or a coat you will need at least 10cm of ease. We will not go through calculating negative ease but bear in mind that if you use knit fabrics you’ll need a bit less as it stretches.
Measure waist on your pattern pieces, it will give you a bit of indication how much you need to add. Take that number and divide by two as we are only working on half of the front,
Let’s say that I need extra 2 centimetres, it means that I will ad 1cm at the front waist. Chest area will not change significantly if we do it this way. What if it’s a dress? Simply extend that line!
But we’re not quite finished yet! You need to think about this in 3D.
What will happen if we stop now?
Yes, there is plenty of room at the front but it’s slightly hiking up.
We need to add a bit more vertically, to the bottom edge. This value depends on how much you added at the previous step but let’s say I usually add 0.3-1cm.
Make this line smooth and try to end both ends at 90 degrees to the edges. That way when you cut on fold you won’t get any sharp corners. Your new fold line is the red line that you just drawn.
Your front is now almost ready but there is one more question. As the bodice is now at an angle how should I cut it?
Yes, you guessed right. New arrow is parallel to the fold line and front piece needs rotating. You want to cut it on the lengthwise grain and not on the bias.
Your piece is now ready to cut!
I hope you enjoyed this post. Happy sewing 🙂
