Wedding Dress Bodice Muslin

Oh look at the dress I chose! Isn't it lovely?!?

Hahahahahah, no. That skirt is a monster of ugly. I did want a princess seam, sweetheart neckline pattern, so I went to Joann on a sale day and found this one for 99 cents. Perfection. 

Then I spent about a billion hours thinking...and sketching...and looking at endless google searches for "open back lace wedding dress"...and thinking...

and this is what I decided upon. 

The bodice will have princess seams and a sweetheart neckline out of lace, lined of course. The "straps" will just be sheer lace. The lower back part will be lined lace and the upper part will be sheer lace. Mainly like the one on the right, but without cap sleeves. 

 They didn't need me as a substitute yesterday, so I was feeling peppier than usual tonight. I thought I should just bust out a muslin and see how that pattern fits. I cut out a six and with about 1/8th of an inch taken off the cups, it fits like a glove. If you went by measurements I should be an 8 or 10, but the geniuses at McCalls decided a strapless wedding dress should have four inches of ease in the bust. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen!

Note: this one is unlined, so you need to mentally subtract seam allowances from the neckline, armholes, my fake straps and upper back!

 You need to use your imagination, but picture it in white lace, with more of a dip in the center, with sheer straps...

 and a sheer upper back, perhaps in a different shape. That all depends on the contours of whatever lace I end up buying.

 The armholes will be looser too when it is lined.

So, I am making progress finally. I am going to make a version up in black lace to wear to a friend from college's wedding (evening, fancy, cocktail attire) to perfect the fit and see how it looks.

I know it looks lumpy and weird on Dolly, but she is not the exact same proportions as I am. It fits me nicely.

And on a parting note, my drying tomato plants that are "ripening on the vine" in the dining room. The landlord makes us remove all plants by Oct 20th, so this was my solution. It still had so many green tomatoes on it, I couldn't throw it away. This is only 2/3s too, I gave a bunch to the neighbors!

For scale, it's about 6 feet long.

Anyways, tell me your thoughts on the dress and if you have any suggestions for nice lace!

Vision Quest: Making my own jeans!!!

The temperature has droped here in Chicago, so I started thinking about making pants. 

T-Rex sez: "Oh my lord it's cold! Why did you bring me here!"

 These are the best fitting jeans I have ever owned. They are Citizens of Humanity "Faye" which they no longer make. They are expensive and very well made. New ones cost between 150 and 250 bucks, which is insane. I got them at a resale shop in New Orleans in 2006 for 35 bucks because they had been hemmed. LOL. I still had to hem them.

Yes, my sweatshirt says "Raisin hell in Dundee, Oregon" and has a California Raisin on it.  Thrift shop gold!

 They were originally much darker, but I still love the fit. I decided to trace them onto muslin and make a pattern. Then I went prancing off to Jo-Ann and spent 60 bucks on denim and jean-making supplies.

 After coming home and thinking about the money I spent, I paused and forced myself to make a muslin, even though I hate that. I especially hate picking it apart to use as a pattern, so I used this monstrosity of a cotton in my stash. Can you believe I thought about making a DRESS from this? Good gods!

At this point it is okay to make this face:

 
So, I'm glad I made a muslin, cause these looked like shit!!! Not only are the pockets way too big, the waist was gaping and horrible, there's some terrible under-butt wrinkles and the crotch! Even Andrew was like "that's some scary camel toe." Really, it's more like V-crotch. Still terrifying.

Somehow this didn't put me off of my project enthusiasm and I spent most of Friday busting out a pair of jeans. I'll try to finish them today and take pictures tomorrow. They are really not bad for a self-made pattern and my first time making jeans!

Oh, and feel free to mock the fit of my muslin. hahahahha!

Vogue 775 Muslin- the winter coat

Here you can see how the front is kimono sleeve, but the back is a set-in sleeve, with a dart going straight down the center.

Here is the waist shaping, since the front is one giant piece, with this little addition.
The front, which fits fine ( I was too lazy to put on a bra)
The back fits perfectly! Still has some ease, even with my arms crossed. Ignore the collar that I didn't baste down.
Doesn't the back look nice?
Use your imagination, with it pressed, in wool, it will look amazing...
Poppin my collar, lol.
So really, the only changes I made was to shorten the bodice by 1 inch and the skirt by about 3-4 inches.

My design changes will be adding 2-3 inches to make it have long sleeves, and to change the construction of the cuffs and collar. I hate when it calls for folded under seams- I know they're there! So I will cut doubles for all of that and fold the seams to the inside. Oh and make facings for the sleeves, so that I can wear the cuffs turned up or down with no visible seams!

It's going to be amazing! Sharpies and muslin- who knew how productive this could be? Now I feel confident spending a bit of money on really nice wool!

Pants Update

I finished my muslin of the pants pattern. It is absolutely atrocious. I am glad I just used bleached muslin and not real fabric. They almost look like old-fashioned jodhpurs. The waist is so high, the hips and legs are poofy, they are tight around the ankles....

I have a pair of black pants that I love, I really should just trace off a pattern and make them fit perfectly.

Fun fact: Jodhpur pants were originally made so the rulers of Jodhpur (in India) could ride comfortably while hunting or playing polo.