Sew, I've Been Thinking

Haa Haa.
Been doing lots of thinking about my ill-fitting top/dress. My mom and I have about the same chest circumference. But we can't wear the same clothes. I've written before about how my front chest is larger than my back width. I can accommodate that in many pattern, but this one is so different, it's been stumping me. I thought about doing a "draping", basically laying the fabric on me and drawing/cutting how I want it. That would work better if I had a girl friend that could help out instead of a husband, LOL. But I also want a real, reproducible pattern.

When I cut out the new top, I saw that the chest/neck line was the same for all, and only the side seam and a bit under the arm changed for different sizes. The amount that gets gathered at the bottom of the cup, and the space it gets gathered into, stays the same for all sizes. And, since most patterns are sized for a B cup chest (and I am not a B cup!), just extending the side seam is not going to be the solution! Doh!
Some how I have to figure out how much fabric I need to cut, and how much to gather it. I know the bottom of the cups, when overlapped, have to fit to the top of the bodice. I'm just not sure how much to cut for the cups. I could try draping.
I'm also thinking I might use a dart for the lining layer as I felt the two layers gathered and sewn to the bodice made for a bulky seam allowance.

I've been getting kid/teen sewing books from the library. Some of the stuff has been cheezy (finger puppets and simple tote bags), but some of it has actually been really good--helpful info and good patterns which you fit to yourself. One of the books has a top like I'm doing (the green one on the cover), but the cups sit above the bodice, so the back seems a little low. They tell you how to create the pattern up to a C cup, and I wonder if that means they don't think teens come in larger sizes (although the skirts went larger), or if a larger size shouldn't wear this style?
I've also just finished sewing two dresses for the girls that have overlapping cups with a separate back piece. There's three pieces of elastic to rouch the back, and then one piece that goes all the way around, under the cups (LOL. They are not cups at these sizes!). They turned out really good (although I had major issues with inserting the three strips of elastic, due to a faulty safety pin), and I think between all these patterns, I should be able to come up with SOMETHING!
Stay tuned, and I hope to post pictures of the girls' dresses very soon (Lucy wore her's to daycamp today!).