Dress Muslins and New Knitting Project

On Friday, I had oral surgery in the morning (some new type of gum grafting surgery that is supposed to make new gum tissue actually regenerate) and I hadn't expected to feel like doing much this weekend. However, I was pretty energetic and I ended up making two dress muslins, Jim's vest muslin and started a new knitting project.

First off, Butterick 4919. I like the way it looks on the dress form and on other people, but am not crazy about how it looks on me. There were three things I didn't like - 1.) extra fabric around the waist in the form of the wraparound ties - made me look thicker and shorter waisted 2.) skirt was too full and overwhelming on me and 3.) too much fabric in the bodice, which many other people noted and I would be willing to fix if 1.) and 2.) weren't issues. Here it is. It doesn't look horrible, and it wasn't horrible on me either, but I just knew I could do better to really flatter my particular body type and shape.

So I was back to the drawing board then, looking at my pattern stash for something else to mock up. I found this McCalls pattern

which is older but I think the style on the right (shown in animal print/black) is pretty classic, when done in one color, especially one like the grayish silver dupioni silk I have in mind. More on that later. I also liked that this pattern had petite adjustments marked right on the pattern tissue, which always makes the adjustments so easy. As I guessed, this one fits perfectly with just the petite adjustments.

I also made Jim's vest muslin (no pics) and the 36 is the right size, but I'm going to sew 3/8" seam allowances on the side seams just to be sure it will button smoothly without pulling.

I also went to Vogue Fabrics, Hancock Fabrics, and JoAnn Fabrics to look for dupioni silk, and Vogue was the only one that had any kind of decent selection. However, when I went there I hadn't yet finished the B4919 muslin and I thought I would need fabric wider than 45" for the fullness of the skirt as I was making the long version as well. Vogue's silk was nice, but they only had 45" wide fabric and it was $15.99/yd in the store, not the $11.99 on their website. HF and JF had a pretty pathetic selection of dupioni silk. At JF, it was literally three bolts of sad looking silk that was fraying and pulling on the bolt! Not.good. At HF, there were only a few colors as well and they looked cheap. So I am back to waiting for my swatches to arrive that I ordered from Fabric.com, then I can order my fabric.

I started a new knitting project to wear over the dress as a cover-up: - pattern #2 from the most recent Spring/Summer 2010 Vogue Knitting - in a yarn that cost me a total of $28 instead of $120 (as I couldn't find the more expensive yarn, but I'm actually happier with the one I'm using.) I made one sleeve and the left front (shown below) and am working on the right front. I did the first sleeve as my swatch as the gauge was measured over the chart pattern and it ended up working out perfectly as I started with needles one size down (10s.) Usually I always drop one size to get gauge, and so I had guesstimated I'd need to do that here too.

Here's the left front before blocking, etc.:

I was off by about 25% on row gauge and about 10% on stitch gauge but this was what I wanted, as I didn't want a 17" (from the underarm), 43" jacket. I'm looking for something that is still oversized but shorter, and so far it's working just by adding one additional 8 row repeat to each piece.

The picture doesn't do the yarn justice - it is Filatura di Crosa Gioiello, a great suggestion from the lady at Three Bags Full (one of my new favorite yarn shops, up in Northbrook - not too far from Vogue Fabrics and I hit both of them on Saturday.) I liked the shop a lot - it had a good energy about it and was pretty busy with a lot going on and a nice selection of yarns. On top of all that, to get an actually helpful yarn substitution suggestion was amazing. She could have very easily steered me toward another $40/skein Artyarns option but didn't, as she was actually thinking of what would work best for my project instead of trying to sell the most expensive yarn she had on the shelves. I will be back!

Comments

[Jenny]

I definitely can sympathize with too much fabric at the waistline! I like 3435 though! Is it a dress or two pieces?

[Susan - Knitters Delight]

Great job on doing a muslin for your dress so you saw it wasn't working BEFORE cutting up all the fabric. Hope the fabric.com swatches work out!

[sheila]

Both dress are really pretty, but clearly understand about the extra fabric around the waist. Hope you get the fabric/color you want.

[Elizabeth]

I totally agree about the fit on you re: the first dress. I worry about those things too with my figure. Is the second dress a two piece? The bodice looks a bit less fitted than the picture on the pattern envelope. I actually like the fitted look better. But you could easily tweak that with the side seams. Ahhh, I wish I sewed when I was still in Chicago and could take advantage of my proximity to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. Sigh...

[marjorie]

Since you're looking for a particular fabric, you might see if you can get swatches from B&J fabric in NYC or Britex by mail in San Francisco. I know from experience that B&J has a great selection of luxury fabrics, and I did visit Britex on a business trip (and was blown away by the floors of fabric). Visiting Britex wasn't part of the "business", but just something I did with some free time.

It is definitely worth the time for the muslins. J Lo looks great in dress #1--ready for next year's Oscars.

[Heather]

This sounds like a wonderful undertaking, Robin - I'm excited to see the final outcome, and I love that you are completely making the outfit you'll wear to such a formal event. Wonderful!

:O)

[Andrea]

You had a majorly productive weekend. Nice job on the muslins. I love that yarn. It's going to look great with that gown.

[Carol]

I wouldn't have thought about the fabric gathering around the waist either. ah well, that's the point of muslins,eh? I am totally jealus of your lys too!

[Debby]

I love the first dress, but I think the second looks equally nice, and gives you the same mood without all of the extra fabric.

Love your new coverup -- must get a copy of the new Vogue! I usually like their spring/summer issues a lot more than fall/winter.

[yarnstylist]

Love the pattern! Hope you feel better!