Fur-lined coat - pattern adjustment

This is a post about the adjustment of Vogue 1083.  I had to alter the pattern for two reasons.  First, for fit, and second, to suit the fact I was lining it with an existing fur coat.

Let's look at the fit adjustments first.  There are only two reviews of this pattern on PR but they served as a warning to watch out for the shoulders.  As they predicted, I found that the sleeve cap has too much ease given that it's a dropped shoulder.  However, the bigger problem is that the shoulder seam is too straight (think T-shirt).  The result of these features was an unattractively pointy low shoulder which had to be changed.  

To fix the shoulder, I curved the shoulder seam downwards about 1cm (3/8") from just beyond my shoulder point to the armscye seam.  This took a total of 2cm out of the length of the armscye seam which (along with the too-much-ease) meant that the sleeve pattern needed to be reduced in length even more.  To the left is a snap of this modification (which was also made on the back yoke piece).

The second main fit alteration needed was to take width out of the front at the shoulder level.  My back is evidently wider than my front.  I've learned to trust the make-a-muslin-and-pin-out-the-extra-fabric method pictured below.

At the shoulder in the photo at right, you can see the pinched-out 2cm along the shoulder seam.  Below the shoulder is a more-or-less vertical dart which tapers to nothing at the shoulder, and at its widest is about 3cm (1.25").  This eliminates an unattractive fold that was forming, and which would have made the coat look far too big across the chest.

At left, you can see this vertical dart drawn on the pattern tissue.

The next step is to slash the pattern along the dart's edge, and literally overlap the tissue so the lines (more or less) line up.  You can see, in the photo at right, how I had to slash through the pattern at the armscye to get it to lie flat.

The style adjustments were needed to accommodate the existing line of the collar on the fur coat.  The original coat had a shawl collar.  I removed the upper collar which left a curved under collar (CB seam) that transitioned to a straight CF edge.  Vogue 1083 also had a curved collar (a shawl) and straight CF edge but they were different shapes.  The Vogue pattern's neckline was higher and tighter than Furla's.  Also, the curve of the collar was lower and more gradual.

Here are some pictures showing how the final pattern pieces differed from Vogue 1083.

Finally, here's a picture of the taken-apart fur coat, with the adjusted pattern pieces laid out on top.  In the end I did not use the pattern pieces to cut the fur.  I completely winged it!