Sureau Sew-along: Reducing the back bodice

Today we see how to alter your back bodice if it fits you at the neckline and at the waist, but it's too large in the middle.

Start by pinching off the excess fabric on your muslin, measure it and divide it by two. Now you know how much you need to reduce the pattern.

1. Trace a line going from the base of the dart to its point, and extend it all the way up to the shoulder.

2. Cut along the line, leaving a little space to pivot.

3. Now simply lay one part over the other, according to the measurement you got at the beginning. Use some tape to hold the pieces together.

4. Re-trace the dart: mark a spot where the old point was, that falls in the middle of the old dart legs and connect it to them.

And you're done!
If you find that most of the excess fabric is in the lower part of the back, you might prefer to do a sway back adjustment. Portia has a great tutorial on it, so I'm not going to illustrate it.