Some muslins

I put the coat on hold so I could get the muslins done.

I am not loving the coat (yet - we'll see) and the fabric walks around a little so I have to use lots of pins when putting pieces together. This photo shows that one side of the seam allowance ended up narrower than the other, even those these pieces were backed with interfacing. This is the under collar.

Even though the pattern (like most) calls for the sleeves to be set-in, I am sewing the sleeves on first around the shoulder and then I will sew up the underarm seam.

This is the stage the coat has been left at - I haven't even done up the underarm seams. The sleeves look awfully long but I think that's because the bodice has an empire waist. The front facings are "self facings", as opposed to separate pieces.

In the meantime, I cut out the bodices on both prom dress patterns. I got this fabric for $3/metre and it feels like it - it is some sort of polyester, I think. But it drapes okay as a stand-in for whatever will be the real thing. For the bubble dress, I am thinking a silk charmeuse.

I've never made a real muslin before so I went to town with the Sharpie! I wrote the pattern piece number on each and did all the markings, whether I'd need them or not for just the muslin. It was kind of fun. I pinned the pieces together wrong side to wrong side so that I would have the seams showing on the right side for fitting this weekend.

This is the one-shoulder model that I am leaning toward, not the least of which because it is a lot less fiddly sewing. It is inter-lined and then lined but it is not as fussy as the Vogue pattern. I cut this one out in the size 14 to give myself room to manoeuver in the fitting.

I stupidly bought the Vogue only up to size 12 and could not return it for a pure exchange, even though I asked very nicely. So we'll have to see in the fitting what work may need to be done. The bodice is also lined but there is, in addition, draping fabric on the outside for a third layer. And the midriff can be made of contrast fabric (like velvet, say) and it is all topstitched with batting and everything. I'm going to get together with my niece this weekend and we'll do fitting and discuss which pattern and fabric.

Belaboring the blue coat, and prom time

Okay, this time, it is taking me so long to blog because the coat was NOT speaking to me. I somehow did not want to be bothered cutting it out. And when I started, it kind of slid around on me and the selvages would not line up and behave and I felt discouraged. So I left it alone for a while and it mocked me from the sewing room every time I went by. So I kept on cutting it out, bit by bit, and now all the blue pieces are done and I even discovered I had enough lining in my stash to completely line it.

I did however, have to make the second shortest view (View B) because the skirt is wide enough that I couldn't overlap the pieces with the fabric that I had. I'm still going to make the pockets on the side seam, not the patch pockets.

In the meantime, I have promised my niece that I will make her prom dress and so today, we went looking for patterns. She had seen some nice dresses on the internet and leaned toward a one-shoulder style (no pun intended). Unfortunately, there were hardly any one-shoulder style patterns out there (in the books that we looked at). In the end, we bought two very different patterns and she is going to talk to her friends and think about which one she would prefer for the prom.

This one is cute and young and because it is short, she may be able to wear it somewhere else, later. We'd make the pink view bodice and band, with the yellow view bubble skirt.

It will take about 2.7 metres of fabric.

This one is much more sophisticated but I still think it wouldn't look too old on her, as long as she didn't make it in black (and she is not wanting black - we looked at some lovely turquoise silk charmeuse).

It will take 3.8 metres of fabric. Both dresses are fully lined so she can choose any fabric and not worry about revealing anything. The Vogue dress is much more structured and the midriff is all top-stitched. Plus it has the effect of two skirts and a small train.

I don't want to influence her one way or the other. This is a once in a lifetime event and she should be happy with her dress without feeling like she "should" choose one sort of style over another. It may even turn out that we will look at more patterns after I make the bodices in a muslin for fitting. This will be the first time I have made a muslin! Patterns generally fit me right out of the envelope so I never bother with a muslin. But sewing for someone else is a different proposition.