I have been trying for some time to have a library of slopers to use for garments.  I have a side dart blouse sloper, 2 t-shirt slopers (1 with a dart and 1 without).  I also have a shoulder princess jacket sloper that I can adjust for a blouse.  My latest sloper was with an armhole princess style.  Given my D-cup bust, common thinking is that I should not use this sort of princess seam.  The shoulder princess is better for a more gradual curve over the bust.  But sometimes I don’t want to use the shoulder princess.

My reason for developing a library of blocks is I can use these blocks to make any style of garment I want – change collars, sleeve styles, lengths, etc.  In this post I will be talking about the armhole princess sloper.

I purchased the pattern to use for this sloper from Bootstrapfashion.com.  They create custom patterns based on your measurements.  As part of their pattern collection, they have a number of basic blocks available. I have had pretty good luck with the patterns I have purchased from them.  I’ll do a separate post about those experiences.

Back to this sloper…I made a mock-up from muslin fabric and a friend helped me tweak the fit at a retreat in August, 2015. The main tweaks were to add the rounded back adjustment and adjusting the princess seams.  My plan was to make a simple, no closure jacket from this style, using a great silk suiting.  Butterick 6139 is the pattern I chose.

I was planning to use a faux leather for the sleeves.  Now that we are into spring, I decided to make a sample first to make sure I like the style before I use my more expensive fabric for the jacket. I used a lavender faux suede from stash.  My process was to use the adjusted sloper pattern for all body pieces, and copy the front styling from the Butterick pattern.  I cut and sewed the pieces together.

Result?  The armholes were very high and somewhat tight.  This is to be expected since I was using a dress pattern as a starting point.  I lowered the armholes a bit, using a vest pattern as a template, so decided to keep this as a vest.  The sleeves will also need to be adjusted for a jacket.  The verdict?  The fit is very good.  But the front looks odd hanging open.  It seems like it needs a button or closure.The front has wrinkles coming from the shoulders to the armhole. If I place a pin in the center as a closure, the wrinkles disappear.  It just doesn’t sit right hanging open. I am now trying to decide what sort of button or closure to use.