Fit Tweaks

Here's the complete muslin. I know it's not flattering on Zillie. But this is icky poly knit, with a slight sheen, some horizontal striping, and without any contrast to break up the solid blue. The fabric I have in mind for the real dress will look so much better than this stuff. Trust me.

So getting past the fabric, the final tweaks to this pattern are:

1. A slight FBA. I've changed my mind on this and have decided that I could use about 1/2" more length in the upper bodice, as well as moving the dart point out as I mentioned yesterday.

2. Scooping out the back neckline.

3. Moving the shoulder seam backward a smidge, less than 3/8". I'm one of the few women who sits at a computer a lot but does not have forward shoulders. I credit my mother, who always nagged me to stand up straight when I was a kid. I have great posture now. LOL!

4. Raising the neckline another 3/4" - 1". I'll cut it at 1" higher and then evaluate. I'm already thinking a vee neckline would be nice for the next version, but I'll stay true to the pattern for the first go.

5. Cutting off at least 5" from the pattern length. This muslin is 4" shorter than the actual pattern because this is all the length I had in this fugly knit. And still, it's nearly to my ankles. (I'm about 5'5".)

And that's it. The skirt is cut from the size 18 pieces, but the front was already widened the same 1/2" as the FBA before I cut these pieces. Other than that, no alterations and it fits great.

Oh wait. I did widen the sleeve pattern before cutting the muslin yesterday, which is a typical alteration for me. But I did nothing to the armhole or shoulder length, and both are great on me. I like high armholes and these are high, but not too high or too tight.

The alterations are done and next will be the real stuff. Cutting the fabric to use the print as I want will take twice as long as the actual sewing. Hopefully, I'll squeeze in some time tomorrow to start cutting.