Making A Muslin

Today - already - is not going the way I anticipated. I'd booked the day off for two things - to take my son to a doctor's appointment and to have a window installed in my husband's office. Both have been delayed. Once I knew I had the day off, I also booked window cleaners. As far as I know, they are still coming as is the landscaper to look over what I wanted done differently so it's not a total loss, just not quite what I had planned.




Making a muslin can be like that - not go as anticipated. Above is the first try of the out of print Vogue 8904 dress. The bicep was way too tight so I added an inch to the second muslin. The front is lifting for want of a full bust adjustment. The shoulder width is ever so slightly too wide especially in the back shown below and...




... there's not enough ease through the back hips. I typically need more room toward the back and less toward the front. If I have the option, I'll divide my weight by cutting up one size for the back and down one size for the front through the pants or skirt. It works quite well. In this case, the pattern doesn't go any where near my hip size so I'm winging the skirt entirely by grading out and comparing to a skirt pattern that does fit.




On the second muslin, I combined the back bodice and back skirt pieces into one and changed the single dart to two. It fit through the body however the hemline pulled up. I could have figure that out only, after thinking about how I want to sew the lining portion of the dress, I've decided to add back the waist seam. It'll work better. I've also straightened the center back seam on the skirt. It incorporated a dart that is no longer necessary and a straighter seam works better for my flat behind.




I'm struggling with the full bust adjustment. First, I simply dropped the pleats down lower and the end result was still a tight bust with far too long of a neckline. Second, I tried the split above and again, there was too long of a neckline and it seemed (with the tissue fitting) that the cup was now too big so...




... this is trial number three - adding a third pleat. Splitting the pattern in this way adds length over the bust without adding length to the neckline. Hopefully the third muslin will be the charm and I can move on to the real thing. When I get to that stage, I plan to draft 1" side seams to allow for fine tuning better fit. That's a wonderful trick I learned from Pati Palmer. If you've bought any of her patterns, they have adjustment potential drafted right in. I also plan to sew a summer dress first before sewing up the lace for the dress to my son's grad.

The sun is shining. Birds are singing. Blossoms are appearing on the trees. The grass is getting greener. It just might be spring - finally. It's going to be even more gorgeous when my windows are shiny clean and the view is even clearer. YES YES.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - I emailed several people asking for feedback and help with the full bust adjustment and received replies from everyone. I'm so thankful for a supportive and helpful online sewing community.