Vogue 8406 Begins. Do I dare say Epic?

 

I've finished the Paperbag Waist pants and the review will come as soon as I can take some pics, maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, I've begun what I think may be an epic project, at least as epic as anything I've made for myself in a while. We will be attending a formal, evening wedding, lovely venue, and it is at the very end of September.  I had all fabric and pattern  ready to go. A couple weeks ago I looked at my plans and decided it was just too light and summery for this affair. I needed to go shopping and start fresh. 

I went with my sister. She drove from Maine to my home in New Hampshire and from here we drove 2 hours to Fabric Place Basement in Natick, Mass. This is a suburb of Greater Boston and not far from the reknown techology area of Massachusetts. It is so worth the trip for both of us and we try to make it twice a year, seasonally. This was our Fall trip, a bit early. There was so much for me to consider and I eventually ended up buying the fabric you see above. The pattern I will be using is McCall's 8406, a new release. 

 I love the cut and simplicity of this dress.. It is a front, back, cut on sleeves, skirt front and back on the bias and an underarm zipper.  It brings the interest up toward the face which is a good thing for my shape.  I planned on it being challenging. Bias garments have never worked for me. They just hug my curves in a way that is not good and I'll leave it at that. I may just make the skirt on the straight of grain, we shall see, or a different style. Once the time was available I started on my muslin. 

The dress is a tulle with only the smallest amount of stretch on the straight of grain. It is NOT a stretch poly mesh.  There is no bias on the netting. The tiny sequins trail randomly all over and are less than an 1/8th of an inch with slightly larger sequin showing up every few inches or so. They are holographic which is pretty wild.  As you move the colors shift in waves. Sounds tacky but isn't and Sis loved it. The overall color is a gunmetal blue/gray.  I will use the same color in an Ambiance lining. In real life, it is much blue-er than shown here.  The bodice will be underlined and the skirts will be free floating. The lace netting offers an inch or so of galloon lace on both selvedge edges so there is that I can use as well. Should be fun. My only concern is the bias skirt, therefore a serious muslin. 

 

Here is my first iteration of the bodice muslin. I always flat pattern measure before deciding on size and cutting. These big puffy sleeves are cut on and nearly level with the empire waistline. I could tell I would need an FBA.  I cut the neckline and shoulder line for a size 8 and the bustline and underarm seam for a size 14. That underarm seam will become my waist seam and side seam to the bias skirt. I just know I need extra but not this much. 

Here  you can see the issues. On the model on the pattern, the waist seam definitely goes under the bustline. Mine, at the size 14 line barely covers half of my cup. The shoulder seams are set at the right place. I am holding the side seams so you can see the width of the size 14 bodice. I would have to take it in hugely to be anywhere close to my own waist in the fashion that it is in the pattern cover. But I have ideas. 

This back photo gives you an even better view of the width. Next is what it looks like if I pin it at 5/8ths and let go. 

You can see all the excess emanating from the shoulders. I expect the big no armscye wrinkle that you get when you have a cuton sleeve but the radiation from the neckline  is just not right.  So here is my plan, I THINK.  I will have muslin number two to show you soon, I hope. 

Here is the bodice pattern piece. Keep in mind that it has that 2 inch wide bias collar band being attached so the width of the bodice will be 2-4 inches wider as it crosses my chest. I may decrease the width of that by a half inch for starters. You are looking at the pattern piece as the grain lines up straight. I have done this cheater FBA on other gathered bustlines before, something learned from Sandra Betzina.  It requires drawing an elipse shape in the area of the bust, beneath  the bustline on each side, tapering to nothing at sides and center front, the red line you see. The pattern piece, as sold, is the same for all sizes except for a miniscule amount close to the armscye.  And it doesn't cover my bust???? in the fourteen cut? I also will take in the shoulder seam all the way to help eliminate some of that radiation. I am not sure that will do it. I may also do a tuck across the width, front and back, as width across my bust is not the issue. It's clearly the length. 

I understand all of this is a moot point until the skirt is connected to the top, which I hope to do tomorrow. Fingers crossed and clearly plenty more to come! This is going to take some play..............................Bunny