Reader Question: Will Butterick 5882 Work on a Large Bust?

Hi readers! Today I thought I'd answer a FAQ about one of my new Butterick patterns, number 5882. This design has a feature called a "shelf bust," which is a set-in inlay of pleats with a bias band underneath.

The question I've been hearing a lot is: will this style work on a figure with a larger bust? My opinion is a resounding YES. Now let me tell you why.

While it may seem like a shelf bust would draw extra attention and volume to a large bust, that's only really true if the "shelf" extends to the bottom of the bustline. Let me explain what I mean.

Check out these dresses from my long-ago inspiration post.

The bustline looks heavy on all of these because it extends to below the bust, where the underwire on your bra would be.

In my version, I made the shelf more shallow to minimize this heaviness. The shelf seamline goes across the bustline horizontally, visually minimizing its proportions.

The other thing I did was to make the pleated insets rather small, proportionately. If you look a repro brand Trashy Diva's shelf bust dress, you'll see that the pleated sections are rather large.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am a HUGE Trashy Diva fan. But I tried this dress on and felt that my bustline looked enormous (and I'm a B cup!). If you look at my design in comparison, the pleated sections are much smaller.

So that's my reasoning for liking this style for a larger bustline. But please keep in mind that this is not a modest neckline! You will be showing cleavage, but I think my pattern will minimize the overall scale of the bustline, if that makes sense. 

Of course, the more important question is how to do an FBA (Full Bust Adjustment) on this style? I'm going to dedicate a post to the topic, but here's the short answer. You would need to add length and width in the seams around the bust: the shelf seamline, and the princess seams below it. From there, you would need to slash and spread the pleated inset and its lining piece to fit your new bodice. That's probably really hard to visualize, which is why I'll do a post on the whole topic. 

I hope this helps!