Fiber includes clothing yardage too!

I love costumes, don't have that many opportunities to wear them, but sometimes wearing a vintage outfit to do my wool spinning demonstrations is fun. So I found this pattern called Isabella's Workdress, and thought I'd try my hand at sewing it together.

The pattern taken straight from a vintage dress. My muslin mock up has a few fitting issues, that more than likely weren't an issue for a work dress, but I have the idea that I can get it to fit me a bit better than it does...but I need help...help from people who understand pattern design.

The following pictures are made with the muslin lining and the fashion fabric as a finished top...the muslin fit me so I went ahead and put the fashion fabric onto the muslin lining,

front view

 but it wasn't until I did this that I saw a big problem, the front neckline has major neck gaping.

1.5" gap

I've taken up the front shoulder seam of the front of the bodice at the neckline about 1/4" but it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference. I might try to take it up a bit more in that area to see if it will help to pull in that extra inches. The other thought is to actually change the straight line of the button band into something more serpentine...in at the top, out at the bust and back in at the waistline.

Here is a look at the shoulder seams..the back is a bit longer than the front much like contempo patterns are, but there is quite a curve to the front shoulder seam...wondering if that has something to do with the excess neck front fabric, or if it can be changed here somehow?

shoulder 

The seams on the dress also sit differently than contempo patterns, as the shoulder seam drops off the shoulder, and the side seam sits to the back of the center line:

drop shoulder-side seams set back

You can also see that the back of the neck seems very high and tight against the neckline. Maybe some adjustment here would change the front neck gaping?  

back neck

And the waistline on the back is much lower than that in the front....the waist line is marked with the large pearl headed pins:

The back waist is 1.25" longer than the front.

So there you have it...I appreciate any suggestions.  :)

armscye-front facing left

Great thanks go out to Lindy, at Timeless Calico for all her tips and help with this dress as well. She's been a great source of help and information for the fit and style of this dress, without her input I think I may have not tried as hard as I am to get this to fit me in a contemporary stylish way :).

example of serpentine center front line 

Note the center front line on this bodice diagram. I'm thinking of changing the original straight front center line of the original pattern to something more serpentine like this.