Friday, June 20, 2008

Analyzing and Altering The Fitting Muslin, part 2, LisaC


Edit to add: I just talked with Lisa about the fit.
Upon looking more closely at the top of the coat, I figured out that the grain lines were lifting on the sideview picture because the whole coat was sliding back on her.
So, I looked again at the pics, and realized that I'm looking at seam allowances on the neckline (see picture above).
The princess seams are set too far apart, the neckline is a good 1" to 1.25" off her neck, and the shoulders are too wide.
IOW, it's too big.
I referred Lisa to Nancy Zieman's fitting guide from Fitting Finesse
and talked to her about how to proceed from here.
We concluded that Lisa probably cut a size that is too large for her.

When choosing your size, it's always easier to adjust the fitting elements below the neckline, shoulders and bust - so choose your pattern to fit your top.


Lisa was, I believe, the first to put up a fitting muslin for analysis.

She made the changes I suggested intially, then took the set of pictures you see on the bottom row of the collage.
This is a copy of the email I just sent her:
Hi Lisa,
I've been a bit baffled over what is going on with your muslin, and just had a bit of a lightbulb moment.

The weight of the coating wool will serve to hold down the fullness in that skirt (and I think you're going to want to add weights anyway) - however, your muslin has no weight to it.
Humor me, and stitch closed a little pocket in the bottom of each of your princess and side seams in your muslin at the hemline, and insert a penny into each pocket. Now the seams should be pulled by gravity to be straight vertically.
If there is something going on that you are going to need to adjust, you'll get big fat diagonal drag lines now. If not - you'll just have nice full swooshes of skirt.
I think what's happening on the side seam and the side fronts and backs might just be that the muslin wants to stick out without benefit of weight to hold it down.
At least if it's weighted we'll be able to see where the changes need to happen.

Thanks, Marji

Lisa also mentions seeing drag lines on her back in the second set of pictures, but I'm not seeing them. I do however think that the princess seams on the back at the waistline might benefit from letting out just a bit more.

2 comments:

Digs said...

My feeling is that Lisa has a straight and "short" back, and needs to adjust her pattern accordingly. I come from a very stiff-necked & straight-backed family ;-) so am quite familiar with this fit issue.

When Lisa first posted her adjusted pics, I suggested that the upwards slant was due to her very straight back. I was surprised no one else weighed in on that idea. However, if you compare Lisa's side photo with some of the other muslims already posted, it's clear she has a very straight posture (yea, Lisa!). I still think this is the key to the garment rotation, because the shoulder seam is also quite far back. If Lisa was to lower (enlarge downwards, of course) the back neck scoop, it would allow the whole garment the needed room in the neck area to rotate forward.

The other place where the adjustment could be done is either at mid-armscye, or at the lower side seam just below the armscye: in either case, when you pinch the back, you need to open the front by the same amount.

Marji said...

Digs, I'm sorry, didn't mean to ignore your comments. It's very clear though, especially after having a conversation with Lisa, that the initial muslin is just too large in the bodice area.
Once she gets it down to a better size for her, I'm guessing that your experience and suggestions will be of great benefit.