Ahhhh….a whole week on vacation, visiting my family, and nothing to do but sew! I figured this would be the week to tackle all of the summer sewing that I still have left to do, because come next month, I’ll be wrapping up all of the cute sundresses and skirts and moving on to Halloween sewing and fall dresses. It feels like summer is only a minute in New England.
This is round two on a halter dress that I made about seven years ago. It fit me fine then, but taking it out of my closet recently, I discovered it was quite big all around. I knew going into this that I would have to make a muslin and start completely from scratch on this one.
Well. I did get it to fit.
This muslin uses 3 sizes (!!) to get the right fit. I tweaked everything on this puppy! Took the sides in, let them out, added some width to the center back seam, cut part of the bust one size and the rest of it another. It ranges from a 8 up top all the way to a 12 where the waist starts. I don’t think I’ve sewn a single garment as crazy-all-over-the-place as this one. No wonder I have a hard time finding ready-to-wear dresses that fit me. Ah, but that’s why we sew, right? We get the garment to fit our bodies and not the other way around.
Don’t you love that fabric? It’s a cotton I scored last week at Metro Textile in NY while I was coming back from a business trip. It has a retro feel to it, which lends itself well to a halter-style dress. It’s also pretty sheer, like a voile, so I’m lining it with a thin white cotton. I need to get this done this week to wear to a wedding I’m going to in about two weeks. Plus, when I get back to MA, it’s all about packing and getting ready to move to my new apartment. I can’t wait!
So today is Day 3 of Sewcation 2012 and I’m stitching this baby up, plus also (possibly) starting a muslin on a easy-peasy empire waist sundress. I don’t think the muslin is going to be that involved and all I’ll need to do is move the bust dart up slightly. If I get these two dresses done, plus all of the cutting out/fusing/serging for two other projects, it’ll be mission accomplished this week.
I am not native English speaking person so I haven't understand at first why everybody said ' make a muslin!%)) But now I know what does it mean! Do you always make muslin on new pattern? I am usually too lazy for this, but I see that everybody do this, may be I should too?%)
Hope you have/had fun on your sewcation. I had one back in April while visiting my dad in Florida. It was too hot to do anything but sew. He dares to live in a development with no pool, and nowhere near a coastline. Eek. Anyway, I got SO much done. Hope you did too.