Seven muslins later...

It shouldn't be this hard...and yes, I'm a perfectionist. My goal was to make a simple top to wear under a suit jacket for a job interview. After spending hours in the store trying on every pair of black pants in my size, I had no energy or patience left for tops. I was just glad that I found some pants that fit. They needed to be hemmed, but they fit.

I searched through my pattern library and decided to make View C of Simplicity 2552, or rather the version of it published in the German magazine, Meine Nähmode.

I traced the pattern using my usual "pear shape body" alteration of transitioning from a smaller size at the top to a larger one below. That type of alteration is usually all I need when working with knits. But for wovens I anticipated that I'd need to do a "full bust adjust" (FBA). I've done an FBA before, with limited success, and unfortunately I haven't worn the garment since (maybe not because of the FBA). I tried again last summer but discovered more problems to correct on the pattern and gave up before cutting out my fabric.

I was determined this time not to give up. I needed a top to wear. But just in case, I did have a top in my closet that could do. Just in case.

So here is the saga of the seven muslins:

Muslin #1 was cut from the traced pattern just to confirm that I'd need an FBA and it did. But how much to add? I measured my bust and found I was 1 inch larger than the size I cut out, so I did 1/2" FBA and cut out muslin #2. Well, only the front. The back of the muslin was fine (almost...I did one adjustment at the back upper neck). I should title this blog post "7 muslins of the front and 1 of the back." Muslin #2 was still too snug across the front and had the tell-tale drag lines above and below the bust, indicating that there wasn't enough fabric there. Back to the cutting table. I know muslin #3 had a bigger FBA but from then until about muslin #6, I don't remember what I did, just that it wasn't working. I had to retrace the pattern a couple of times because my cut up copies could only be untaped and retaped a few times. One problem I had is that as I made the FBA larger, the darts got bigger. At one point my muslin fit if I took in the center front. This was discouraging and not right. I made an FBA to add fabric and then I have to take fabric away? Yes, the muslin fit OK if I took in the center front, but the darts were huge. So I dug out muslin #2 and tried a different approach. I had originally thought my bust point was in the right location on the pattern, but I was wrong. It was lower. I resewed the darts on muslin #2 to be lower and it fit better, still too snug, but better than it had been. I retraced the pattern, guessed on the FBA and tried on muslin #6. Almost. More FBA and some tweaking to the front neckline and muslin #7 was a winner!!! Yay!!!

All told I ended up with these pattern alterations:

1. Cut one size for shoulder/neckline/armscye, grading out to next size below
2. Lowered dart
3. FBA
4. Added 3 inches to the hem
5. Removed from front neckline (I used the slash and rotate technique described in the this youtube video)
6. Removed from back neckline - since this had a center back seam, I took in what I needed to at the neck and blended it into the center back seam by drawing a curved line, which works for me since I have a little hump back there anyway (too much sitting at the computer!
7. Eliminated the zipper. The pattern calls for a side zipper but I was delighted to find that I could easily put the muslin on with no zipper. I hate side zippers anyway - they don't help me put a garment on at all, so what good are they? 

Now some pictures:

Ready to cut out

Me, with matching phone and hanger coming out of my head. A bit wrinkly because I wore it to my interview and also, it's hard to photograph yourself. 

The fabric is a rayon that I purchased a long, long, long time ago. Lets just say that at the time you could bring liquids on airplanes and greet your traveling loved ones at their gate. I bought this fabric at Louise Cutting's store in Orlando, Florida (long since closed) and probably spent what I thought at the time was a lot of money for fabric. Although I had planned to use a Louise Cutting pattern to make a top out of it, the fabric instead lived for years folded up, packed in a plastic container, weighed down by other fabrics. Then it was packed into my suitcase (or a USPS flat rate box) and traveled thousands of miles to Germany where it again spent some time folded and packed into a plastic container. I washed it in cold water, hung it up to dry, ironed it, and it came out great! Nice fabric! I can only hope all the other fabric in my stash behaves as well when I finally get around to sewing it.

Sewing up the pattern was pretty straight forward, except for the facing. Since my pattern came from a German magazine, my instructions were of course in German. My German sewing vocabulary has improved, and they reprint the illustrations (but very small) from the Simplicity instructions, but I still needed help with the facings. Youtube to the rescue again.

So I like the top. It fits. I'll probably use the pattern again, but with a few more changes. The neckline is a little too square for me and tad too high. Also, despite adding 3 inches to the pattern, I'd like it a bit longer. I sewed a 1 inch hem on this - I don't know what the pattern calls for. 

And the job interview? It went well. Hopefully I'll know something in a few weeks.