How do you do a full bust adjustment or small bust adjustment on a sewing pattern with waist release pleats? Today, we’re showing you how to adjust the bust of the Roslindale Jumpsuit.
At last, a chic woven jumpsuit that actually fits! The Cashmerette Club Roslindale Jumpsuit was designed from the start for curves, with thoughtful shaping through the bust, waist, and hips so you get a beautiful fit from top to bottom. This modern one-piece features release pleats providing bust shaping in cups C-H, a crisp collar, and a front button placket that transitions to a hidden zip fly. Wide legs, a waist tie, and grown-on cap sleeves create a fresh, relaxed silhouette—and of course, there are pockets.
Adjusting the Bust of the Roslindale Jumpsuit
Since the Roslindale Jumpsuit does not have a bust dart, a full or small bust adjustment will need to be done slightly differently than a typical FBA or SBA.
In this tutorial, we’ll be showing you how to do a small FBA (less than or equal to 1”/2.5 cm), a large FBA (great than 1”/2.5 cm), and an SBA. But whether you are doing a full bust adjustment or a small bust adjustment, you will start in the same way:
- The bust height is shown by a notch on the side seam on the front bodice piece. Draw a line perpendicular to the center front, through the bust notch. This is line 1.
2. The bust point is approximately halfway between the two release pleats. Draw a line parallel to the center front at this location ending at the bust height line. This is line 2.
3. Draw a line from the intersection of these two lines out to the armhole. This is line 3.
4. Mark in your seam lines where these three lines intersect the pattern edges.
5. Starting at the waistline, cut up line 2 to the bust point, then from the bust point along line 3, stopping at the seam allowance and creating a hinge. Cut along line 1 from the side seam, stopping just before the bust point and creating a second hinge.
How to do a full bust adjustment (1”/2.5 cm or less) on the Roslindale Jumpsuit
- Add half the amount of your full bust adjustment at line 2 – for example if you need to add 1” (2.5 cm) to your bust measurement, then you will spread line 2 apart by ½” (12 mm).
2. Cut along the remainder of line 1 from the bust point to the center front and move the center front section down so that the waistline edges are aligned.
3. We can now eliminate the bust dart by rotating it into the waistline. Close up the side seam gap (line 1) and allow the waistline to spread apart.
This has increased the length of the waistline so it will now no longer match the pants waistline, so we will readjust the pleats so that the waistlines still match.
- At the waistline, measure how much extra you have added to the width. In this case it’s approximately 1½” (3.8 cm).
5. We will add this into the two release pleats. Because there are two pleats, we will split the amount between the two pleats, and add ¾” (19 mm) to each pleat.
6. You can leave these new pleats as they are, however because of the angle between the side seam and the waistline, the pleats will now create a slightly smaller underbust measurement. If you think this may be an issue, you may want to taper the pleats slightly so that the pleat is wider at the waistline than it is at the top as shown in green below.
7. Lengthen the over placket and under placket by the same amount as you moved the center front section.
How to do a full bust adjustment (more than 1”/2.5 cm ) on the Roslindale Jumpsuit
If you need to do more than a 1” (2.5 cm) full bust adjustment, the previous adjustment will result in a very curved waistline and distorted pleats, so follow the steps below instead.
- Add half the amount of your full bust adjustment at line 2 – for example if you need to add 3” (7.6 cm) to your bust measurement, spread line 2 apart by 1½” (3.8 cm).
2. Cut along the remainder of line 1 from the bust point to the center front and move the center front section down so that the waistline edges are aligned.
3. This has opened up a bust dart in the side seam. We are going to want to keep this dart so that the waistline does not get distorted, so measure about 1–1½” (2.5-3.8 cm) back from the bust point along the centerline of the dart and draw in a bust dart. Fold the dart and true it along the side seam edge as shown.
4. This has increased the length of the waistline so it will now no longer match the pants waistline, so we will readjust the pleats so that the waistlines still match. There are two options for how to do this:
Option 1: If you have added between ½” (12 mm) and 1” (2.5 cm) at the waistline, split the amount in two and add it to the two existing darts – eg if you added 1” (2.5 cm) at the waistline, then add ½” (12 mm) to each pleat as shown.
Option 2: If you have added more than 1” (2.5 cm) to the waistline, create a third pleat out of the added area as shown below.
5. Lengthen the over placket and under placket by the same amount as you moved the center front section.
How to do a small bust adjustment on the Roslindale Jumpsuit
- Remove half the amount of your small bust adjustment at line 2 – for example if you need to remove 3/4” (19 mm) from your bust measurement, then you will overlap line2 by 3/8” (1 cm).
2. You can see that the side seam is now shorter than it was originally and we don’t want that, so disconnect the hinge at the bust point and move the lower part of the side seam back down, perpendicular to the center front, so that the side seam is the same as its original length.
3. If the waistline seams are no longer aligned, cut along the remainder of line 1 from center front to bust apex and move the center front up or down to align the waistlines.
4. This has decreased the length of the waistline so it will now no longer match the pants waistline, so we will readjust the pleats so that the waistlines still match. Because there are two pleats we will split the amount between the two pleats. In this example we removed 3/8” (1 cm) from the waistline, so we will now remove half of that (3/16”/5 mm) from each pleat as shown.
5. Lengthen/shorten the over placket and under placket by the same amount as you moved the center front section.
We hope this tutorial helps you get a fantastic fit from your Roslindale Jumpsuit! If you have any questions, drop them in the comments below.
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