Why I Love Tracing Patterns and Making Muslins.

Love?  OK, I admit it, that's pushing it.  Kind of Big Time pushing it.  It really should be more like "Why I love the results I can get by taking the extra time to trace a pattern and make a muslin."

Case in point:  Marcy Tilton's edgy & potentially wonderful jacket, Vogue 8795.  I've been wanting to make this since I first laid eyes on it, but I'm thankful I waited long enough for a few brave souls to report on how they ironed out the glitches before me!

I took note of Mary's review of her beautiful jacket, and Belinda's excellent notes, made my usual adjustments on the pattern (narrow, sloping, forward shoulders, and flaring out by a couple of sizes at waist & hips).

And ended up with a lip-curling pile of fabric confusion.  :-\  I had the sleeves on, but ripped them off in an attempt to figure out what was going on with the mess-of-a-fit, even without the sleeves (which, with no surprise, have a way-high sleeve cap and symmetrical front and back...I'd already done some adjustments on the sleeve caps but the whole pattern needs way more than that!)

It was already obvious that the shoulders are very.  very.  wide.  So I cut the shoulders and neck at a size 8, and still narrowed them, and ended up with shoulders that are STILL insanely wide!
Also, see where the right side ends at almost the center front?.  At least, the pattern SAYS that's supposed to be CF, and on the skinny boobless models on the pattern jacket it sits at CF.  Please note I have NEVER needed to do a FBA - I'm not boobless, but still.....   Maybe it only hits CF when you cinch yourself in with your closure?

Now, granted, this pattern is meant for knits, and I didn't have anything close to the rather thick, double-sided knit I plan on using.  So my muslin is from a rather threadbare flannel sheet, but I thought that I could at least get an idea of the fit before cutting into my yummy fabric.

My idea of the fit on this pattern, at this point, is that it relies HEAVILY on the stretch of the knit in order to forgive what appears to be some rather odd drafting issues.

IMHO, of course....I could be way off, but at least some other reviewers have noted issues as well.

I think I'll follow Belinda's lead and cut a seam in the back, both for shaping, and to give myself a little leeway in getting a better fit:

Here it is with the left flap closed - there just flat out ain't enough fabric there to fasten it closed!   Maybe with the knit?

At any rate, I'm back to square one, and plan on tracing a completely new pattern, playing with what I know does NOT work.   The good news is that my fashion fabric, as fabulous as it is, was only $3.99/yd at Fabrix.  The better news is that I bought the end of the bolt, but just happened to pop in to Fabrix yesterday, where I saw 2 more bolts...so even if I end up with a disastrous fit in the fashion fabric, I can call THAT a muslin and try again [big grin]

Wish me luck...hopefully I'll be back soon with better results :)

Do you have a story about a Great Save you made because you made a muslin?  Feel free to share a link; I can even add it into the post if you would like. :)