Saturday, September 18, 2010

Maggie's Muslin Misery

The muslin is mildly discouraging. It fits perfectly--except in the bust. I need to adjust for only one cup size, but my first attempt ruined the very slight hourglass shaping and left me with a perfectly boxy, ugly rectangle, not to mention other wrinkles and gaps. Sigh.

Even if I could get the fit right, the muslin calls attention to more important design issues. The biggest problem? The jacket's jewel neckline doesn't do anything for me. I'm going to try making the neckline slightly more of an oval framing the collarbone. Still, I wonder if that's enough. Mary's choice of a v-neckline may be the best way to break up the strong horizontal lines of the fabric.

The other design question: can my short torso handle four welt pockets, or would it be more flattering to have just two?

Taking the time to assess the fit and design at the muslin stage is luxury I may not be able to afford. I may rue the day I mocked Mary's TNT!

2 comments:

Mary OK said...

Oh, dear. . . .Didn't I tell you I made a muslin of that Vogue pattern everyone likes for Chanel jackets, did an FBA, and got it way too big? I didn't want to bother with fixing it and fell back on the TNT.

Keep in mind, the v-neck on mine isn't all that deep. Try dropping the center front neck about 2-3" and rounding it off. Still ALMOST jewel-neck, but a little bit longer line, and probably more flattering.

4 welt pockets . . . .why don't you stick with two at waist-hip level? I'm guessing 2 of the 4 are at the bust -- don't go there, girlfriend!

Do you want to send me a picture of the muslin privately??

Maggie said...

Over the weekend I managed to get another muslin cut for the front. This time the fba worked, and the hourglass shape came back. Adding the sleeves also helped. I also lowered and broadened the neckline 1/2"--and that seemed to be enough to create a more open line at the neck.

This evening I'll post photos of the muslin with both options for pockets. The huge vertical darts will create an obvious diagonal slant in the fabric between the dart and side seems. If I go with waist pockets, I can use patch pockets to disguise that.