One measly centimeter!?

Last few weeks in school we were focusing on adapting your design for big-busted women. "Hurrah!" I thought; "We're finally getting to the really tough stuff!"

But then I sighed. Hadn't I just drafted myself two basic blocks, one with the ease for a gown, and one with the ease for a blouse or vest? Had I not tried really hard to get these done so I could design myself stuff?

With courage afresh did I start to draft the new type of basic block this morning. I calculated the bust width according to the desired ease, and then compared first and second bust width with one another. One is measured over the chest, one is measured over the breasts. If the difference between these is bigger than 6 cm, you should draft a different kind of basic block. This is to accomodate for the huge tracts of land slope of the boob.

More than six? I had double that! Ample reason for me to draft anew.
To figure out how much extra space to give the chest, you also have to compare armscye depth with bust depth (measured from the back of the neck, over the shoulder). You then take the first difference, subtract the second difference and get the amount you should add.

Hm. I had 11. So 12-11 = 1 cm extra width needed in the front of the pattern. That's half a centimeter over half a pattern.
That's hardly worth redrafting the pattern for!

Instead of redrafting my basic block, I just made some design alterations on the copy I made for Lena's dress, and set out to draft the sleeve I wanted.

I'll probably redo the basic block later in the year. But still. One measly centimeter!