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.

True Dress Confessions.

I wore a dress to church Sunday, that was a little snug...no,it was really tight.I thought I could wear it one last time and then let it go.

I was wrong.It was one I really liked and standing in the mirror it looked good but when I got into the car,I discovered that sitting in this dress was an entirely different story.I was running late and it was too late to change,so off to church I went. I was so uncomfortable,that I couldn't pay attention to the sermon.I didn't worship,unless I can count, praying that this dress would give me an inch. All I could think of was, getting out of this dress.

Once I returned home ,ripped of the dress and was again able to breath freely,I decided that I needed to make a new dress.

I been browsing through the fashion magazines and find that they are filled with sheath dresses. I usually run from this kind of dress because I think it will be unkind to my plus-size body.Can I make a sheath dress that fits and flatters? To challenge myself and answer this question,I pulled out my "Fit For Real People by Pat Palmer " book. This book is awesome and has helped me before with my fitting issues.

I've selected McCall's 5818-view B,in the black and creme print fabric shown here.

I have cut my muslin and dedicate this weekend to making this dress. I'll be posting my progress. Wish me luck and share with me any tips,that you may have.

The Sewing Week - Jacket Part 2

Now for the continuing story.Using the techniques found in the book,Fit For Real People by Pati Palmer and Marta Alto ,I move happily on to a great fitting jacket.The first pin fitting on the fashion fabric reveals that this technique is working for me.I'm amazed that a smaller pattern and a few alterations could give me this fit ,with room to tweak.
The fabric I'm using is white w/beige pinstripes.It is twill,given to me by Ebony during her stash reduction. She's a diva with a halo.
The one thing I'd like to suggest is ,stay stitch all curved and horizontal seams before pin fitting to prevent stretching that may occur. Here is the back view. The wrinkles at the shoulders are pinned in darts. Looks like I can afford to take a little up in the center of the back seam.(notice the sag wrinkles)
I will show all pattern alterations used during a later post.
I've decided that I'll need to interline this jacket because the interfacing will show thru.
More tomorrow.It's late and I'm sleepy.

The Sewing Week Jacket Part 1

I've decided to work on a jacket this week.I'm going to use the fitting technique from the book titled,Fit For Real People by Pati Palmer and Marta Alto .
This book teaches a Pattern tissue fitting method as an alternative to making a muslin.One of the things that made me want this book was,it features many different sizes and shapes of women ,who actually have used the recommended techniques to create their own garments.
I decided on a casual, princess seam,lined,blazer.I'm using an OOP Vogue 8042.It's real basic.
I will work on this all week and post my progress daily.
The book advises buying a jacket pattern by the high bust measurement instead of the full bust measurement.Cut the pattern and pin the pattern together (front,back,sides and sleeves) and observe the fit before making any adjustments. I'm sharing these, roll exposing pics with you in the name of fitting perfection.I was doubtful of the whole plan after looking at these initially.
See how incredibly small the pattern is. My fitting issues are: full bust(D cup),pot belly,sloped shoulders,broad back and full upper arms. Check out the back.Remember this is before any changes.
Now after this,I had to un-pin the pattern,press and make the suggested adjustments and try it on again. After the adjustment were made,this tiny looking pattern actually fits! My doubts began to subside.
I have to work on this a little bit each day during my work week.(got to make money to buy more fabric,right.)
Tomorrow ,I'll share the adjustments and more.