The By Hand London Anna dress

The By Hand London Anna dress is another very popular dress among home sewers. It has a pleated bodice, kimono sleeves, and a paneled skirt, with options for a v-neck or a boat neck. You can sew it up as a midi dress, or as a maxi with a thigh-high slit.

As I’ve mentioned before, pleated bodices always catch my eye, who knows why. So I’ve had my eye on the Anna for quite awhile. For my birthday, I ordered three yards of this pattern in a rayon “silky faille” from Spoonflower, with the Anna dress in mind. The thing is, I often have a really hard time getting bodices to fit. Empire waists, for example, always hit my bustline way too high.

I’d generally assumed these fit problems had to do with being full-busted, but recently I’d begun to wonder. My patternmaking teacher (more on that another time) mentioned to the class in passing that if she were drafting for me, she’d have to lower the bustline quite a bit, which I thought was a weird and unnecessary thing to say, but it did get me thinking. Do I have a low bustline?

That memory was jostled to the surface when I was staring at the Anna pattern. I knew I’d need to make a full-bust adjustment, since I cut the pattern in a size 12, and my bust measurements were more like a 14. But as I was looking at BHL’s instructions for an FBA, I realized they had me marking the apex way higher than my actual bustline. Huh.

I did some measuring and realized that, sure enough, my bustline falls at least two inches below the pattern as drafted. This actually explains a lot about fitting issues I’ve had over the years. Do I have a saggy rack? I mean, I guess. It’s weird, though; I wear really good bras and no amount of hoisting the strap really lifts my bustline. Maybe I have a long sternum? Is that even possible? (Probably just a saggy rack, let’s be honest.)

Anyway! This realization sent me on a pattern-alteration adventure. For my first muslin, I lowered the bustline by two inches, just by slashing the pattern below the armpits (just above where the pleats end) and taping in two inches of paper. Then, of course, I realized that the bodice back needed the same treatment, so I added two inches to that, too.

I realized belatedly, of course, that the right way to perform a low-bust adjustment is to subtract those two inches from somewhere else in your bodice, below your bustline. (Where, given the pleats? I’m not sure.) But the thing was, when I tried on the first muslin, everything seemed to land where I wanted it on the bodice, with the dart pointing confidently breastward and the pleats hitting me at what I imagined was the right place. I’m not tall, so where did those two inches go? No idea!

The back part of the bodice was pretty droopy, because of the extra inches, so I made a big swayback adjustment and that seemed to work OK.

After all that bodice-fiddling, the skirt was pretty straightforward. I cut a 14, grading into a 12 at the waist, but that was probably unnecessary; the pattern had more ease around the hips than I’d expected, and I’m pretty sure a 12 would’ve been fine. I flat-felled all the seams, which, wow, bad idea with drapy rayon. I probably should have used French seams, but I’ve just never done those before and was a little intimidated. I managed to wrestle the seams into submission, and I’m so pleased with the finished product. I guess I’ve heard boatnecks are a bad idea for the Full-Busted, but I like them and it’s my dress so I can do what I want. (I actually brought the neck in an inch on each side, since my bra strap was showing.)

I’m really pleased with the final product. It’s probably the best-fitting garment I’ve ever worn. I’m really happy that the pleats fall in the right place, and it’s super comfortable to wear. I’m envisioning more Anna dresses to come.