Trying to find the Right Fit

I've been working on figuring out my fit for a bodice, or in my upper body. Barbara Deckert's Sewing for Plus Sizes class on Craftsy.com has helped, but I still had unanswered questions. I sewed up a muslin of the Vogue pattern that she is working with, and I used size 20 based on what she recommended. Here are some of the questions that I asked her. I probably should have stopped after that first one: "Should I have used a smaller size?"

Should I have used a smaller size? My upper chest measurement fell between an 18 and a 20, so I went with the 20, but it looks to me like I could take a pleat in the center front right at the neckline, so I'm wondering if the 18 would have been better. On the other hand, even though the front seems a bit big, the back pulls when I reach my arms forward.(I went ahead and sewed both sleeves in specifically so I could test this.) This is a problem I always seem to have. Should I make a broad back adjustment? (I already did a rounded back adjustment on the pattern tissue. I uploaded those pics to the project page.) Also,  I've always been small-busted, so I didn't need to increase the cup size. I did, however, move the apex points out further away from center front. Now I'm thinking the darts are too long as they seem to end right at my apexes. What do you think? And I'm wondering if I should take out some of the fullness of the darts. Also, should I make adjustments for not being symmetrical? I can see that my left shoulder is higher than my right, and I think that affects the fit overall. Next question: should I shorten the length of the bodice to the original length? I had lengthened the front and the back each by 2 1/2 inches. I'm not sure where my waist is, so I went with where my pants fall. I wore the muslin while moving around the house a bit, and the waist seam kind of crept up to above my abdomen rather than below. It's more comfortable up there, but I think having the seam right there makes me look even fatter. Here's another question: There are wrinkles on the front near the armscye. Do I need to take out some of that shoulder seam length? (Maybe a smaller size pattern would take care of that?) 

Well, this is what she said in reply:
Instead of answering all your questions one by one, let me tell you what Is would do with this if I were doing the fitting: 1. Shorten shoulder length in front neck area to tighten up the neckline; also stay the neckline if needed to eliminate the gapping. 2. Offset the shoulder seam so that it rides the center top of the shoulder and does not pitch forward. 3. Shorten the shoulder length so that the armscye seam intersects the shoulder joint. 4. Re-set the sleeve and see if it no longer forms horizontal sag lines since it will now be lifted higher on the arm. 5.. Shorten the length of the front waist dart so that then end 1" below the apexes. 6. I think this top might look better on you with a slightly raised waistline, as it is drafted, so that it skims the midriff area, so raise the waist front and back by just pinning the peplum onto the bodice a couple of inches higher, which will make the top shorter, so if you want more length you can adjust the peplum length at the hemline. Really, the only thing you couldn't change at this point had you cut the top in fashion fabric is the overall length! I would re-pin, re-baste, and do another try on; send pics and I will be happy to check it out.

It is helpful, yes, but how I wish she were with me in person to help me do those things. 1.How do I shorten the shoulder length in the front neck area to tighten up the neckline, and how do I stay the neckline to eliminate the gapping? 2.How is the shoulder seam pitching forward? Does that mean that I should pull the front up? Or maybe the back at the shoulder seam? 3. I can see shortening the shoulder length so that the armscye seam intersects at the shoulder joint, but, again, I think using a smaller size would make a difference there...

Well, you get the idea.

What I did was re-sewed a new muslin the smaller, size 18 size. And it seemed to work better. But I still wasn't sure where that peplum thing should fall; in other words, Where's my waist?

So, I gave up on that pattern for the time-being. I'm not sure I like it anyway. I couldn't get the darts to stop at the right point, and the upper chest area just seemed huge, even in an 18.

Next I sewed up the muslin for a free online pattern that I downloaded from fabrics.com for a gypsy-style peasant top. I really liked the look of it. In the line-drawing, that is.

It has princess-style seams with gathering across the top shoulders of them to attach the sleeves, and a bias-tape-finished neckline with a keyhole and a tie. I sewed it up in some scrap fabric, and I liked the neckline and the fact that it was modest. It just looked like a big sack on me, though. I thought about cutting it off shorter, or putting a belt on it, or putting a drawstring in the bottom for a blouson effect. But I couldn't get over the fact that it was one big square sack. Plus it, too, was baggy in front. I mean, what can you expect from a one-size-fits-all-type pattern. I had cut out it out in the size 18, so maybe it would work better in a smaller size. But I didn't feel like using more fabric to once again make up a muslin, so decided to let it go for the time-being as well.

And I started on this Simplicity 1914. I'm liking the style. I started with a muslin in a size 18. It, too, has princess seams. It has a wide banded neckline that I like because I think it gives the appearance of width to my upper body. I like the raglan sleeves. Between them and the neckline it reminds me a bit of the peasant top. The problem? Gaposis again. The neckline is gapping on me. It seems that I need to pull it up somehow, but there is nowhere to pull it up to. I played with the princess seams, and was able to take out some of the bagginess, and that helped. But I was left with these little pointy knobs where the apex should be. Except that the points ended up above my apex. So it looked pretty funny. But I think I can still work that out. Anyway, then I realized that I could pull the shirt up into the banded neckline area, and, guess what? It worked! I was able to get rid of some of that fullness in the upper chest, and the neckline wasn't gaping so much. I was much encouraged.

I had added 3/4 inch to the length of the upper back of the pattern piece because I believe that I have a rounded upper back. But maybe I don't really, as the back seems a bit saggy too.

However, there is room in the back for me to move my arms freely, and that is wonderful. I can reach forward without having the back pull tight. I don't know if that's because of the raglan sleeves. Speaking of the raglan sleeves, they almost seem like set-in sleeves. Because of how wide the neckline band is, the sleeves as they are set into neckband seem to fall pretty close to where the shoulder joint should be. I think I have narrow shoulders. What do you think?

Here are my fitting issues that I think I have:
Narrow shoulders
Forward-rotating shoulders
Broad, rounded back
Small upper chest area. By this I mean the upper bust area, but only in the front, from underarm crease to underarm crease.

Well, just now I was looking at fitting books on amazon.com, and I decided to check out Nancy Zeiman's book about fit: Pattern Fitting with Confidence. She's the television sewing lady. I looked at the first few pages, about taking measurements, and she talks about the "Right Size Measurement." She says that if your Right Size Measurement is 14 inches, then you're a size 14, and each half inch greater or less than that is the equivalent of a size. So, I took that measurement on me, and, guess what? It's 14 or 14 1/2 inches (I'm not sure which). That means that I would be a size 14 or a size 16.

Maybe that's why my mother always used a size 14 pattern. I mean, I've noticed in my pictures of my back that I have the same posture as my mother. And I wear the same bra size that she wore. So maybe I'm the same size as her? Yet all my measurements say that I'm a size 18. But size 18 doesn't fit in the front upper chest area. I think it's because of my big back taking up all that measuring tape length.

What to do? I'm going to keep experimenting with pattern sizes. I will finish up this Simplicity pattern in the size 18 that I cut it, and see if I can get the front to fit using those princess seams and the banded neckline as places that I can adjust. And then after that, for the next pattern that I sew, I'm going to try a size 16. Maybe I'll keep a bigger size in the back, but smaller in the front. Is that allowed?

We shall see.