Down and Dirty Muslins

 

The topic of Muslins and sewing can really set some people off. I made one for my wedding gown many decades ago but thru the decades they really became few and far between. I just didn't see the value unless I was making a one time very expensive investment garment. 

Then, around about the 80s , when I got back into the work force and needed and wanted to make professional clothing, I realized I needed to learn a lot to get to the point where I could make my clothing fit well. I studied books, bought quite few, taped videos, bought a few of those as well. Tried loads of techniques and tricks. Eventually I gave making a muslin a try for a complicated garment that I needed to fit. It was this Vogue Bill Blass affair with curving seams that controlled the fit but were not princess seams. The were more like fitting curves on a quilt. I made my muslin, got it to fit nicely, and had a new attitude toward the whole concept of making muslins. I did them over and over, but not too often in the beginning. As time has gone on, I am a total convert. 

This is a top I just finished. Why on earth would I bother to make a muslin for this, a simple top, no sleeves, no closures, no darts, big as heck, and pretty much just a big box? 

I am small. I needed to know if it would be too big and look ridiculous. 

I needed to know if I could get the neckline over my head, sewing it in a woven fabric.

I needed to know where to cut for a hem that would be just past my waistline.  The original is at the end of my hips. 

I needed to know if my bra would show at the side seams with the deep exposed armscyes. 

Now, when I make a muslin, it is down and dirty. People hate making muslins. The way I do it, I am done within a half hour, the most, even that Memphis dress I just made. You can see the blogpost on that muslin here. A muslin takes very little time, yet gives  you incredible feed back. 

I do no closures, using pins instead.

I cut off the hems to see where they land.

I  stay stitch my necklines and sleeveless armscyes and clip them back to the stitching line.  I have seen more people complain about their armscyes being horribly tight but they haven't trimmed the armscye back as they would in the real garment and they proceed to make a fitting adjustment. Oh,my.

There are no pockets, collars or other fussy details.  Although, sometimes I have placement concerns on my short body, wide hips and boobs. In that case I just cut an outline of fabric and pin it on. 

My muslins are brought to their absolute essence of the garment's fit and not much else. Then I try it on. I've seen people do all the details in a muslin. 

My muslins aren't made in printed fabrics. That distracts the eye and plays games with your assessment. Not a good idea to use leftover prints to make muslins, ever.

Then again, some people think they need to make an entire wearable garment in a muslin. Now that, IMO, is downright ridiculous. Hey, I'm entitled to my opinion.  A muslin, in order to give you proper fit feedback, needs to be able to be written on. You need to mark your bodices and bottoms with horizontal balance lines and vertical grainlines. You see those marked with red Sharpie on the pics here.  Why, you ask? Because the minute you put that garment on and those lines are skewed, they will show you exactly what your fitting problem is, no getting diagnoses from the tons of experts at Pattern Review. Instead you can see right where the fit is off with your lines. Next, you can write on your muslin---"decrease shoulders 5/8ths of an inch." Raise hem one inch." Etc, etc. etc. It's priceless and you will know exactly what to do when you correct and cut out your pattern. 

I know, you are a Wearable Muslin Maven, a WMM. I know for a fact that the near total percent of those who sew patterns simply are not the exact height and measurements of what is on the pattern envelope for one size.  Do all you WMMs really enjoy walking around in clothing that doesn't fit? If it fit you probably would not have tried making a muslin to begin with.  The other,  how does it help you?  You can't change much of anything if you need more room or length or have to push things forward, insert wedges, do FBAS. How can you tell if you made the right change? Perhaps another technique would be better. Wearable muslins give you ill fitting garments. Why do that, just why? That would be a huge waste of money for me as I am not about to go out in sloppy fitting clothing of my own make. Oh, but you think you are being thrifty buying cheap fabric instead of unwearable muslin. Uh, no. I use old sheets, many from the thrift, some of my own, very very  cheap. I also re use them, cutting up large pieces into small for newer muslins. No money is wasted here but by now you know me and that I have that cash angle all figured out. It's what I do. 

Then there is the " I don't have the time for that business." Well I guess you do have the money then because clothes that don't fit usually don't get worn and are eventually taken out of the back of the closet and donated or chucked.  In my world, time is money and I hate to waste it.  Again, I don't think I have ever taken more than half an hour to make  a muslin, moments very well spent. 

The fabric above became my extremely simple Eureka top. I have two more in the lineup. It is fast and simple and the next is a snug knit so I will take out some width. I went for the current very popular boxy look with my batik that you see in the first pic. There will be more on the pattern to come but I wanted to share my opinion on the value of muslin making with you all. I know you definitely have your own opinions and I do respect. If you would like to see some great examples of this simple block-y tee shirt which you are probably shaking your head at, click here for a gallery that will show you why I got hooked. Now that the fit is worked out this top can be whipped up in no time. Thanks for letting share my thoughts. 

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I was going thru my woolen fabrics the other day and found this tag on a piece of nice gray wool I picked up at a neighbor's yard sale. I thought you might enjoy seeing the tag from the original store, not the yard sale, that was on it.  If only 100% wool were that price today!

I had to really up the contrast so you could read the faded tag.  Happy Sewing..................Bunny