…when you don’t make a muslin.

First of all, how does one make a muslin for knit fabrics? You can’t use regular muslin since it has no give.

Do you go and splurge more money on knit fabric that has identical stretch, or do you just buy a yard or two more of the fabric for your project to make a muslin? Both options are not cheap.

These are the questions I have resulting from my Fandango Dress, which looks like it might be a Fandang-no. The pattern in question is, of course, Simplicity 3678. I guess I should have known better than to pick a pattern that crosses over at the center front, like a wrap dress. Those patterns and RTW never work on my, ahem, small chest. But the picture looked misleading, and I thought that the neckline wasn’t that low.

Hah.

Let’s just say, if I bent over, it was a free show. Can I also add that I’m making a size 10 top, which has a bust that measures to 32.5″. Not to be too personal, but I’m a 34″ chest, and this pattern still doesn’t work on me and I have bust to spare!

I tried adjusting the front by having the fronts cross over more than specified in the pattern. It was a little better than before, but still required some tacking down on the top front cross piece so that it wouldn’t gape. But I have some options:

1. Totally take apart the top (pleating, top stitching, facings, shoulder seam stabilization) and start over, cutting the top down from a 10 to an 8. There is no guarantee that it will work out better.

2. Keep on going, but wear a cami underneath the dress whenever I wear it. Extra layer, extra bulk, extra hot. This is supposed to be a summer dress.

3. Add some sort of faux “cami” by placing some fabric underneath the neckline to make it look like it’s layered. This would prevent whatever boobage I have from showing .

4. Use the remaining fabric from the skirt to make a knit shell that I would be able to wear under my black blazers to work, thus making the shell more wearable than the dress since the dress would only be a summertime item and not a year-round garment.

I spent $20 on this gorgeous fabric.
Number 4 is looking pretty good right now.