LindaF - My fitting muslin

Well here it is. I am calling this my lab coat experiment. I pressed this like it was a finished item, so I called it my lab coat. I have been up since 4:30 a.m. and on a caffeine high. I am prone to weird jokes like this when I am fighting exhaustion.

And I am ticked at myself. I forgot to do my pet peeve adjustment - the shoulder slope. I didn't remember until I was sitting at the sewing machine AFTER I cut the muslin. AND I didn't do 2" shoulder seam allowances either. I don't know if you can see it, but it sits up off my shoulders at the neck edge. I did a quick measurement and the slope on this coat is 2.25" and I need 1.5" with the shoulder pad. I really, really want to see how this area fits before I cut into good fabric. I know this means I will want to do another muslin, bah! Instead I am going to work with this one and make it work by adding more fabric to the shoulder seam and then making the adjustment.

The only horizontal line that is off the pattern is at the waist. The rest are my estimates, you should ignore them.

Front - If you can see the slight drag lines pointing to my left side, congratulations! Putting all the anatomy jokes aside that are floating in my head right now, I'll just that I think it is because of the sweater I am wearing. More on that below. What looks like folds of fabric in the front is actually the breeze pushing the muslin against me.

Back - Pay no attention to what looks like a very flat butt and extra folds in the fabric. It is the wind pushing my fabric. I get the best lighting outside.

Side. The drag line you see at the shoulder is because my shoulder slope is off. As mentioned before, it is too steep and I need to fix it. Arghhh! Can you tell I bummed about this.


I know Marji said to wear winter clothing underneath and it doesn't look like I do. The sweater knit top I am wearing under this muslin is actually as thick as what I wear in the winter. I tell people I am female and 50, so I am my own heater. And I actually do wear short sleeves in the winter. My long sleeve tops are thinner than this sweater. But I should have changed into one of my smoother tops to simulate having a lining in this muslin. The cotton sweater is fighting with the cotton muslin and I feel it causing some wrinkles that shouldn't be there. And I think I pinned the muslin to the sweater too. If I get time over the weekend, I'll take some shots wearing a slippery top to simulate a lining fabric.

My alterations before cutting were to lengthen the waist by 1", and add 6" all around the coat. I also added 1.375" length to the front for a FBA, adding a wedge in the side front also. This pattern is Burda 7855 and the listed measurements on the pattern for a size 18 are incorrect. The bust width is off by 1" and the hip width is off by 1.5". I feel that is important to point out for those of you making this pattern also. For me that much off made a world of difference. I know it looks like it is tight in the chest area, but it isn't. It is the cotton on cotton thing going on.

The sleeve fitting and fixing the shoulder seam will have to wait until after the 28th at this point. My DD is graduating next week. We are having a party here which means I have clean, shop and cook. Or in other words, have some general all around panic attacks. Sewing will not be on the radar until after the party.