M7282 Wearable Muslin

 

 

Season's Greetings!!! I'd ask how you're all doing, but the sewing blogosphere has remained active into the holidays so I feel like I know what everyone has been doing... I realize this dress is in no way festive. It is, after all, only a wearable muslin, and I thought maybe I'd make a Spring version... When it comes to Winter holidays, though, one is my favorite by far: New Years! Every year I try to glam up my typical low key look and do something fun with the people I care about. I decided this year to make my New Years dress. I'm still pretty shy about wearing my makes in public, so I'm hoping this will be a turning point in my handmade life.

 

I really wanted to do this dress right, so I made three muslins. Yep, three. This is the third one, as well as what I was hoping would be a wearable version (it's not unwearable per se, but it's definitely not something that sparks a great deal of excitement in me). I didn't ever intend to make three muslins, but I still have trouble deciphering size charts (it doesn't help when size charts misrepresent themselves, either). According to the size chart on this pattern, I should be able to squeeeeze into a size 12. So that was the first size I cut. It was huge, hanging off me in all the wrong places, not flattering at all.

 

 

 

At this point I bought a couple of books on fitting and spent about a week reading through them. How wonderful, all the adjustments I could make! I started to write them all down, and when I got to about the 7th major adjustment realized I was literally trying to bring this dress in at every single seam. Wouldn't bringing the dress in at all seams be the same as cutting a smaller size? I wondered.

 

I didn't think I had enough time to cut yet another unwearable muslin, and frankly, I didn't want to. Muslins are booooring, and a necessary evil, definitely not something we want to spend more time doing. After a day or two of procrastinating, I realized I needed to make a decision and act on it; time was ticking away. I reasoned that making another muslin in size 10 might actually save me time in the long run by avoiding all the intensive alterations the 12 would need. Plus, one of my fit books advised that if you have one body part that puts you into a larger size category, cut the smaller size muslin, add material where it's needed, then changed the pattern piece to reflect. This way you're doing one alteration instead of many. This is antithetical to the way I was taught: "Cut the size that fits the largest part of your body and size everything else down." But it makes more sense to do less alterations, doesn't it?

 

The size 10 fit way, way better than the 12. Most of the fit issues I had disappeared simply by cutting a smaller size. The one issue I noticed was tightness around the hips. I decided to add an inch to the hip area and did this by giving each pattern piece 1/4" extra and grading back into my size, like this:

 

 

 

You'll notice on my wearable version the skirt has kind of a rounded shape without being too tight. I ended up bringing the bottom hem in 2" and will update my pattern pieces to reflect that as well. I still haven't finished the hem on this dress, but because time is of the essence, I will be table-ing this for now while I begin the final version. Other than skirt alterations, the straps need to be about 3/4" shorter. The bust may or may not need some kind of an alteration, as I've noticed a bit of armhole gaping. I'm not going to change the pattern pieces for this and will instead cut the final version, see how it hangs, and potentially alter it if I still think it needs it.

 

If you're curious, the book I read and liked about fit is called Perfect Fitting by Sarah Veblen. It's an easy read and is packed with helpful pictures and information. I read a subpar fitting book before this one (that I won't mention here) and well, nothing like a gimmicky, vintage fitting book to make you appreciate a modern, straight-forward one.

 

 

Well, I still have a lot to do, so I'll sign off now. I hope Santa gets you something pretty. And I'll see ya in 2016!!!

 

xoxo,

 

Amy