I have been working off and on for 10 months trying to sew a knockoff of
this Vampire's Wife dress. I have done at least 6 muslins of the bodice of
M8032 and the fit has never been correct, mostly on the back bodice. It occurred to me (why it did not before I don't know
), to use a bodice that I know fits, the one from
S2444. I made the changes I needed to make to S2444 on the actual pattern tissue. This was early in my sewing and it never occurred to me to redraw it on paper and make the changes there. This pattern piece is almost falling apart and, with all the problems that I have had in getting the fit correct, I was wondering if it would work to take apart one of the dresses I made with it, undo the darts, and just trace that actual bodice onto paper and use it. I don't wear those dresses anymore. I am definitely going to make a muslin first. Would that work? I have a second question. The S2444 pattern has two darts on each side of the front bodice that slant from the waistline toward the bust point. You can see them in this
picture. The Vampire's wife dress has one dart on each side of the front bodice that extends from the side seam to the bust point.
This picture of another Vampire's Wife dress shows the dart. If I changed to darts on S2444 to be like the one on the Vampire's Wife dress, would it change the fit? Should I do that or leave them like they are? Part of me says to leave them like they are because I know the bodice fits, but the perfectionist in me says change them.