That is the question.
To be completely honest; I don't think it is necessary to make a muslin. For those of you that don't know what a muslin is, it is when a mock-up of the desired garment is done to determine the correct fit. I find, for the most part, muslin a big waste of time. I say this because I mostly sew dresses, I know my measurements, and I am consistently checking my measurement with the project. If I have to make changes, I do so before even cutting my fabric, change things as I sew, and if I have to will make alterations after the fact. That being said, I find it VERY important to make a muslin when doing pants. Pants have way too many body angles for making these compensations without a pretest.
Remember the shirt dress? Well, I had leftover fabric and used the remainder for my muslin. Usually, muslin is used because it is cheap, but I use whatever I have on hand. I cut at a size 12 (or whichever size I am at that time) with the exact pattern contour, making no alterations. I also sew without any alterations to the garment. I don't try the garment on at all during this process. So, by the time I am finished the pattern is as designed. That is when I try it on to see if I like it. If I don't, I toss the garment and the pattern. If I like, I proceed with making more. If there needs to be small changes, I will alter that pattern. But only if there are MINIMAL changes. Like I did with the pleats.
Remember the shirt dress? Well, I had leftover fabric and used the remainder for my muslin. Usually, muslin is used because it is cheap, but I use whatever I have on hand. I cut at a size 12 (or whichever size I am at that time) with the exact pattern contour, making no alterations. I also sew without any alterations to the garment. I don't try the garment on at all during this process. So, by the time I am finished the pattern is as designed. That is when I try it on to see if I like it. If I don't, I toss the garment and the pattern. If I like, I proceed with making more. If there needs to be small changes, I will alter that pattern. But only if there are MINIMAL changes. Like I did with the pleats.
I didn't like how the pleats where laying. It looked a bit bulky, and more importantly felt a bit bulky. This might have been because I used jean material, I'm not sure. How I fixed this problem was top stitching the darts in place. Can you see the small arrows? Those are where I top stitched. Around the waistline and a small square over the pleat.
I also didn't add the cuff to the hem, which was called for in the pattern. I didn't think it was necessary, and the shorts are short. I took advantage of any additional length I could get. So, here is the final product.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, I don't sew in any notions when making a muslin. These shorts call for a zipper down the side. I only added the zipper after I knew I wanted to keep my "muslin" as a finished garment. Of course, I used an invisible zipper because they are my favorite kind.
While the front of the shorts had a bit of an issue, I love the fit of the back. The darts are perfect.
No comments:
Post a Comment