Coat Muslin

Well, I've pretty well finished the coat muslin on The Great Coat Sew-Along. I haven't heard from Marji on her opinion of it since I got the sleeves in and the collar on. We had thought it might be too big in the back, and I tried narrowing it a bit. It was not good that way. I think the cashmere is going to hang differently enough from the muslin that the center back won't fold as it is now. I think it will look rather luxurious and nicely full. I hope so anyway. Pearle had a good point as well, which was that since this was going to be kind of a special coat, I may want to wear it for a long time, and I may gain a pound or two at some time in the future. Heaven forbid, but I would not be terribly surprised. Even if I stay the size I am now, I like the way it feels and looks. Here are the photos of the finished muslin. Now if Marji comes up with something, I'm going to try it, but for now, I'm pretty well set on this, with possible adjustment of the off-grain center front. It's swinging a little far to the side in the muslin, but you can't tell what will happen in the actual fabric, which is thicker and heavier. And as Roberta Carr says, you can always cut it off and you're right back where you started, no harm, no foul.


More Muslin Photos

These are taken with only a blouse underneath. You can see it with a suit jacket underneath, without sleeves at the Link above. The other photos with sleeves are with the back narrowed, which I don't like.

My fabric is on its way, and when it comes I'm going to work on deciding what underlining and lining, etc. I will use. I don't think I have any silk that I'll want to use for the lining, but I want to see how a few prints I have look with the cashmere. I'm not sure I have enough of any of them either, but I can see.

Skirt Muslin

 

I wasn't going to post a photo of a "muslin", but it turned out that I really like this skirt. Since it was just a muslin, I didn't add a hem allowance to it, and this has a serged edge that's turned up once and edgestitched, so I only lost perhaps 1/4" - 3/8" in the hemming. I like this length, just at the bottom of the knee. I think skirt length is much more critical if you're going to wear flats than it is with heels.

It's my usual straight skirt pattern (Burda 8566) to which I added some flare. I tried to get a photo of the front, but for some reason they all turned out really dark. Must be some karmic thing..... Anyway, you get 2 side shots instead. It's going to be a casual skirt that I can wear around the house and still look decent if I have to run out to the grocery store or somewhere. I finished the "real" version last night, and it has quite a different look because the fabric has much more body than this, and it stands out more. I'm working on the top now.