Sunday, January 25, 2009

Dress Confessions-Part II

Thanks to all the wonderful notes of encouragement from my blogger friends,I jumped into this dress fitting project with confidence.
I've been working on muslins for my sheath dress.This is muslin #1. It is straight from the pattern,without any adjustments. I needed to familiarize myself with the pattern's design. It's very tight. No breathing room and forget about sitting. Every roll is exposed.

Here is the back view and more expose rolls.I modeled this dress in front of DH,who didn't know it was a fitting muslin and asked him how it looked? He looked for a few minutes and then said,"It looks nice."I was shocked to know, that he would let me walk around in public looking like this.
I made adjustments to the pattern shown here,highlighted by red marker.This is the front full bust adjustment.The front needed a FBA and some belly room.The back needed adjustment for fullness in the lower back and bottom,to prevent the dress from hanging up on my hip fluff. Here is the muslin #3 with adjustments. It passed the sit-down test and it doesn't show any rolls. It still needs a bit of tweaking.

There was a 2ND muslin but I decided to spare you and only show adjustments that work. I have tried on muslins 11 times, to get to a good fit. I think, I'm ready to move on to my fashion fabric.

14 comments:

Ebony said...

Man oh Man - I cracked my sides when I read "hip fluff". But I think the third muslin worked. But eleven muslins!!!!! So much patience.

Omega said...

Ok, I'm picking myself up from the floor from laughing at the comment that your husband thought your first muslin looked OK. Men are so funny. As for my comment, I so appreciate the detail you and others share in the fitting process. I can do better fitting on someone else but I have so little confidence fitting myself and that is one of my primary focuses this year. I also have to work on better documenting the process. So again, thanks! Your final muslin looks great.

Faye Lewis said...

I'm proud to know you! You really worked that thing out. Dedicated with ll fittings! That is going to be an amazing sheath and I can't wait to see it.

Faye Lewis said...

P.S. Did you see that I left an award for you on my blog?

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Lisa - yeah, I'm floored at the 11 muslins too. 'Cause I altered my pattern over 10 years ago and I would make one...wear it and then change what I didn't like! *LOL* You have the patience of Job! I can't wait to see the finished version!!! BTW, did you insert the zipper into each muslin?

Aminat said...

Men will always be men, everything I make looks beautiful to my husband too no matter how ugly it is. You are starting me on tmuslin fitting, it takes lots of patience, and you definately got one. BTW muslin #3 looks beautiful on you, can wait to see the final product. have fun sewing.

Lesalicious said...

WOW you practing away I see. I like the 3th one I say which ever fits you the best go for it.
Oh by the way I also notimated you for a blog award. :)

Melodye said...

Men can't see. It's genetic. But I'd also like to know - did you put in 11 zippers? I don't know if I'm floored by the 11 zippers or 11muslins. You give new meaning to the patience of Job. Maybe we'll call it the patience of Lisa from here on out!

Julia said...

Very nice! What a lot of work has gone into this dress, but I guess it's worth it to get a perfect fit, and next time it's ready to go.

Lisa H. said...

Thank you.I didn't make 11 muslins.I made three but I had to try on them on a total of eleven times to get the fit. I put a zipper in one,then rip it out and put it into the next one,and sew on :)

Liana said...

You get the P for Persevering Award! I think your DH is very well-trained too. :)

Anonymous said...

Here is my non-expert opinion. The fit of the muslin is perfect. If it were a moulage, that is what it should look like. Basically, you just need to see that the length is correct, darts are in the right place etc. All that seemed just right IMO. Now all you had to do, which you have done, was to make more space for your body. When you do your muslin, don't worry about the bumps and rolls showing. Checking your armhole/armscye, neck, shoulder width, back length (which is from the nape of your neck to where your armscye ends) and your nape to waist length.
When all things seem equal, you are good to go.

Would love to see it in the fashion fabric because I have a piece of fabric which is very similar in my stash, unfortunately, not enough to cover my entire body.

Meg said...

Very funny post, I can't wait to see the finished dress. I want one!

Tanya said...

What your DH said was it looks fine, what he meant was I love you no matter what you wear. When you look at it like that it's kinda sweet lol. I would wear the 3rd muslin it looks great, and I'm not just saying that.