Cosmopolitan dress: the One Hour Muslin

Progress has been made and already I'm feeling better about this blue jersey! True, it does smell suspiciously like a rubber band, but the color is amazing: cobalt blue that just makes my skin glow. Too bad it's a muslin, right? Unfortunately, it won't be wearable, but hey, sometimes we must sacrifice for our art.

Last weekend, I successfully traced off sizes 8 and 10, not being sure which would work but wanting to leave myself some room for error. I had an odd yard left from the McCall's pattern so I had to be fairly careful with layout and such. My measurements match the 8 bodice for Hotpatterns, so I cut out the 8 bodice and waist bands on a single later, making a full bodice front and back, eliminating the folds and the center back seam. I feel this jersey - purchased at Hancock's by the way for $3.95/yd - has enough stretch that it's okay to just pull the dress over my head. I recycled the skirt pieces by simply laying out the new pattern pieces over the material. However, the Cosmo has a definite A-line skirt where the McCall's pattern was rectangular (literally), so I sort of lost some of the lines just below mid-thigh. But I figured, this was a muslin, and my main point was to see if this pattern was going to work for me. At this stage, I didn't bother with the ties since these weren't going to effect fit very much.

Construction consisted of really quickly basting up the darts, then shoulders and waistbands to front and back. The skirt front and back were basted and then the side seams. What do you think?
Overall, I think it looks pretty darned good for all of 20 minutes of sewing :) Such rapid construction is not without its hazards however. Note the bodice close up below:
That's right, I managed to twist the front and back before sewing the side seams together. Awesome, I know. Sometimes I amaze even myself with my attention to detail. I wonder if I could use the 10 bodice, however and ease it into the 8 waistband to get more of a blousy effect. On Cidell and Christina and the original, the bodice was a little less fitted. Also, I wonder if I could have lengthened the bodice so that my waist is at the right point. As it is now, the seam of the skirt feels like its about 1/2" above my waistline, which means the actual waist-point of the dress is about 1.5" too high. Does this mean I am long waisted??? I'll try to modify the pattern and see where I end up. Am I not right about this color? Is it not amazing? It photographed really well and true. Even if I do stink of rubber...

For the next version:

• Bodice: this will be a 10, measuring first to be certain my waist line is in the right place, which will likely mean adding 1.25" in length to begin with and then take up from there
• Waistband: I'm going to keep the 8 since it fit nicely without being snug
• Skirt: straight 8, but lengthened to the narrowest point of my knee when hemmed
  
• Sleeves: short ones since the weather seems to be holding steady around 75 degrees
  

For the muslin:
I just might end up making a shirt out of it in the end. The bodice fits well enough; I suppose I can consider it an empire waist. Recycling the skirt would give me enough to bind the neckline and I still have the sleeves from the McCall dress to use as well. We'll see how it goes...

I'm going to stop by Hancock's soon to see if they have any more of this fabric since I love the color. It reminds me of the Mediterranean Sea in July. It needs to be part of my summer wardrobe.

the fabric of our lives...

Cotton; oh, how I love thee. The touch. The feel. Yes, the commercial is true: cotton really is the fabric of my life. As I said in my earlier post, I am busy creating a test garment for my swap jacket. I picked the fabric up at Joann's a while back during a sale of clearance items so it was a smokin' hot deal at $.90/yd. I bought what remained, which was just shy of 2 yards. The muslin jacket is almost complete and in my opinion, it's definitely wearable:



I cut a 12 because it matched my bust size at 34" and claims to have a finished bust of 38". Now, by my rudimentary math that would equal four inches of ease: definitely enough for a jacket which is meant for the external layer over at least a bra and shirt. I ask you, dear reader, does this look like four inches of ease to you?? Granted, while highly unlikely, it is possible that the girls have grown overnight. However, the jacket is sporty in nature and actually looks good without a closure. I would even go so far as to say that it looks like it's meant to be that way :) Hooray for Rosanne!

M5189 was started with much trepidation. My last (and first) jacket made was not exactly what I would call a success. While not a complete failure, it has remains an Un-Finished Object that I occasionally try in dismay. The fabric for the UFO was a grey stretch polyester suiting that was extraordinarily difficult to work with. Working with my white cotton for this jacket was so radically different, so incredibly non-frustrating, so easy that it gives me new respect for my sewing skills that the grey jacket came out as well as it did. White jacket sleeves: easing and gathering took all of 5 minutes. Grey jacket: three hour session with the help of a sewing pro and still not quite right. Poly is good for some things but maybe not so good for learning to manipulate fabric. The cotton, why, it made want to give a tutorial on how to ease a sleeve, if only just to tell the world one must start with a fabric that likes you and that wants to do what you want it to. World of difference.

Rosanne and cotton, sittin' in a tree. S-E-W-I-N-G. First came poly, then came cotton, then came Rosanne in very own jacket. Lame, I know, but I just can't help myself.

One question:
Do you think the sleeves are too puffy? The husband commented they look slapped on...He is a man of many, many talents however, descriptive verse is not among them. And I was thinking this just might be worthy of entering the contest as a stand alone item. What do you think? Okay, that was two questions.

SWAP Meet

Dear readers, first, I must welcome those who have left comments! And, of course, everyone else, but especially those who actually wrote to me. Who knew I'd ever have an audience?!

My husband's parents departed last Saturday. The ride to Sky Harbor was really quiet and I was really weepy, which is no way to drive a car, lemme tell you. It was rather maudlin at the airport and truth be told, I was grateful that non-passengers aren't allowed near the gates any longer otherwise I would have had the time really work myself into a lather. Not a good look at 30 and I'm not much on drama in public spaces. The house is so empty now. And, I have to admit, my kitchen is not nearly as tidy...

I spent Sunday and Monday drowning my sorrow by remembering I had joined the SWAP over at Pattern Review and planning with a vengeance. While my in-laws were here, I took them to one of my favorite shops in Phoenix, SAS Fabric by the pound over on Indian School Rd, and picked up some wonderful pieces of inspiration. I bought five yards of a cream suiting with subtle maroon and navy pinstripes and a coordinating maroon chiffon. I'll post photos of them later...

So, with these two fabrics as my jumping off point, I planned out eleven garments for the Sewing With a Purpose challenge. I happen to love dresses, so I am going to try at least two, but we'll see how it goes. My next post will detail my progress to date. I've made a wearable muslin of my jacket of choice, McCall's 5189. I made the short-sleeved version on the upper right in a white stretch cotton poplin/denim/twill/I-can't-decide-what-it-is I bought at Joann's some months ago just because it was $1/yard and it was really, really white.


Details of the Sewing With a Purpose Challenge:
1) Sew 11 items per requirements below
2) All tops must go with all bottoms
3) Jacket must go with all outfits
4) Voting will be done on the wardrobe as one entity, not on individual garments.
5) Wardrobe must be complete by July 31, 2007.

Items to be made: 6 tops 4 bottoms 1 jacket

Dress options - do one of the following instead:

1 dress, 5 tops, 4 bottoms, 1 jacket
OR
2 dresses, 5 tops, 3 bottoms, 1 jacket <-- I am shooting for this one! but if am really ambitious then... 3 dresses, 4 tops, 3 bottoms, 1 jacket

Prizes: There will be two winners based on the votes.

First Prize: $300 gift certificate from Textile Studio Patterns and Fabrics
Second Prize: $200 gift certificate from Textile Studio Patterns and Fabric

Sixty odd days left...Care to wager on whether I will finish on time???