I have been running into some problems drafting a coat pattern for my figure. I am quite slim and at the same time have much wider shoulders than what would be proportional.
The measurements I am dealing with are a chest circumference of 82-83cm (~32 1/2") and a point to point measure of about 45cm (~17 3/4"). If I draft the pattern exactly to the system I end up with shoulders that are way too narrow. If I just increase the shoulder width I end up a very pronounced "point" when both shoulder seams are put together. Also, the armhole shape looks extremely wrong (the ends of the shoulder seams almost meet each other on top of the armhole).
That would be a brief overview of my issue, here is a more detailed list of things I have tried or thought about (no particular order, just numbered for convenience):
1. Just ignore the problem for now. When I get to the point of having joint the shoulders (on the actual coat) and I chalk on the armhole run, I smooth it out so it does not look pointy. This produces a convex curve on top of the armhole/sleeve seam. I did exactly that on the first coat I made and it kind of worked out (if you don't look at it from a weird angle). Still, I have never seen anyone do this and it seems incorrect to me, especially considering a sleeve has to fit in there.
2. Increase the shoulder slope. That would indeed make the shoulder ends a little "softer", but is not applicable to my figure, since I have quite square shoulders. I did not even put a pad in my first coat (just the canvas over the shoulder) and still had to square the shoulder a little from the original draft.
3. Drop just the end of the front shoulder a little bit. I have seen this "dip" at the end of the shoulder in a lot of older drafting systems and it would have a similar effect to what I described in point 2, i.e. it would also take a bit of "pointiness" away from the shoulder tip. However I am unsure about the consequences of doing this, as no modern drafting system seems to do this anymore. Maybe this would work well for a more natural, unpadded shoulder? Jeffery Diduch seems to suggest this on one of his blog posts: https://tuttofattoamano.blogspot.com/2009/11/different-shoulder-types.html
Even so, that alone would not completely eliminate my issue.
4. Narrow the armhole. Between point 6 and point 19 on the draft 1/3rd scale is used. In some older drafts I have looked at this amount seems to be a little less. Could it be that for someone of my dimensions the chest circumference is distributed differently, i.e. more width on back and front and less below the armhole?
Still, narrowing the armhole would not completely solve the problem of the point that is created at the shoulder ends.
5. A more "Drape cut" style coat. I am quite interested in this cut and have read through quite a lot of material on it and I realized the typical adjustments that are made could help with my shoulder problem. So I drafted a pattern and made some of the suggested adjustments (in short, I cut a substantially wider back, I straightened the neckpoint quite a bit and filled in the front scye a little). This has been the greated improvement so far, allowing me to have an almost straight armhole run when I put the shoulder seams (of the pattern) together.
I am, in any case, quite keen on trying this out, since it is a style of coat I really like. Still, what if I (or someone with a similar build) wanted a cleaner front and back and this solution was out of the question?
The position of the neckpoint seems to be the biggest issue for me. 1/6 Scale is less than 7cm (2 3/4") in my case, which just feels way too crooked.
The issue becomes apparent when I then draw out my front shoulder, which has to be at least 17cm (6 3/4", that is 16cm and one seam) long. Even 5mm or 1/4" less, like on my first coat, and my arm sticks out into the sleeve a bit. That makes the shoulder extend out from the front of the scye (vertical line from point 19 in the draft) about 10cm (4"), making it impossible to curve it back into the rest of the armhole smoothly.
The back shoulder is easier to adress by just widening the back, but I would like to know if there are better/different solutions.
Number 5 is my favorite "solution" so far. I was actually about to strike that pattern out, but decided to post my questions here before I do. I have an annoying habit of trying too hard to figure things out myself, even when there is a place I can ask for help, so I am trying to break that habit.
Some professional insight would be greatly appreciated!
(I realize this is a lot of text and some images might be helpful. I don't own a phone, so taking pictures and getting them here is quite a process, but let me know if something in particular would be useful.)
