Three Muslins Later

I have a wearable Remy top. What a bizarre journey. I began the second iteration by lengthening both front and back by 2". I redrew the bottom curve of the front to make it a bit longer than the back. I did not alter the bust area or do a full bust adjustment. The pattern advises that if you are a C or D cup, you should choose your size based on the high bust measurement (which I did) and do a full bust adjustment, but after I made that first muslin and tried it on, I didn’t think I needed an FBA other than perhaps to address the front length issue.

I ran up a muslin and tried it on. The length was better, but I was getting these weird drag lines. They looked like this:

(I was too focused to stop and take photos so you get my amateur sketches today.) What does that tell me? I got out my fitting books, and after looking at photos and sketches, I determined that there was too much fabric in the front somewhere. It was falling down and causing those drag lines.

You’re probably thinking, “Duh, Janet, you added length to the front pattern piece.” No, that wasn’t the problem. I tried on the black-and-white version I made on Monday—with the front that is too short—and it had the exact same drag lines. They were less noticeable in the printed fabric but they were there.

I took the pincushion into the bathroom with me. I started pinching and pinning. In order to get those drag lines to disappear, I had to tuck fabric from the upper front into the raglan seamline. I tucked fabric from my armpit to about halfway up the seamline. And then it dawned on me that I’ve run into this issue before with raglans. The raglan seams feel too long and I end up with a bunch of fabric under my armpits. I don’t have a name for this alteration; most fitting books are skimpy on raglan fitting solutions, anyway, and I didn’t see this exact fix anywhere.

[I’ve also got a base of knowledge in my head from years as a knitting designer. Sometimes that knowledge is helpful. Sometimes it gets in the way.]

And because I didn’t have a name for this adjustment—or a photo showing me how to alter the pattern piece—I took a Sharpie marker and redrew a new raglan seamline on the front of the muslin. I took out the pins, cut the upper bodice on the Sharpie line, and figured out from there what changes I needed to make to the pattern pieces (both sleeve and body). It wasn’t elegant and I was flying by the seat of my pants, but I didn’t know how else to do it. Basically, I took width out of of the front above my bust and shortened the raglan seamlines.

I ran up another muslin using my altered pattern pieces—thank goodness I had a queen-size linen sheet—and put it on. I wanted to jump up and down and yell because the drag lines were gone! The front hung perfectly.

[I didn’t make any adjustments to the back pattern piece or sleeve. I don’t know if I need to or not. I’d have to find someone to look at the back while I am wearing the garment to see what issues it might have.]

Would a full bust adjustment on the original pattern pieces have fixed this issue? Maybe, but I think perhaps this was a different issue. I am tempted to make a FBA on my altered pattern pieces just for fun, but I need to keep moving on some other projects. I made a final version from this lightweight cotton (I still have to finish the neckline):

It’s boxy and oversized, which is the intent of the design, but I like the way it fits now. The front hangs beautifully. That longer curve at the front bottom provides just enough extra length.

Part of me enjoys this self-directed study—on those days when I manage to figure out how to fix things—but part of me wishes I had some help. I need to look at my schedule and see when I can go back to Tacoma and spend a day with Ryliss at the Sewing and Design School. I have so many questions.

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A back door cold front came down from Canada last night. That is an unusual weather system for July. Usually, we get those in the fall, winter, and spring. They are accompanied by very strong wind gusts. We lost another 4-5 trees and the power was out for about four hours. I’ll post pics tomorrow.