... but this is not one of those times...
say hi to lucille! she's the sweetest puppy dog in the world...and wouldn't leave me alone...
this is my muslin for my birthday dress (v1209). man am i glad i made a muslin! i sewed this baby up in a straight size 6, because, what can i say? i felt like a 6! what?! you never base your sizing on your feelings??
well last time i made a vogue pattern i felt like the sizing on the pattern envelope was for the birds and just figured out which size to cut by the finished garment measurements printed on the pattern pieces. thats all well and good, except this time there weren't any finished garment measurements printed on the pattern. so! i went with my feelings...
apparently i feel a bit skinnier than i am, because this dress is tight! not so tight that i'm going to bust a seam, but tight enough that my husband says i look goood and i take that to mean its verging on public indecency! tmi??
funny thing is - its pretty much falling off my shoulders and gaps like its nobody's business in the back. so i just tapered it to a size 8 from the armpits down because if i do an 8 at the top it'll fall down to my boobs and i'll get arrested for public indecency for other reasons!
i also took a little tuck out of the back "v" to shorten it so it doesn't gap so much.
while we're on the subject of public indecency... can we talk about how short this dress is? this is before the 5/8" hem it suggests. just putting all the goods out there, aren't we rachel comey?
another reason i vow to always make a muslin - check out that zipper. holy. cannoli. that is one effed up zipper. the side zip gets inserted into some wacky bias seams. while part of the craziness of this zipper has to do with the fact that the dress is tight and pulling it weird, the other part of it is that bias seams and zippers don't like each other.
also, check out that crazy side seam! twisting all over the place! note to self - let the dress hang before sewing up the side seam...
i have to admit that i was a bit nervous about how this style would work on me - whether it would be flattering or just... ghastly. this is the other reason i think muslins are so important; besides walking yourself through the construction of the dress and getting to see what all the little weirdnesses are in the pattern, you also get to check out how the style works on you before you commit to your nice fabric.
i'm pleased to say that i like this dress. even with all the rippling and tugging and twisting thats going on with this muslin - i think its a cute dress. but its gonna need some work!!!
so here's the changes i'll be making to v1209:
- cut a larger size for crying out loud!!
- take a 1 inch tuck out of the back "v" to shorten it
- staystitch the living daylights out of the neckline
- add 2 inches of length all around - i mean seriously...
- let the damn thing hang to work out those bias seams
- use this tutorial for a pucker free zipper
wish me luck!
xx
