Anatomical Corrections

To translate a picture into a pattern here, I have to account for the differences between the proportions of Lucy, who is a dress form based on human measurements, and Misato, who is cartoon character. And I don't mean that in a Joan Holloway sense. Rebuild Misato is a little better, but TV Misato, whose picture I'm mostly going by, is getting into "orange on a toothpick" head and neck territory. So I can't exactly line up style lines with anatomical landmarks, but I'm making a bit of a translation.

For the shoulder, I lined up with grain with Lucy's shoulder seam and then worked to fit to the cotton tape lines. I was thinking maybe I shouldn't fit this so close, and there's probably something to that, but then this also goes a long way to defining the armscye which should still be pretty fitted.

For the front, I lined up on the center line, though really this edge should be lined up on the left hand corner of the little plateau. That's okay, since that is just an extension of sorts and can be drafted on when I transfer it to paper, or just added as muslin pieces are cut out. In order to give some shape,  a dart is placed in the usual bodice dart location. I kept it smaller, since what it should do is give just enough shape to cause the lower portion (below a horizontal line through the bust point) to hang straight. As it turns out, this is the location of the inverted triangle and stripe detail from Misato's jacket. I think that detail will ultimately have to be some kind of trim, since the dart only goes up so far, and has no width visually. Here it is in process.

I get tired standing here all day.

I don't know why she looks like she's leaning over. Here is the first pass at the pattern piece. The side seam looks off at a diagonal, but once you close up the dart and wrap it around a torso, it should match the side seam vertically. I didn't get to make a back piece, though that will be even easier, since it just has to hang straight so that will get done later and a test made to see if we're in the ball park with this before thinking about a sleeve. I did find a picture which shows a plausible 360 degree hemline shape, so I will go with that later, though I'm not sure all pictures agree. It's almost like this is a fictional garment...