Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Muslin, Part 5

I'm made more slight adjustments to this muslin, but I think I am finally ready to move on to real fabric.



Since there was so much ease in the sleeve caps, I decided to trace off the original pattern pieces, make my modifications on them, and then walk the seam allowances on the sleeves to see how to remedy the problem.



The first step is to trace off the original pattern pieces. I drew in the lower front bodice, then overlapped that piece at the seamline with the upper bodice. I then overlapped the back at the shoulder seam line. The results are below. In the photo, the pencil lines are the cutting lines, and I drew in the original seam lines with a black Sharpie:



I then cut these three pieces apart on the seam lines. I drew in my pattern alterations from my muslin, using a blue Sharpie. I simply measured each part of the altered muslin to get the adjustments needed:



Then I put the three pieces back together again, lining them up on the new seamlines. The result is the actual "pattern" for my altered muslin:




The final step was to mark the sleeve adjustments, which I did in red. Using the different color markers helps me keep track of the orginal pattern and the different stages of the alterations. A pack of Sharpies is well worth the investment.

I walked the seam line of the sleeve to the actual armhole seam and discovered that there is 2" of ease. Since I removed 1 1/4" of the armhole seam length with the bodice seam adjustment and the shoulder adjustment, this means there is only 3/4" design ease built into this pattern. The pattern recommends that this ease be distributed between the shoulder seam and the double notch on the back armhole. This is doable, without any unsightly puckering.
I will remove the extra 1 1/4" from the sleeve height by simply making a 3/8" fold across the top part of the sleeve and redraw the curve of the sleeve. Since this fold will actually take out 3/4" on each side of the sleeve, the total I remove will be 1 1/2", leaving 1/2" of ease to be worked into the back.
If you read Fashion Incubator, you know that Kathleen says sleeve cap ease is totally bogus. After much measuring and examination of my purchased clothing, I believe her. Go search her site for "sleeve cap ease" and read up! I bought her book and I recommend it to everyone. It's worth every penny. It is my fervent hope that she will write a sewing book on industrial practices. She'd be a millionaire overnight.
I'm ready to invest real fabric in this pattern. Actually, I feel pretty confident that I can apply my alterations to each of the three views of this pattern. My only problem is, which one do I work up first?
Is it Contestant A:


Or Contestant B:

Or Contestant C:



And I have to show you this luscious heavyweight chocolate linen I bought over the weekend:


And I adore this Burda jacket pattern and I'm wondering why no one else has posted about it already:


It's lined. Check out the sleeve pattern pieces, too:


I could have a heyday with this pattern!

3 comments:

patsijean said...

I love contestant A...

Ginny said...

Such patience you have! How did you learn pattern alterations?

Erin said...

Loving the first one!