Vtg Dubarry 6043 - pt 2

This is turning into one of "those" projects.  You know the ones?

For reference, here's the pattern, a 1940s Dubarry:

I'm doing the Sewing through the Decades challenge (linky on the left sidebar), and this is my 1940s entry.  Here's a snapshot of where I am right now:

Soo...the front bodice fits wonderful.  I've really got that nailed it would seem.  The back was a hot mess.  I had used my vintage McCalls 4115 back bodice and drafted a new back bodice piece for this Dubarry.  It ended up being about 6 inches too big!!  I have NO idea what happened, nor do I want to think about it too much becuase it makes my head hurt.  It would be SO much easier if I could just fit my back by sight.

Then my iron quit.  Dad to the rescue, who ran my mom's iron over to my house on his way to church!

Next, I went back and redrafted the back bodice, making it the requisite 6 inches smaller and using the pinned-to-fit bodice in progress and the original Dubarry pattern to draft off of.  Restitched the bodice, tried it on and voila.  Looked like a pretty good fit (if slightly snug this time.  sigh.)

That left me with skirt front & back.  I had compared the skirt front & back pieces from the original pattern and they appeared to be nearly an exact match shape-wise to one of my favorite New Look skirt patterns.  Which already fits.  So I subbed out my NL skirt piece (It uses the same piece for front/back) for the Dubarry.

I did trace off a copy and reshape the waistline to match the Dubarry though.  For two reasons...one, I won't have to dig around for the NL pattern next time I make this sundress and two, I was afraid the slightly different curve of the waistline would make a huge difference in fitting the bodice and skirt together.

That brings us to the next problem.  When I went to stitch the skirt on, I discovered the back skirt was about 4-6" too big for the back bodice, while the front skirt fit the front bodice perfectly. Which  makes sense I guess, since the original back bodice "should" have fit, given I made it to measurements.  And the skirt pattern was cut the same.   See, that's where the headache about this back fit thing comes into play.  HOW can that be possible??

Anyway.  What to do now?  Add darts in back?  Gathering?   It was clearly too much to ease in.  So I just went "easy" and made little pleats:

Which would be fine except now the dang thing is TOO TIGHT through my midsection/high hip!  UGH!!!  If this was a fitted dress, I think it would be fine (not in this fabric though).  Since I was going for a more flowy skirt sundress, and not a fitted midsection/hip, I'm disappointed.

I'm setting this project aside for now until I can come up with a suitable solution (bear in mind I do not have any more of this cute yellow print, so my solution has to be some sort of witchcraftery).

Before I go though, here's a close up of the cute bodice with RED RICKRACK.  I might cry if I can't fix this. Yellow daisy print with red rickrack!

I might have to find a new pattern to use my cheery pink and grey cherry fabric for...maybe a cute flowy skirt?

Don't forget to enter the Shabby Apple Dress giveaway!  Enter to win this cute wrap dress:

One more shout-out to Hell's Belle.  I really want to award this lovely blogiversary package!  If I don't hear from you by midnight Monday night, I'll be redrawing to give my vintage patterns and goodies to the next lucky winner!