Muslin #1

The Pattern 

This week I started making the "muslin," which is a prototype of the dress-to-be, cut from muslin fabric,and used to perfect the fit before cutting into the fashion fabric.   As I go, I'm following an online  Couture Sewing tutorial on Craftsy.com with my teacher-to-be, the famous (well in some circles) Susan Khalje.  If you don't know it, Craftsy is a great destination for learning all kinds of DIY projects, from baking to birdhouses.   There are some wonderful sewing courses up there, some free, most others well worth the price of admission.  

What is "Couture?"  As Susan K explains in her intro, it is about design, fabric, fit and proportion, engineering, and construction.  In order to achieve the precision and control of couture, there's a lot more hand sewing involved.  It's delayed gratification.  Very zen.   You've heard of the Slow Food movement?   Well this is Slow Sewing.  Which suits me just fine.

I've been corresponding with Susan about the sizing of Zoe's dress.  The pattern I'm starting from  is Simplicity 1606, part of their Amazing Fit series, which give you pattern piece options for A,B,C or D cup size.   I'm cutting 2 different bodice muslins, and will see which fits my model better when she comes down in mid-January.

So I've cut out the under-dress from muslin, and per Susan's suggestion, the overlay, which will ultimately be from the embroidered organza, using a cheap (pink) polyester organza from Joann's.  

Thread-traced "Muslin" pieces, awaiting assembly

Susan K instructs you to cut sort of haphazardly, without much regard for the "cutting lines", around each pattern piece, leaving at least an inch seam allowance.  With her method, it's the stitching lines that are all important.  After the pieces are cut out, using a tracing wheel and waxed, carbon type paper, you carefully transfer all the markings, stitch lines, grainlines, notches, etc. to the muslin and organza pieces.   Then, using a machine basting stitch, you carefully "thread-trace" the stitching lines on the muslin pieces so they show through on both right and wrong sides of the fabric.  There are more than a dozen pieces, so that's where I'm at now.

 Last step is to machine-baste it together, and let the fittings begin!