I made my coat muslin over the weekend and a few things were apparent to me in this first fitting. Most apparent is that I need much more ease in upper arm! I'm a textbook BWOF 42, but it doesn't appear like they've added any additional ease in this pattern than they do in their standard shirt/jacket/skirt patterns. So it fits ok if my arms are at my side and I'm only wearing a teeshirt underneath, but as soon as I lift my arms or wear something heavier underneath (as in the below photos), it's obvious that I'll need to increase the circumference at the bicep, and also add about an inch at the sleeve (I like the length as it is, but that's supposed to have the seam allowance in that, too).
Another thing I realised when I tried this on is that the horizontal welt pockets are just NOT going to work for me. They look fine, but I definitely need to be able to shove my hands in my pockets in a winter coat, so I'll be ditching the drafted pockets and using vertical inseam pockets instead.
Here's the photos. Apologies for the lighting - between the reflective zip on the jacket I'm wearing underneath (all of my winter clothes are in storage!) and the distance away my photographer had to stand in order to get the hem in shot, the flash was having some issues picking up all the details (you can click to get a bigger photo, though, or I can email hi-res ones if necessary).
Front view:
Standing like this, I'm pretty happy with the fit. I like the way the collar lays, and I feel I've got enough ease in the waist (and tons in the hip).
But when I raise my arms slightly to mimic putting my hands in the imaginary inseam pockets, my sleeve bicips really tightens up and I get bust draglines between my arm and my bust:
I have a book which shows how to adapt the sleeve pattern to increase the girth, but I have no idea how to correct for this bust pulling. I've never had to do any bust alterations before! Or is it an armscye issue? The sleeveless side seems to fit okay (though I don't have my shoulder pads yet to use here, there's definitely room for them in the shoulder).
The side view:
Everything looks fine to me here, and the sleeve seems to be hanging okay.
And the back view:
Everything looks okay to me here, too. The fabric is hanging on my bum a little, but that's just a friction issue that should go away with some slippery lining fabric underneath.
So to my eyes I think I just need to enlarge and lengthen the sleeve, change the pocket, and do something about the bust-pulling issue.
Last week I also did some draping experiments with my microfleece and wool coating (more on fehrtrade.com) and I'm really happy with the way they behave so I've decided to go with that. I've prewashed the microfleece, and I've cut a swatch of my coating and put that through the washing machine twice now (we don't own a tumble dryer, and we always use the very eco and very gentle soapnuts since our grey water goes straight into the river) with zero shrinkage, so I'm going to put it through a third time and really scrutinise the swatch vs the virgin fabric and take a view as to whether to machine wash the whole lot.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Melissa's muslin and fabric prep
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7 comments:
Hi Melissa! I will be posting about my muslin of the same coat later on today. What I have found out is that there's not much ease built in into this pattern (as KayY noted before). I'm sure the experts will have suggestions for the pulling in the bodice...
I am not an expert. I am just amazed at how little ease in this coat. I guess it is close fitting. I live in the NE and my wool is thick, so this fit would not do for my coat. If I were making this I would go up the next size in order to get a little bit more ease across the back, the biceps and the shoulder width. Are you putting in shoulder pads, because I don't see room for those. It is hard to tell in photos. I am thinking that if you went up a size then you can take it in in the princess seams where you want a closer fit. There is the issue where the neck might become too wide, again hard to tell from the photo. But if you are in the muslin stage, it doesn't hurt to try.
Or if you did 1" SAs then you can maybe let it out a little in places?
Personally on my Burda (7855) I have ended up tracing the size according to my high bust. I don't do this for regular clothes, but after spot checking some measurements, I decided to make a coat using this measurement method. This is mainly because my wool is 1/16" thick single layer, twice that is 1/8" and 4x is 1/4" I am pretty sure I am going to have about 4 layers around the neck and that is going to take it in. So make sure you take into consideration the thickness of your wool. I'll find out after I make the muslin.
Oh - I layed it out and I measure 1" less in bust width than the pattern states. You may want to check that too. HTH.
Because you are using interlining I concur that there is not enough ease in this coat. All the layers will take up quite bit of room.
I think that you need to lower the under arm area. Are you clipping to the seam line? I would do this before I lowered it. But as noted there does not appear to be enough room for shoulder pads.
Are the jackets that you wear for work similar in weight to the one you're trying it on with? My guess is yes, but I'm just asking.
Making changes one at a time, I would first suggest
1. letting out some in the princess seams, evenly, from upper chest to hem, front and back. I would start stitching at the hem, moving out .6cm (1/4") from your current seam, all the way up, tapering to nothing just before the armscye in the back and to nothing at the upper chest in the front. Even in the picture where you're standing straight, before you try to lift your arm, you've got all sorts of pulling across the chest.
Next, you don't have room for a shoulder pad, so if you
2. open up the stitching at the top of the sleeve cap for about 2.5cm (1") on either side of the shoulder seam, then
3. change the angle of stitching across the shoulder seam, tapering from nothing at the neck edge to between 3/8" and 1/2" at armscye edge that will give you room for the shoulder pad.
4. Now, take your scissors and split the sleeve vertically shoulder to hem. This is muslin, you can split it and insert a piece underneath. You already know you're going to add girth to the sleeve. In the book you've looked at they have you split it vertically leaving a hinge at top and bottom and then pull it open, correct. Well, you'll be doing the same, except you'll not be hingeing the top because you need to open it anyway.
I'm going to write a post above so that I can add pictures.
The last question I have is a style one. I see your waistline markings on the fabric - is that a waistline mark or a belt mark? I need to look at your pattern.
Is that where you want it - I'm seeming to think it is a belt - and, Do you want your bib inset that low? What would happen if your bib inset stopped just above your waist?
Linda and Marji, thanks so much! I think I'm going to have to print these out to properly digest it while I make the changes...
Marji - the markings are the marked waistline from the pattern (it doesn't have a belt and I don't really like belts on my coats anyway). The bottom edge of the bib in front is on the waistline.
Oh, and the jacket is of a similar weight to the sweaters I wear in winter - that was the only heavierweight piece of clothing that isn't in storage right now that I could wear underneath. For my second fitting I'll try to dig out the vacuum bags and boxes from the hold. ;)
Only the upper sleeve is added to when enlarging a 2 piece sleeve.
The sweaters may be of similar weight, but they don't have their own shoulders pads, so if you can't get to a jacket, add a small shoulder pad under the sweater in addition to a shoulder pad for the coat.
Nancy - thanks for that, I was wondering how to deal with the two pieces! And I just placed a big online haberdashery order so I should be getting some shoulder pads in the next few days hopefully...
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