The First Gertie-Coat Muslin

I’ve been working on my Gertie-Coat muslin the past few evenings but finally got around to taking photos last night.  I was only going to post them up on flickr, but thought you guys might want to see the muslins also.

So here it goes…. 

Muslin #1 was done in a regular cotton weight muslin that I generally use on my dress bodices and blouses.  It’s totally not appropriate for a coat muslin, but I like to use it anyhow for a first pass to assess the basics like dart placement, bodice length, etc.

Before I even cut out my muslin fabric, I made some alterations to the pattern piece based on taking some flat measurements.  I reduced each of the front darts by 3/4″ (total), I reduced each of the back darts by 1/2″, shortened the sleeves by 3″, graded the side seams from a size 8 to a size 12 to give around 2.5″-3″ of positive ease, and I cut the rest of the seams using the size 6 lines.

Front:

This cotton makes it quite hard to wear long sleeves (like a sweater underneath to assess fit better) so I’m just wearing a cotton t-shirt.  Issues Found: Bust darts aren’t angled towards my umm, ya know…apex, drag lines on the sleeves starting at the shoulder, rotating inwards toward my wrists.

Back:

I lifted up the collar so you could see the back in all of its wrinkliness.  Issues: Bagginess at the lower back, same drag lines seen on the front at the arms/shoulders, and drag lines at the very top (indicate a possible tightness issue at my upper back near my neck).

Shoulder Detail:

I’ve marked my actual shoulder bone with the pin, which is about 5/8 ths of an inch more forward than the pattern seam line is.  (I’d even already let out the top arm/shoulder seam by 1/2″, total.)   And then the sleeves are a bit too tight, especially without even wearing a sweater underneath.

Side View:

Lots of drag lines on the sleeves and on the bodice near the armpit.

Changes to make on the second muslin:

  • Redraw the front waist dart, angling correctly to my apex
  • Shift the shoulder seam forward, as needed
  • Cut sleeves with 1″ seam allowance

I don’t want to address the tightness of the sleeves or the draglines on the sleeves on the second muslin.  I’m secretly hoping that by pulling the shoulder seam forward, it will have an effect on the sleeves which I can then better adjust.

In: Sewing

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