WHY HANDMADE CLOTHES DON'T ALWAYS FIT

I made a toile, tried it on, and — like pretty much every time — something wasn't right. This time it was the shoulder seam: too long, and gaping at the back. One of about a hundred small fit frustrations I've run into over the years, if I'm honest.

The thing about armholes specifically is they're sneaky. You can't just let one out and call it fixed — it's not a seam allowance problem, it's a pattern problem. Shoulder slope, armhole depth, how the bodice balances on your actual body rather than a standard block — all of it affects whether a sleeve hangs right or just looks vaguely off no matter how many times you re-pin it.

After fashion school I joined Nancy Tauber's Glow High course focused on ballgowns, tailored jackets, and trousers, partly just to keep sharpening my understanding of structure like this. It's genuinely easy to dip in and out of, and when I've emailed photos of my own fit problems, I've gotten properly detailed answers back — not just a generic "try this." Their free mini masterclass on armhole fit is a good example of how clear they are about this stuff.

This particular toile issue actually came back to something even more fundamental — my own bodice block, which I've since gone back and fixed.

Learn Nancy Tauber's armhole formula in this free masterclass

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