A Wee Small Green Eyed Hissy Fit

It was unbelievably disconcerting to sew a muslin out of see-thru fabric. Staring at that in the mirror is way too much for me. I prefer broadcloth - or stash fabric gone old. Katie will be getting a new roll of geotextile fabric less one dress in the mail - LOL.

Progress IS being made. I'll start the real real thing this weekend and hope to have it finished up by Tuesday. Since it's a long weekend, that'll help although I am working tonight and Sunday.

Yesterday, I made a semi-real dress using a linen-look fabric from stash. It's a gorgeous color, has beautiful drape, and - unfortunately - snags like the dickens. Just in case it was wearable, I did everything properly. By last night, I knew it was a muslin so now I'm moving differently.




In the last class with Ron Collins, he taught me how to insert an invisible zipper. It's so quick and easy. I wish I'd known how sooner. In class, we interfaced the seam allowance supposedly because my fabric was lightweight however, I've found it stabilizes the opening and makes inserting the zipper even easier. These are 5/8" strips of fusi-knit with the stretch going across the body and the non-stretch running up and down.

I still pin the zipper in place. That leaves me two hands free to guide the fabric and make sure the zipper teeth are rolling under properly. It also allows me to match up any seam lines first, ease the remainder in correctly, and make sure that the ends stop and start in the same place. For all that, I'm okay with a few pins.



The C-cup was too small. The D-cup fits nicely over the bust although the neckline gapes slightly. I know why. More about that in a minute. With this draft, I cut super wide seam allowances AND used darts at the waistline so that I had more than enough fabric and could pin out the excess and determine exactly what was needed. It worked. I feel confident moving forward. The real version won't have waist darts and I'll cut center back and center front on fold to avoid breaking up the lace pattern as much as possible.




Here's a detail look at the bodice. It gapes and I can pin out a tuck but if you look closely, you can see above that the edge of the overlap does not meet the French seam on the bodice while below in the instructions, it does. That's about the same distance so I'll pick out that seam, move it over, and see if that positioning works before going on. If it does, perfect. Center front is obscurely marked on the pattern piece and then hard to find again when you're sewing.

Carrie, thanks for the heads up about the 1" seam allowance. I hadn't noticed and would have wondered what was going on with my drafting. Thanks also for mentioning this pattern. The cup sizes helped significantly and I prefer the French seam line on the bodice.

Some days, it feels like I can't sew and then I click on a blog entry like Kay's from the other day where she cut on the lines, sewed an untested pattern, and ended up with two dresses that look amazing on her and I have a wee, small, green eyed, hissy fit and I know I can't sew and I wonder why I'm doing this to myself... and then I keep on doing it. Sewing gets in my mind and the current project becomes all I can think about.

Last night, going to bed, my mind was contemplating how to move the bodice over and how to remove the skirt darts and keep enough hip ease. I know I have to split it in the middle and not at the side so the curve is graceful and the fabric doesn't pool at the edges because someone - Robin I think - learned that on one of her projects and I read about it on her blog and I learned too. I thought about length and finishing hems and... and... and... My mind gets onto a topic and won't let go. I have to know can it work and how will it work and what would make it work better. I watched a video yesterday that said "intellectual pursuits" like knitting and sewing are anti-aging. I'll take that. YES YES

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - several muslins and two prototypes later, I can now make the dress.