I took this pattern to a beach house with me. Three generations of seamstresses (my mother, my grandmother and myself) could not make the muslin fit me at the bodice. I’m not a particularly large woman. The bodice of this Cheongsam is cut for a very flat-chested silhouette. There is no obvious way to increase the garment to accommodate Western breasts. A kimono in-one cut is suitable for a loose garment but, fails utterly to work for a tightly fitted garment such as this. A couple of years after failing to make the Folkwear Cheongsam, I bought a second-hand Cheongsam for my slender teenage daughter; it had bust darts.
Betsy Hanes Perry –
I took this pattern to a beach house with me. Three generations of seamstresses (my mother, my grandmother and myself) could not make the muslin fit me at the bodice. I’m not a particularly large woman. The bodice of this Cheongsam is cut for a very flat-chested silhouette. There is no obvious way to increase the garment to accommodate Western breasts. A kimono in-one cut is suitable for a loose garment but, fails utterly to work for a tightly fitted garment such as this. A couple of years after failing to make the Folkwear Cheongsam, I bought a second-hand Cheongsam for my slender teenage daughter; it had bust darts.