Tonight I sewed up Muslin 2. I attacked that beast like a rabid wolverine. I threw caution to the wind and went with my gut. There may or may not be any method to my madness lol.
Here are the results.
Conquered the back! Woohoo! This is 1.5 inches out for swayback people. one and a half. omg. I need better posture. I also must have a narrow back because I took almost 1/2 inch tapered to zero out of the back from neck down to the swayback seam you see in the middle. This helped with the poof tremendously. I also let out the bottom 2 inches of each side of hip - will add 1/2" to each side because 1/4" was still too tight.
Question. see the wrinkles still forming above the swayback line on each side? Do I need to maybe take more out of the width here? Or seriously more out of the height? Or just leave it. lol.
Further visual of helped swayback. I see my vertical line from armpit to hip tips toward the back. I will most likely add my 1/2"-3/4" to each side of the hip, only to the back as my larger rear needs more fabric. That should even this line out. Which will lead to a larger problem in the front but we will get to that.
Ah the front. Where I need the most help. So I added 1/2" dart from neckline tapered off to waist in the center front. I seem to have excess poof here. This helped some. It also pulled in the vertical darts in the front which they then lined up with my bust apex. I marked this apex and saw I needed to extend the bust dart by 1" - This was ONLY fixed on my right side (your left) where you see the pink marker. As you can see on my left, those dreadful slanted drag lines are there but on my right they are much better. (Oh, this also has my normal square shoulder adjustment).
I have a ton of poof under bust. Almost like I need a swayback adjustment for my front too. (LOL). Question: why do I have this poof? Do I need to shorten the front bodice? I think I'm grabbing about 1/2" each side in the below picture. When I'm sitting this inch folds up under my bust, too. Hmm. perhaps I just answered my own question.
Here I am pulling the above poof out to the side. Now I actually have another issue. When I sit down I also get a rather decent poof above the bust - at the top of the armpit, pretty much that goes horizontal all the way across. This is also the only time the bust feels tight across. Not sure what to do here. The bust feels normal/slightly large when standing.
And there you have it. Muslin 2. I'm getting super close. Just a few more tweaks :D
I appreciate all your help - seriously. I would have ditched this awhile ago were it not for your suggestions.
(funny sidenote: to get in and out of this sans zipper with both sides sewn I almost have to be popping my shoulder out.... It got old, fast. My chiropractor would be so proud lol)
~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~
Oh dear this is waaaay beyond me, but I am sure others will be able to help. Your determination is impressive!
ReplyDeletePhilippa, you are more advanced than you give yourself credit for ;-)
DeleteThanks :D
You lost me at 2nd Muslin! LOL Just kidding ;) It looks fantastic! I'll be watching closely so I can learn from you!
ReplyDeletehahaha Shirley, you are funny. Thanks :D
DeleteLooking good! About the poof at the front, do you think that may be a style feature? You are working with muslin material here, but if you were using a drapey fabric it would probably just look nice and lovely, no? Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrea! Really good point you make. I'll be sewing it in a Rayon Challis so much more drape than this stiff muslin. :-)
DeleteOh, this looks so much better than the one you showed us last week! With the adjustment you did to the right side, and taking that length out of the front bodice, I think it will be just right.
ReplyDeleteA couple years ago I was working on the Colette Peony and I had that poufy under-bust thing. I got some advice to use curved vertical darts there, in effect taking out more at the waist and curving up to the bust. I don't know if it works though, because by the time I got that advice I was so fed up with trying to fit that pattern that I quit! I never have gone back to it!
LOL I'm sorry you were fed up with that pattern. I feel your pain though. And that is an excellent point. I will look into the curved dart there because that sounds like it would work - the excess is under bust near waist.
DeleteYour improvements have made a huge difference and I would say it's quite wearable now (especially if you make that small change to make the side seam more vertical), as long as it's comfortable. You're at the point now where your muslin fits better than the pattern intended or was able to achieve (go look at the official photo shoot - she has plenty of poof under the bust in some of the photos.) We can call that "ease" instead of poof (: That extra fabric has to be there because it has just come over the bust. But extending or curving the darts would change how fitted it is there. That said, it may be that doing a 'petite' adjustment (horizontal fold) might help overall fit - is that a fit issue you've noticed on other patterns?
ReplyDeleteThanks Joy! I read this as I was working on Muslin 3 :D
DeleteI accomplished the vertical side seam. I did also look at the original alma photos. LOL, I will agree that it is ease. I guess I just don't like it there :P
The curved dart is the trick.
Oh and I will look into the petite adjustment - haven't ran into that yet. It may help. Thanks!!!