Vogue 1250: Alterations, Muslin & First Impressions (and Giveaway)

So here's my muslin for Vogue 1250. Yeah, it's black so the details aren't as clear but I did lighten the photos so hopefully you can see more than just a black blob.

The jury is out. I think I look rectangular-ish from the front and I'm not. Except my hands are on my hips which kind of hides the curving out there. I also will not make this again in a solid until my tummy is flatter. Prints hide all sorts of evils. ;-) But I will keep this black version and revisit it again after saying goodbye to 20 more lbs. or so. Also, I didn't hem the bottom or the sleeves since this was a muslin, yet I did serge all the interior seams. Go figure.

I did NOT make this straight out of the envelope. Anything but. The alterations were not hard though it was a little cumbersome at times wrestling full dress lengths of tissue. I took pics along the way for the little tutorial below.

If you need to add more width to the lower half of this pattern, before doing anything trace the hip dart onto a scrap paper/tissue and set it aside for later.

Next (and I don't have a real photo of this step so I doctored another), slash the pattern through the hip dart as shown by the red line below. This cut will be perpendicular to the shorten/lengthen lines printed on the pattern. Set aside the back "skirt" piece. If you do not need to made any width adjustments to the lower half, skip this step and leave your pattern intact. Because I needed both booty width additions and an FBA, some of my pics will show front and back separated.

This is the front section, and what you'll be working with for your FBA. I cut the top from the bottom along the shorten/lengthen lines because (1) It's easier to work with a smaller piece and (2) I will need to shorten above the waist anyway. You can keep the front section in one long piece if you prefer and just make the vertical slash for the FBA all the way to the hem.

Next, hold this newly created ""bodice section" (or the whole length if you didn't cut it apart) up to yourself in front of the mirror and mark your bustpoint and then position the sideseam at your side and note how much more width you need so that the pattern Center Front meets your center front. This will be the width you "spread" the tissue during your FBA.

Draw your FBA slash lines as shown in red below, making sure to draw one slash through the shoulder pleat since you will eventually be rotating the bust dart to there.

Slash the pattern, leaving "hinges" at the shoulder and at the tip of the new side dart, as shown below. Secure each section with weights of some sort so they don't move.

Snip the "hinge" at the shoulder so there is no more hinge and rotate the section with the red arrow below so that the side dart closes. This opens the shoulder pleat, which is just what you want.

Fill in the slashes/spreads with tissue, as below.

Reattach the front bottom skirt section to the front bodice section. Because I needed to shorten above the waist, I did it now and just re-attached the 2 sections 1/2" shorter. Fill in the "gap" shown in red below with tissue, all the way to the hem. (If you did not separate the upper and lower sections, your slash in the middle of the pattern will have gone all the way to the hem and you should have filled it in already when you were filling in after your FBA.)

If you do not need to add width to the bottom area, you're done and your pattern will look like this, below.

However, if you DO need extra hip/booty width, you will have slashed your pattern as shown at the beginning. Realign the pieces and slide some tissue underneath so that it extends above the hip dart and a few inches on each side of the vertical slash.(I had previously added 3" in length to the bottom of my pattern, in case you've noticed and are wondering. You can do this at the end of your alterations or when you're cutting.)

This pattern has 1-1/2" of ease at the hips. Figure out how much additional width you need (remember, if you did the FBA above, you already have added onto the front of the pattern piece). Divide that number in half. Then divide that result in half. Add that second result onto the Center Back seam of the skirt area. In the photo above, it's at the very left of this pattern piece, but unfortunately, I forgot to mark this photo.This is a subtlety shaped seam, so shape your addition to match.

Now it's time to use the tracing of the hip dart you set aside earlier. Spread the tissue where you slashed through the hip dart the rest of your required width addition and slide the hip dart tracing into place so that the dart point is in the center of your spread. True the lines at the back waist and at the front sideseam.

Trim away the excess tissue, as show below. (In this pic, you should be able to see where I added tissue at the CB of the skirt section, at the very left.) This section is now done. If you want to add hem length, you can do it now.

Because I shortened the front above the waist and added width to the hips, I needed to make corresponding adjustments to the upper back piece. Below, you can see the tuck I made on the shorten/lengthen line.

Next, I slashed from the shoulder to the bottom, leaving a hinge at the shoulder, and spread the tissue so that the width at the bottom equaled the total amount added to the width of the back half of the skirt section. (Don't calculate any vertical FBA spread from the front here, since the bottom front was already adjusted earlier.) True the curved back waist seamline at the bottom.

And you're done! Below shows all of my alterations marked in red.

Click to Enlarge

And now for the Giveway …

This is a repeat from a few months ago because that winner never contacted me. Sorry, but if you snooze, you lose. ;-) It's Kwik Sew 3764, never opened because I ended up with a duplicate back when I was making my fleece "biker" jacket.



Which I have never worn, BTW, because it never got cold again after I made it. It's going to be too big now. Maybe I should put THAT up for a Giveaway??

Anyway, leave a comment below if you want to be entered into the random drawing for the Kwik Sew pattern.

Fine print: For all the Giveaways this week, each entrant can only win once and in the case of duplicates, I'll contact you for your choice and then draw again randomly on what's left. Clear? And if you do enter, please check back next week to see who won because if I don't hear from you within a few days after announcing winners, I'll draw/decide again. I will close comments on this Giveaway on Friday, July 22 2011 and announce the winner on Saturday, July 23, 2011. Again, anyone anywhere can enter this or any Giveaway this week.