After posting a muslin that really did me no favours at all, I received some great suggestions and comments from my lovely readers - thank-you so much! And then we moved house, and I made some other garments and all the time felt terribly guilty that I did not follow up on these suggestions. So here we are! Based (very loosely) upon Simplicity 7740, I made a wearable muslin and I am toltally thrilled with the results:
Pretty cute huh?! OK, so you can't really see much here - but that was the point of using a busy print! So here are a few more photos:
Just look how short it is - you can almost see my underwears!! I cut off about 6" (thanks gMarie) which is huge for me! I am an 'ankle skimming' kinda-girl, but this length is certainly much more fashion-forward with this style and a lot less frumpy!
I had to add darts on the back neckline and make an adjustment to the back centre back seam to account for my promising dowagers hump (sigh), my parents were right - stand up straight and stop hunching your shoulders, they kept telling me as I was growing up . . . . .
I really like the way it fits round my waist and butt - I took loads in on the side seams and there is a sway back adjustment as well.
Apologies for the headless shots - either my hair was not behaving or Mr. SDSC managed to catch a less than flattering expression (obviously not my fault!!)
I know that there is still lots of room for improvement, but I am so pleased with this. I ended up with just bust darts in the front (thanks Carolyn!) but added a very long vertical dart from my hips almost up to my shoulder blades in the back. I bound the arms and neckline with bias binding, used an invisible zip and lined the dress (with a rather cheap lining - it is a wearable muslin after all!) and I feel very summery in it!
Here are a few close up photos:
I do like to add something in the inside of a vent like a button, or the eye of a 'hook and eye', as this helps stabilize the vent and prevent it tearing during wear. I had a small shell button that fit the bill perfectly here! I also like to sew down the lining either side of the vent to hold it all in place - elsewhere it just hangs free!
It is likely that I will wear a cardigan with this - I am not totally comfortable with flashing my upper arms:
So, what do you think? I am ready to try another dress - in a solid color, and it will interesting to see how that works out. This is what I have chosen:
Finally - thanks for the comments,past, present and future! I learn so much from what you all say :)
