Random topic, I know. But, this is legit practical sewing stuff!
My elder son is a 10th grader and in high school marching band. I volunteer for the uniform team, which helps take care of the students’ marching garments.
We wash, we steam, we hang, we make sure the show look is correct for competition. Did you know in marching band competitions, your uniforms are part of the overall score?
It’s uniforms for almost 200 musicians. It’s a big job.
The Uniform Moms (there are no men on our team, although they’re welcome and our work has no gender bias IMO) also measure students for uniforms and makes sure the garments fit correctly.
This season we have two drum majors, and one of the drum majors needed a better-fitting jacket. We had two jacket options for her:
- Jacket with too-small waist circumference.
- Jacket with slightly too-wide shoulders and too-small waist circumference (although this jacket had a little bit more play in the waist).
Pro tip: Always go for the garment with better-fitting shoulders. Once the shoulders fit correctly, everything from the shoulders down is WAY easier to fit. Makes sense, as garments that cover the top half of a human body get their support from the shoulders. (Exception: Anything strapless, which relies on compression/negative ease to keep it from falling down.)
For your reference, this is what the drum major jacket looks like:
It’s a cropped jacket with a center back zipper and back princess seams.
Steps for Adding Waist Circumference
Here’s how I added inches to the jacket waist:
1.) Measure drum major waist circumference and record.
2.) Measure waist circumference of jacket and record.
3.) Calculate difference between human waist and jacket waist. This is the minimum needed to be added to the jacket circumference so the zipper will close. (Please hold for wearing ease.)
4.) Determine location of additional circumference. To spread the extra length, I decided to add more fabric to the waist at the back princess seams and the side seams.
5.) Let out back princess seams. Band uniforms have generous seam allowances (0.625-1 inch), because they’re used for different kids year after year. They’re designed for alterations.
Fun fact: The uniform bottoms (bibs) have adjustable shoulder straps (expected)… and there is snap tape sewn to the seam allowance of the pants hems. To adjust the hems, it’s a matter of unsnapping/re-snapping to the correct length. So clever, and so easily implemented by a home sewist. Hello, snap tape to adjust pants for heels or flats?! Yes, please.
Continuing…
I added about an inch to each princess seam (2 inches total). I left 0.25-inch seam allowances; that’s pretty much the bare minimum for a strong seam allowance.
To add fabric from the seam allowance, I unpicked the princess seams from the waist hem to where the seam started to curve.
In this pic you can see the triangles from seam allowance added back into the jacket. (Uniform Moms have a steamer for those wicked polyester creases!)
6.) Recalculate. In Step 3, I figured the minimum fabric to be added to waist circumference. Fabric from the princess seams reduced the minimum calculation by 2 inches.
TBH, I don’t have my notes for this project anymore, but here are some pretty close example numbers to explain what I’m throwing down:
Minimum to be added = 7 inches
7 inches – 2 inches (from princess seams) = 5 inches = Updated minimum to be added
5 inches / 2 side seams = 2.5 inches per side seam
The finished gusset triangle will be 2.5 inches at the base. (Again, these are example numbers.)
7.) Measure finished side seam length. The side seam length is the length of the non-base sides of the gusset.
8.) Measure the side seam (and armscye) seam allowances. The gusset will have these seam allowances, too.
9.) Determine wearing ease. To accommodate the drum major’s movement (she’s waving her arms like crazy for about 10 minutes straight!) and preserve the fitted look of the uniform, I went with 1 inch wearing ease at each side seam (2 inches total).
10.) Draft the gusset pattern. Back to the example numbers.
Gusset triangle base = 2.5 inches + 1 inch ease = 3.5 inches
Side seam length = 7.5 inches (from finished waist hem to armscye seam where side seam terminates)
It’s a very tall and skinny triangle.
11.) Add seam allowance to gusset pattern. ALWAYS add seam allowance after the pattern piece is finalized. Making changes to pattern pieces with seam allowance makes me sad. It’s a recipe for ill-fitting pattern pieces.
The gusset-side seam allowances were the same, but I gave the waist hem (triangle base) a 0.25 inch seam allowance. I planned to overlock all the gusset raw edges 0.25 inches (wide four-thread overlock stitch). For the waist hem, my idea was to turn up the quarter-inch overlocked edge and topstitch.
12.) Mark the side-seam intersection, aka, the tip of the triangle, on the pattern piece. I punched a little hole at the tip with an awl.
Instead of the sides of the jacket being sewn together, each jacket side is sewn to a side of the gusset. However, these two seams share the same starting point — the tip of the triangle.
Starting both lines of stitching in the same spot is key to a beautiful gusset. If the lines of stitching intersect (but don’t start at the same point), you can make a tuck. If the lines of stitching don’t intersect, there will be a small gap at the top of the triangle.
13.) Cut out the fabric pattern pieces. The drum major jacket is made of black polyester twill, and I was lucky to have a pair of damaged matching marching bibs from which to harvest fabric for the gussets.
When I first approached this alteration, I toyed with using stretch black denim (cotton with a dash of spandex) from my stash. I quickly decided, though, that the bibs fabric was preferable (even though I could have repaired the tear in the bibs and put another pair of marching pants into circulation).
What stopped me from using the black denim was how the jacket would be laundered. The uniform team takes the jackets to a laundromat for a wash and dry; the unis are not dry cleaned.
I had no idea how the cotton denim would shrink or fade after laundering. I had visions of twisted triangles and thought the risk wasn’t worth it. I would have to sacrifice the bibs.
14.) Finish the raw edges of the fabric pattern pieces. As mentioned, I overlocked with a wide four-thread overlock stitch.
After I serged, I hit the gussets with a little steam to coax them back into shape. The poly twill stretched a touch on the bias cuts. It was nothing that couldn’t be manhandled into shape during sewing, though.
15.) Finish the waist hem side of the gussets. As mentioned, I turned up the serged edge (triangle base) 0.25 inches and topstitched.
16.) Stitch the gussets in place. I rubbed tailor’s chalk over the triangle tip hole (made with the awl) to mark where to start stitching. It’s easier to start stitching from the tip vs. trying to land exactly on the tip at the end. I also think it’s easier to push the other gusset/side seam out of the way when you start stitching from the top of the tip.
Also: To ensure you’re starting in the correct spot, drop the needle before the presser foot. You get a clear view of exactly where the stitching begins, and all layers are locked into place by the needle. Fine tuning!
17.) Press. When pressing, I used a press cloth, medium heat, and steam, and I pressed on the wrong side. Polyester gets shiny (melts!) if you press too aggressively. But, this poly twill doesn’t make the sharpest seams, either.
My solution was to pull the iron fast after a blast of steam and slap it with a hardwood clapper and hold it until cooled. Worked pretty well IMO. Holding fabric in place as it cools works remarkably well, and it’s a way to prevent damage to fabric from heat. Just watch your fingers!
18.) Execute final touches. I had to restitch part of the back bottom hem because it was unpicked to insert the gusset. There always seem to be bits and bobs here and there to restore during alterations.
Check out the finished gusset below!
‘That Doesn’t Look Right’: Plot Twist
I brought the jacket to the next band rehearsal so our drum major could try it on.
The jackets zip in the back. I zipped her up and examined the fit at the back and waist. Perfect perfection. I pumped my fists in delight.
“Erin,” said Uniform Moms Mother Superior, “I think these shoulders look wide.”
I moved to the front to check out the shoulders.
Mother Superior was right. The shoulders looked wide. Waist good, shoulders bad.
“Is it possible you fixed the wrong jacket?” Mother Superior asked.
Oh no. No no no.
That’s definitely what I did. I put gussets in the jacket with the shoulders that were too big.
In the chaos of band rehearsal, I went home with the wrong drum major jacket. (TBH I’m not too surprised this happened. They are identical jackets, and the Uniform Moms, especially Mother Superior, usually are juggling 10 tasks and following up on 10 students. It’s the perfect storm for a switcheroo.)
Once I accepted this plot twist, I sprang into action. I followed slightly different steps to alter the jacket with the better fitting shoulders.
1.) Open the side seams from waist to armpit. I quickly ran home to get with a seam ripper. In the interest of time, I did not open the back princess seams.
2.) Zip drum major into jacket.
3.) Measure spread of side seams at waist. Picture this: The jacket is too small at the waist, and it couldn’t be zipped all the way.
But, now there are big openings at the side seams that let me zip all the way to the waist. I zip, and the side seams spread to accommodate body volume. The jacket lies flat over her body.
I took this to the next level and pinned muslin into the spread of the jacket side seams so I would know the exact gusset width. (This is how we did fittings in fashion school — ripping seams and placing patches. Then you know how much fabric you need to add.)
From here I could draft a gusset pattern piece, cut out fabric, and make the fix as described above.
And, as you can clearly see, the jacket fits my drum major sublimely:
LOL I can’t post a pic of her; she’s not my kid! Trust me, though — the fix looks amazing and she can major dem drums all marching season long.
I’m curious: Do you have experience sewing for your kid’s school or maybe another community/nonprofit org? I am very cautious about how I volunteer my sewing skills. I am a band geek from way back in the day, and now my son is, too, so it’s personal for me. And, the student musicians work super hard, and I want them to have a good experience in band. It takes a village to make marching season happen.
ALSO: Would you be interested in a photo tutorial of how to fit with muslin patches? I could do that, if you please. LMK!