Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Vogue 8398 - how many muslins does a girl need?



Thankyou to everyone who gave me fitting tips here, on Stitches Guild and via email. All were much appreciated and considered.



The overwhelming majority of you suggested I stay with size 8 and work from there. Well.....I did consider this but if you can see from the size 6 and 8 back views the size 8 is far too low and I would not be able to wear a tshirt underneath without it showing. The line drawing of the jacket does suggest it is low to account for the collar but I don't think it should be that low...anyway I don't want it that low.



Here is another photo of the size 6 where I have pinned the centre fronts to my top. They meet fine at the neck - just a problem with the bust! I measured about 5 cm short across the centre of the bust.

So off to Fit for Real People - page 150. But first I moved the bust point down 2cms - page 149 of the same book. My first FBA and what a fine job I did -


I adjusted the muslin just on one side - I think my face says it all...........


Oh no! My bust could not in a million cream buns time fit that cup size!!!!! lol


Somehow doing the FBA after dropping the bust point, dropped it even further. And you can see the jacket still will not sit together at centre front. I suppose it never will unless there is something to keep it closed - eg hooks and eyes.


Ok back to the drawing board. I prepared another front with just the dropped bust point and fitted that to myself. No photo as by this time I was just in my bra! (easier to take the muslin off and on). Much better. It still did not quite meet at centre front so I pulled apart the princess seam until it did and measured that gap - about 1cm. So I adjusted the patterd with the "alternate alternation for just a little extra room" on page 153. I added about 1/2 cm to each piece - the side front and the centre front.


I have now cut out the fabric!

Other great fitting advice I was given...
Vonne said to raise the armhole as Vogue often has low armholes. I checked this but found that the armhole on this pattern is right up at my armpit - maybe because as I am using the size 6? So no changes needed there.

Patsijean felt that the size 6 had stress marks across the back. I agree there are some and I had not noticed that before. I will be using a stretch woven for the jacket so that should fix that. If not I can tweak the shoulder seam to give a bit more room. She also suggested I look at a tip in "More Power Sewing" on page 52 by Sandra Betzina for raglan sleeves. Thankyou for that - I do have that book but hadn't referred to it for a while.


For the back, a lot of you suggested scooping out the back sleeve but not the back itself. I will do this when I pin fit the fabric.

I may not get back to this for a few days as I need to go up to Shepparton over the weekend to see mum. And remember on my last post I was going to make the skirt up? Well I seem to have lost my pattern. I had a Burda WOF pattern I traced from a library copy so I can't retrace. But it is very similar to a skirt in the latest Ottobre, so maybe I will try that.

6 comments:

Summerset said...

I know this has been quite a learning experience, but I really think you'll be pleased once you actually have the jacket done. If you make another one, it will be that much easier! Good for you for continuing on making those muslins.

Kitty Couture said...

I am not experienced enough to help you there, Vicki, but I wanted to encourage you all the same! Good luck with it! You'll be so proud of yourself once you've got the fit right.

Anonymous said...

Bravo for continuing on. I've never done an FBA, but that alteration has made a big difference on the fit. I must have been unlucky to have found a few raglan sleevecoat/jacket patterns with low armholes. Perhaps it was just the individual style.

Anonymous said...

Vicki, please excuse my anonymous posting, I was having problems posting. Vonne :)

Tany said...

I think you are doing a great job and I think all this hard work is going to pay off in the end; You'll love this jacket and you will be very proud of it!

Anonymous said...

The power of muslin fabric! Bravo on continuing.