There was a free Burda handout in the pattern areas of Joann Fabric Stores detailing this change. It is most likely something you would have to see rather than someone describing it to you. The pattern is cut in several places with paper taped in the enlarged areas. Placement of the darts goes last, not first. You have to get it big enough to fit & find the center of each breast to mark the dart placement. It is complicated but you have to follow the directions step by step & work your way through. I saw no mention of lengthening the front on the directions I had. It fit great through the bust but was almost 2" shorter in the center front than the back. When lengthened, the front is curved & that is obvious on plaids & check. Stay with solids or prints.

There are several ways of doing it...I would do a search on line, print the references, make a couple copies of the front of the pattern, and start playing around to find the method that works best for you.

I would also double check to make sure you have the correct size pattern and compare your measurement to that on the pattern.

I usually just roll the dart point down a bit from the dart leg on the seam allowance and that always works for me.

Hi, Carol

Try opening the attached link and scroll down for the (not great) sketch of the alteration you're looking for. That's the way I was taught in Home Ec college.

Mary

Here is a link that might be useful: Altering bust cup size

Here's the instructions I have used. Walks you through each step. I took a dress bodice with NO darts and added darts. Worked great for me.

I traced out the original pattern piece onto another sheet of paper (Nancy's Notions pattern paper on a roll), then marked and cut the copy according to the instructions, then taped the modified pattern together with added paper in the new "spaces".

The illustrations for each step have a link, which you must click to see the picture for that step.

I ended up printing out the instructions, printing out each illustration, snipping and taping to get the instructions with the illustrations, then I put the whole thing in see-through binder page protectors, so I could refer back to it. My "front" is not flat, unlike most of the patterns I have. Sigh.

CMC

Here is a link that might be useful: Full Bust Enlargement (on patterns!)