Help!

I've just posted photos of my muslin over at my blog GMarie Sews. Please go take a look and let me know what you think.

Your opinions and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Claire S - Have I used up my quota of questions yet ?

'Cos I've got a few more...

Muslin - done, cut apart & ready to go
Flannel underlining - preshrunk (4 times !) pressed, straightened & ready to go
Wool flannel - london shrunk, pressed & ready to go - NOPE - it's not squared up

DH & I tried to straighten it by pulling, no go. So I checked around the 'Net and found some possibilities. It went into a sink of water with Euclan (sp?) for 20 minutes, spun once in the washer and 'then' pressed while damp, stretching to straighten it. NOW it's straight - hopefully to stay that way.

I'm ready to lay it all out and here come the questions...

- Wool - I cut all the pieces (front, side front, side back, back - sleeves, collars & lapels)

? - Flannel underlining - I cut side front, side back, back and sleeves - Since there is a front facing, do I also cut an underlining piece from the front, or not ? The facing piece is only about 1/2 the width of the front piece - OK just re-read the underlining/interlining post - no front underlining

? - Interfacing - following Marji's interfacing post, I'll have to make interfacing pattern pieces
Full front piece, top of side front, - using Marji's diagram
Side back, back - using the diagram from the Tailoring book included in Marji's post
Will the front facing be interfaced as well ?

? - Lapels - this pattern has separate lapels (instructions say to cut 4, interface 2 and stitch 1 interfaced piece with 1 un-interfaced piece then turn right side out) - All the example pictures shown so far have a front piece that includes a lapel all in one piece, so to follow the sewalong techniques, What on earth do I actually do with my pieces ?

This ought to be enough to get me through the next step.

Thanks everyone - as always, any advice is appreciated.

Claire S. - I'm Done !

That is, of course, unless someone looks at these pics and cringes because something is REALLY wrong.

Today's adjustment was the left armhole, had to take in the back at the bottom of the armhole - same adjustment I did last week on the right side. Both adjusted shoulders/armholes...

Front & Back

I started to fiddle with the waist line again, but on this pic, the waisline and the hemline are 'almost' straight.

The waist is comfortable as it is, so I'm going to hope that the weight of the wool flannel, the cotton flannel and the lining will all help this hang evenly. I think now feels like the right time to just 'go for it' and move on to the next step.

Claire S. - V8346, I think I'm close

But I'm not sure how close...

I redrew the seam line on the back armhole to take up some of the bunching on the back. Then I reset the right sleeve with the shoulder dot back in the original spot.

The new pic is on the left, the mess from the last post is on the right.



The armhole now looks like a smoother line. There is still a bit of bunching just at the bottom but do I try to get rid if it ? At what point am I overfitting ?

Claire S. - V8346, what am I doing wrong ?

Here we go again - Sleeves had diagonal wrinkles - after checking Els' instructions, I unpicked the sleeves and moved the shoulder dot forward about 1/2"

The wrinkles seem worse than before, should I have just left the sleeves alone or done something other than moving the shoulder dot forward ? And any ideas what to do now ?

The pics show tonight's change first - compared against the same view(s) from my last post.

Back...



Right side...


Left Side

Claire S. - V8346 - I've got Sleeves !!!

I've made it through another attempt at sleeves.

The McCalls sleeve was giving me trouble and I was still fighting with it (it was winning...) when I saw the Threads instructions for converting 1-pc sleeves.

I psyched myself up and spent 2 evenings tracing and redrafting the 1-pc Vogue sleeve into a 2-pc sleeve and here are the results...

Front & Back :


There are 2 right sides here, the one taken in the shade looked pretty good till I saw how the sun really showed up the wrinkles.


I've just seen Els' post on the diagonal wrinkle problem and I guess I'm going to have to move the notch forward a bit on the right sleeve. I don't think I have to do anything to the left sleeve, do I ?

The last time I asked about resetting a sleeve I was told to take the whole thing out and set it in from scratch...is it the same now ? Would I be able to unpick the basting on the back of the armhole seam and just ease it all forward a bit ? I didn't gather the ease between the notches, I pretty much eased most of the armhole - just left the underarm with no easing, about 4-5" or so.

Looking at the whole body shot again from the side, I see the waistline is not actually level yet...CF is still higher than CB. I think I'll adjust this yet again, CB needs to come up at least another 1/2".

So, any thoughts, re: the sleeves or anything else you may see ?

Claire S. - The Neck Fits !

"this post has been draft since Thursday, waiting for pics" - here we go...

I just didn't quite 'get' the instruction to cut a strip of muslin 2 sizes smaller from the neck of the original pattern and sew it on the muslin. BUT, I read (and re-read) all my books, searched the Net, and re-read the books again for making a neckline smaller. I'm not sure I followed 'proper' sewing tecniques but the neckline now fits alot better.

Those 1" seam allowances came in handy. I had already done a round back adj. and the CB was sitting ok on my neck. The long seams where the lapels will go had the 1" seam allowance. What I did was mark 3/4" on each shoulder seam seam allowance closer to the neck and just drew a line from CB to that mark, decreasing the neck width, and tapering back down the lapel to the original marking at the bottom. The S.A. on the back neckline was a tad short but it was just enough to get this basting stitch in.

How did I do ? and am I now ready to try the sleeves again ?

I've also noticed that although the line I drew from my ear to shoulder on each side matches up with its seam and looks ok, I only moved the shoulder seam forward on the RIGHT side. The seam on the left side is the original one which seems to have moved into place after adjusting for the high round neck and adding shoulder pads - is it possible to only have to move 'one' shoulder ?

Claire S. - next question

I’ve done some of the recommended changes and have been mulling over some others.

From the last set of pics and suggestions/comments from both Marji & Linda I’ve done and observed the following:

• pinched out ¾" on each shoulder per Marji’s diagram
• took out the left sleeve and looked up how the shoulder pads are supposed to sit and pinned them in properly
• basted in the collar and both lapels in the original size.

The shoulder length feels a LOT better.
Unfortunately, the neck edge is still the same width, really wide.

I’m going to have to attempt Marji’s suggestion:

Marji - ‘Go back to your original pattern tissue, cut a slice of muslin from the CF around the neck (back too) cutting two sizes smaller, to bring that neck closer. Then stitch the muslin onto the muslin you are currently working with.’

I just can’t picture this.

How much is a slice ? How far down from the shoulders ? I’ve done a high round neck adjustment already and raised the back neck 1-1/4" - will I need to recreate this in the slice or do I cut a short piece that will sit above this adjustment. How do I go about blending the width of the smaller piece to the larger muslin I’m working on ? (Rapid fire questions - sorry :-) )

Note…I have yet to have DH measure the sleeve cap depth for the sleeve. Do I do this first for attempt to fix the neck width first ?

Marji - can you provide a pic or more instructions ? Thanks a bunch

ClaireS - THANK YOU ! - Edited

Edit ...

Marji - No, I didn't quite understand the 'cut 2 sizes smaller neckline' but will give it a go once I get home...It will probably make more sense once it's all sitting in front of me. I should try this before I attach the collar ? I would need the collar 2 sizes smaller as well, I would think. I did look at Tany's pic and have a good idea what I'm shooting for.

Linda - I haven't taken ANY comments with a grain of salt, but I have tried to incorporate (or at least understand) all of them. Anyone who is willing to help me is worth their weight in gold ! This info will help me later too, it's all a learning curve.



Last night after the latest attempt to fit the sleeves, self confidence was at an all-time low thinking this project is just too much for my skills at this stage of the game.
This morning, in the light of day (well, it was pouring rain w/thunder & lightning, but you get the picture) and with some encouraging comments (including those from a wonderful DH), I’m ready to tackle it again. So, thank you everyone.

Marji - I will try the narrow shoulder adj. I ‘finally’ figured out exactly which bone on my shoulder I should be measuring from - it’s only about 4.5" from where my necklace sits - is that short ? The shoulder line on my jacket is a full inch longer than that. I'll go back to Rosemary's post & ELS sleeve adj and make the most use of DH while he is still willing to help - this coat may wear him out at some point.

Linda - Yes, I did move the shoulder seam forward (1/4" at neckline, 1/2" at shoulder point). I moved the notch forward, but then there was too much bunching of the sleeve in front and not enough at the back, it pulled something fierce. So I ended up tilting the sleeve back instead - of course, we see how well THAT turned out :-)

My muslin is getting pretty crowded with original markings, adjustment lines and new seams.

While I am perfectly willing to do this, would it be worth my while to transfer the adjustments (the ones that have worked so far, waistline, vertical seams, low bust adj) on my tissue pattern and make a new, clean muslin - OR - just keep going on this one ?

Claire S. - V8346, still working on sleeves

I'm hoping I'm not the only one still having trouble with the muslin - I know we're supposed to be cutting real fabric by now.

I've read everything I could get my hands on - the more I read, the more confused I got.

Sooooo, I'm ignoring the left sleeve for now. I don't think splitting it to add width was necessary, the fit of the original sleeve was ok. I think the problem lies in either,

1) the depth of the armhole (too low) or

2) the shoulder width - are the shoulders on my jacket too wide for me ? some of those many wrinkles seem to match up with the 'narrow shoulder' problems in my books - Fitting Finesse & Fast Fit

I worked only on the right sleeve...

- some said to balance the sleeve, move the shoulder dot forward

- others said move it backwords

I tried both. Neither seemed to work too well, I still could not raise my arm.

I focused on the armhole instead

I raised it 1/2" (added 1/2" at the bottom of the armhole on the body of the muslin).

I reset the sleeve by putting on the bodice, sliding the sleeve on my arm and fiddling with it til it hung straight then basted it in.

I forgot to allow for "I could only see the front while doing this" ! While the front of the sleeve seems to fall pretty straight, the back has lots of wrinkles. It's as though I have no shoulder in the back, it's all empty air under there. This is why I'm wondering about the narrow shoulder.

The fix for a narrow shoulder in Fast Fit has you take a copy of the armhole seam and tilt it so the shoulder width is less and the armhole rises up the same amount - this MAY fix my problem. But how would I accomplish this on this muslin which is all sewed up, would I have to undo it all and start again ?

Any opinions anyone ? My muslin is looking worse instead of better I'm afraid.

Here are the pics of the right arm after raising the armhole and 'fiddling' with the hang of the sleeve. The shoulder pad is in there, but I don't know if it is sitting in the right place. And the bonus to this is, even though it's not looking really good, I CAN lift my arm a bit higher.

Edit - Claire S. - V8346, sleeves ?

Edit - July 11 - I'm still stuck.

The actual problem - Neither sleeve feels tight around my arm, only pulling at the underarm.

Gry - suggested to change the sleeve balance and rotate the sleeves to the back

EJVC (ClassicalReader) - understood that I added the width on the left sleeve to the under part of the sleeve and suggested that I split the sleeve both horizontally and vertically on the upper sleeve to get added width.

1) I didn't specify clearly - I did add the 1-1/2" width to the upper sleeve...just that the amount was 1-1/2" at the level of the underarm (sorry, don't remember what the name of that part of the sleeve is called), more at the top of the sleeve cap and tapering to nothing at the cuff. you can see a loooong 'V' of stitching on the pic showing my full left side.

2) EJVC's solution will add depth to the armhole - I think it is already too low since, when I lift my arms, the pull is right at the armpit. It seems as though you have one thing or the other, either the armhole is high enough to move your arm or it's big enough to wear a heavy sweater, but not both. Is there a happy medium?

3) I think rotating the sleeves back will take away the vertical wrinkles but will that loosen up the pull when I lift my arms ?

4) To rotate the sleeves, do I take them completely out and reset them ? or leave the bottom in place and shift the upper part of the sleeve cap to the rear.

Thanks for the comments so far...this part seems so much more complicated than the body was.


original post - Jul 4
******************
Let's start with the positive, shall we ? After all the suggestions on my first muslin, and Marji's pics to show exactly how to fix some of 'em - THANKS Marji & everyone - I managed to,



1) raise the back neck 1-1/4";
2) let out the side seams and the front & back princess seams 1/4", to get an added waist measurement of 3";
3) lower bust point 1-1/4"
4) raise the front waist 1" at CF , raise the waistline at the sides 1-1/2", and the back waist 1-1/2" - I have no idea if this is the proper way to make the waist level or not.

I didn't change the angle of the shoulder seams because I thought there is room for the shoulder pads.
Also did not move the shoulder seams forward, I think they're in the right place now.


Please let me know if the shoulder seams do need adjusting after all.



This felt pretty good, til I attempted the sleeves ! - maybe I should make a vest ?


Now- I am about to prove exactly how much of a newbie I am at this - feel free to let me know just how badly I messed up these sleeves, 'cos for sure they're not right.

V8346 has a one piece sleeve - the only 2-pc sleeve pattern I have is a McCalls (M5247), yup a different brand so I was prepared for it not to work.


I traced out the McCalls sleeve, size 16, measured the seamline against the seamline of the V8346 sleeve - both the same measurement - different shapes though.

I measured the actual armhole of the muslin, it is the same as the Vogue sleeve measurement - unless I made a drastic mistake somewhere, there is NO ease in this sleeve cap. Since my McCalls measurement was the same, there is no ease in this one either.


The McCalls sleeve without any changes, is my right sleeve. It is pretty tight, I can't lift my arm up very much.

I read everything I could find about fitting sleeves - sleeve cap ease, making bicep larger, changing armsyce depth - but since I didn't know exactly what the problem was, I winged it.


I split the left sleeve down from the top of the sleeve to the hem and spread it to add 1-1/2" right where the underarm is...which, by the way, seems really low except you do need room for sweaters, right...it can't be too high up, no ? And I'm going to need room for all the layers of the real material once I get to that point. It's still too tight to raise my arm, but now the sleeve looks bulky.



So, here are the pictures


Before Sleeves - first one shows the final tweak of the waistline and was taken after the other 3.







After Sleeves - I rec'd Marji's package in the mail today, so the shoulder pads are sitting in place.

Right sleeve - McCalls 5247 no adjustments.
Left sleeve - McCalls 5247, split vertically and added 1-1/2" at underarm level












This is as much as I can raise my arms - how's that for a pose ?



I see wrinkles/pulls that I think mean things are too tight (at the back & the bust), but the only things that actually feel tight are the sleeves.


Sorry, I just saw how long this post is but I don't know what to do next and am really stuck.

Claire S. - V8346, questions re: sleeves

I can hardly believe it, but I have been working on adjustments all week and think I managed to make the body of the muslin fit - but before I post more pics, Marji mentioned putting in the sleeves and collar.

The suggested sleeve to use is a 2-piece - this pattern has a 1 piece sleeve.

For those of you who are also making V8346 - Are you using the 1 piece sleeve or are you using a sleeve from another pattern ?

I also have the McCalls pattern M5247 which has a 2-piece sleeve - how do I know if I can use this sleeve pattern in my coat ? I don't know what to measure or how to tell if it will fit.

Any help would be appreciated.

Lisa: First muslin photos UPDATED 6/16/08

Hi,
Guess I'll have a go at this....here is the front and back of my muslin (V8346). I put on a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt to try this fitting (it was only 93 F or 33 C that day). First things: SBA, let out the waist, and raise the bust point. You were right Marji, I only needed to add about 1/2 " (1.25 cm) from the shoulder to the bust. However, I had already traced off the pattern with my length adjustments and figured it would be an easy tuck on the pattern if it didn't work. Next, the back view. I see some wrinkles at the armholes. Could be a couple of things. One is that I didn't trim to the seam lines of the armholes. The sweatshirt has a deep armscye and could be pulling the muslin. Another thing that could be causing the wrinkles is the lack of shoulder pads. If it is something else I am not sure what could be the problem. Don't you love the shorts and the pink backdrop? My daughter took the back view photo in her room.

You can't see them in the photos, but I marked the grainlines, bust, and waist lines. The bust lines are off, but I think I didn't get them marked correctly on the pattern. The waist hits me just right and I am hoping I can make it just a little longer. Will have to see what happens when I lay out the pattern.














Update

Here are 3 photos of me trying to follow Marji's guidelines for muslins. I have sewn around the armscyes and front edges so you can see where those are hanging out. I drew the bust and waist lines in black ink. I drew the grainlines in red. And that took some doing to figure how out to put those 2 different colors on the same photo!!

Changes:
1. I have pressed my seams and trimmed the sleeve allowance to 5/8ths inch.
2. I have inserted shoulder pads.
3. raised the bust point by about 1/2 inch
4. released the waist 1 3/4 inches.



I still have drag lines in the back and my grainlines on the side are off. Seeing how I don't need a FBA (ha, ha) , what else would be pulling my grainlines up in the front or down in the back? I am getting out my sewing books to try to figure this one out.

:)