Re: the additional fabric. These strips tended to be uniform in width, although I suppose they don't have to be, but they *should* be the same shape on each side. Remember when planning the width of the strip that you need to include not only a seam allowance for the expansion piece but to include in it the total amount of fabric which will be taken up by the seam allowances of the kirtle. If there's already a seam under the arms, disregard that comment and just add seam allowances to the expander bits. Otherwise, putting in two one-inch "expander" pieces with half-inch seam allowances on expander pieces and on the edges of the bodice will have you back exactly where you were, measurement-wise, before the garment was slit from armscye to bodice hem or raw edge.
Re: Men. Oh, they expect women to be soft and then half of them complain if we are. Piffle-poofle. I used to date one who was never satisfied: too thin, too zaftig, too muscular, too flabby---and my weight never fluctuated by more than two pounds either up or down, and I stand about 5-foot-7-inches---just an eighth of an inch short--so it isn't as though two pounds (or even four) made a vast difference.
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If there's already a seam under the arms, disregard that comment and just add seam allowances to the expander bits. Otherwise, putting in two one-inch "expander" pieces with half-inch seam allowances on expander pieces and on the edges of the bodice will have you back exactly where you were, measurement-wise, before the garment was slit from armscye to bodice hem or raw edge.
Re: Men. Oh, they expect women to be soft and then half of them complain if we are. Piffle-poofle. I used to date one who was never satisfied: too thin, too zaftig, too muscular, too flabby---and my weight never fluctuated by more than two pounds either up or down, and I stand about 5-foot-7-inches---just an eighth of an inch short--so it isn't as though two pounds (or even four) made a vast difference.