My current project is a sleeveless blouse, Vogue 9004. Given that I don’t have much time to sew, and I have a large stash of fabric, I thought, “I don’t need a muslin. I’ll just make a shirt using real fabric.” And off I went!
I recently read a blog that gave two rules for successfully sewing on the side:
- Finish every project you start.
- Leave your project and tools out so you can jump in for 15 minutes or an hour when you have a chance.
With that in mind, I’ve spread out across the guest room / craft room such that it’ll only take me 5 minutes to put everything away if we have guests. And, I can pop in and sew for a few minutes without having to do any set up. Until today, everything has been going along fine.
Today, after a few hours of deciding “I don’t need to baste the zipper” then “I’ll just baste using the same thread as the fabric” and then “OMG! Ripping out these zipper seams for the nth time is exhausting!”, I was excited to have the backs and fronts stitched together to try it on!
“This is a TERRIBLE pattern! This doesn’t fit at all!”
Then, I remembered that I decided this fabric was my muslin fabric and dove in. I’d originally made a size 14 based on measurements on the envelope. After having it sewn, I took it down to a size 10 from the hips to a size 12 at the bust, and kept the size 14 for the shoulders and neckline. Much better! The pattern pieces reflect the fitted garment too. I also left notes for myself to think about cutting the front pieces longer next time. The shirt cuts up several inches in the front, making it nearly too short for my torso. So a day of success! I don’t have to finish this project by throwing it in the trash. I’m still confused about the measurements though. My measurements matched a size 14. How do you know if a garment will fit loosely?
Next time I have a few minutes free, I’ll start cutting the interfacing for the neckline and arm bands.