Muslin Take Two-- and Some Advice Needed

You may remember this picture that I posted last week when I realized that I needed to add some major length to the bodice.  (Imagine-- at first I thought it was supposed to look that way!)

I went back to the drawing board and added 2" to the pattern.  While some of you advocated not changing it at all since it didn't look bad per se, I think the second muslin is much better as the proportion seems more correct in this second one.  Another reason I wanted to lower the waist is that I do want to include the belt-- so the natural waist needs to actually sit at the waist, not at my ribcage.

A few sidenotes:

• These are NOT the shoulder pads I intend to use.  I wanted to use shoulder pads for the fitting since the pattern calls for them and I definitely want to use them.  (They're supposed to extend into the sleeve cap).  I will most likely make my own from batting when I get to that point in the process.  I have a few forties dresses in my closet that I can use for reference.
• When I was a design student in college, I did an independent study with one of my professors where we focused on fit.  One great trick I learned is to tie a piece of elastic around your waist (the black line above in photo).  Jump around a bit/wiggle/move and the elastic will naturally settle into the smallest part of your waist.  THIS is your natural waist.  Compare this with where your pattern has the waistline marked (also visible on the muslin in the middle photo above) and adjust accordingly.
• I also lowered the armhole about 1".  It felt a little tight, and there were wrinkles forming along the side seam.  According to Vogue Fitting (a wonderful resource that you can buy used on Amazon for as little as $2.00), the underarm seam should start about 1" below the armpit.
• I'm ready to move on to the fashion fabric.  Woohoo!

So, I need y'alls expertise on something:

This dress has an opening in the side seam to allow for me to put it on (see picture below).  The original pattern calls for snaps, but I don't really know how one makes a placket (for lack of a better word) for snaps in a side seam.  Does anyone have any experience doing this?

My mom suggested using an invisible zipper instead which is fine except I don't think I like zippers in side seams.  In my recollection, they tend to buckle strangely which ruins the silhouette of the dress.  I have a suspicion that gals with a lower waist-hip ratio can use a zipper there, whereas girls like me with tiny waists and larger hips run into trouble.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Butterick 4919: altered bodice + fabric choices

I added some side darts to the bodice and made a tuck on each side of the neckline, which I have just stitched as darts for now to get the idea. I then turned under and stitched down the seam allowance along the neckline (in the actual dress, the edges are finished by a facing piece that is sewn like a lining). I threw a couple of hooks on the back so I could get it to stay on. I think the fit is much better now. I might also add a little more length to the shoulder seams so my bra straps don't show.

I'm sorry this picture is so blurry, but it's the best I could get by myself. You can kind of see the tucks I made at the neckline near the center front. (Any advice on how to alter the pattern for this?)

(If I had more shame, I would not post this  picture of me in my baggy pants and messy living room on the internet, but I guess I don't.)

Here are the two fabrics I'm thinking about. The top one is a cotton voile with a black background; the bottom a black woven polyester. The coin on the black fabric is a quarter.

Muslin pics

I finally found time to be pinned in to my dress muslin and take pics yesterday afternoon.  There are a full set over at my blog, but these 2 I think show where I am up to. 

Front of the dress

side view

There were not too many adjustments to be made after all. I took it in by about half an inch at the long side darts and the shoulder seams. I think the fit is fine for a summer dress. I am going to lower the neckline by about 1.5 - 2 inches. I don't find high necklines comfortable, nor do I think they are flattering on me.
I am not sure whether the bunching at the back here is a problem with the pattern/fit, or if bunched it up when I put my hands on my hips for the earlier photos. You can see we only pinned the hem up at the front. I will make the shorter hem adjustments on the pattern before I cut the fashion fabric.

First toile. hmm - could be worse

Time to tackle my Aust Home Journal teenage frock !  - a reminder:

Its a very simple design and both front and back pieces are cut on the fold, with the zip in the side seam.

The pattern is for a 24inch waist, so I thought I'd measure the pieces with the darts 'darted' and the seam allowances marked.

They were both around the 7inch mark, so x 4  = 28 inches, which is my waist (without any ease of course)!.

Anyway, I figured I'd just make this up and see where to go from there.

Cue a cute print scored yesterday from the Salvos on the highway - 2.9 metres x 90cm wide for a measly $2.

Perfect for a toile.  Except maybe a but busy to see details in photos.  Fine for 'real life' though.

 It's a bit tight and the bust dart goes right up and over my boobs, and the side dart is too high.   So I plan to push those down the pattern about 1 to 2 inches.   But the neckline and sleeve hole seems to be ok !

I'm thinking for the back, I could place the pattern piece on the fold at the top of the piece, and pivot it so the bottom part is about 1centimetre in from the fold, thereby giving a bit of extra fabric across the back ?  Is that a plan ?   Its tightest across the shoulder blades, but fits ok at the top of my shoulders, so don't just want to make the whole piece bigger.  I could increase the dart suppression (new word to the vocab here - thanks Sherry!) at the base of the dart to take up the extra fabric?  Your views?

lore
x

Final Toile

This is it - my final toile, in all it's glory:

What a kerfuffle!  Since my last post I did the following refinements:

• lowered front neckline
• moved bust point of french dart
• reduced shoulder length and reshaped armhole front and back
• raised back darts
• taken in side seams and french dart
• shortened, and hem band = 10cm
• fixed shoulder drag lines

To fix the drag line between my shoulder and bust point, I first clipped into the armhole to the drag line to release the tension.  The armhole edge opened up and the drag line disappeared - yay, cause of problem found:

However you can't exactly do this to your pattern, so on the opposite side I slashed to the neckline from that point, and here held together with red Christmas tape you can see the extra height I needed at the front shoulder, and this is essentially what I did to the pattern as well.

I cut it out this morning, and I just had enough fabric!

And the linen tells me my shears are very blunt!

McCall's 2206- Second Muslin

Last night I made a second muslin of McCall's 2206. I am using a size 18 pattern, even though I normally use a size 16 bodice and even a size 14 at the shoulder.

For this muslin, I have made a 5/8" princess FBA, and I have added 1" of length at the waist. You can see some puffiness (extra fabric) in the back bodice, and if you look closely, you can see extra fabric puffing on the side right in front of my arm. Luckily, the skirt fits perfectly.


After staring hard at this in the mirror, I decided to try something new (to me) to get rid of all that extra room in the bodice. I didn't think taking in the side seams was the best answer, so I pinned and then basted a 1/2" "tuck" from the shoulder seam all the way to the waist on both sides of the front (just inside the princess seams) and the back, effectively removing 2" from the total circumference. When I tried it on again it seemed to have done the trick. I have an idea for how to adjust the pattern to compensate for the "tucks," which I'll have to share next time.
I plan to add just a little more length to my FBA, and I need to check the fit of the collar and sleeves, but I'm almost ready to start on the real dress. I'm thinking about using a dark red suede cloth (I think that's what Hancocks calls it) from stash.