How to Take in a Loose Fitting Shirt--While Keepint the Neck Measurement the Same.

My friend dropped by the other day with a pattern adjustment question.  I snapped a few pics of the steps, so I thought I would share with you!  John is making dress shirts for his brother-in-law.  The neck fits great, but there is some extra fabric hanging at the sides, creating an unflattering fit.

When a shirt is too wide across the chest, it makes the sleeve hang off the shoulder and the excess collects along the side seams.  (Too wide doesn't translate into a nice roomy fit.) I love working with men's shirts because they are so easy to adjust-- This adjustment would also work for loose fitting
women's tops.  (I haven't tested it on a pattern with a dart yet, but I think it would also work for that too.)  

To get a good fit on his brother-in-law, John estimated that 3 inches had to come off the width of the pattern. I decided to trim the seams down a size at the armhole and 2 sizes along the side seams.  Because the neck fits perfect, I'm going to leave the shoulder seams as they are.  If I trimmed them off, it would make the neckline smaller.

(Close-up of the shoulder seam.)

Step 1.  Use a sharpie to mark the new size along the front and back armhole.  The red marker will be my cut line when I take off the excess tissue.  Notice that I drew right across the shoulder seam, leaving the shoulder seam allowances as they were.

(Close-up of the front armhole and side seam)

Step 2.  Trace two sizes in along the front side seams.  By going down two sizes, I will trim 1 1/2" off each side, removing all the excess fabric that hanging along the side seams.

(Close-up of the back armhole and side seams, below the back yoke.)

Step 3.  Trace one size smaller along the lower back armhole and two sizes smaller along the back side seams.  REMEMBER to trace one size smaller along the upper armhole on the back yoke piece--see top photo.)

Step 4. Transfer all notches to the new cut line.  Trim off the excess tissue along the marked lines.

Final Step.  Adjust the sleeve to fit the armhole.  Because the shoulder seams were not trimmed off, there is an extra seam allowance.  But, we traced two sizes smaller along the side seams... So to split the difference, cut the sleeve one size smaller and it will fit perfectly into the new armhole!