Sunday, April 18, 2010

Playing Catchup - Part 2

Item #3 – Camisole Muslin

 Brand: Wayne by Wayne Cooper

Last weekend I spent the gift voucher a friend had given me for my birthday. I bought this red silk camisole. It is from the ‘Wayne by Wayne Cooper ‘ range in Myer. The photo is a little dodgy so I’ll talk you through it. It has a three layer flounce around the front neckline and a two layer flounce around the back. The neckline and straps are all made from a bias strip created from the same fabric. It has a bust -dart and is not cut on the bias. There is a zipper down the side which I don't actually use. It is a tad fitted around the belly (note to self: eat less chocolate and do more situps).

This weekend I drafted a pattern from the red camisole. I got a little help from Burda 2711 to get the dart in the right position. I had a lot of trouble drafting the flounce and ended up leaning very heavily on my design-minded husband to create this. Using a cheap, white cotton, I sewed a muslin to test the pattern. Rather than use a bias strip, I lined the top instead creating a facing. I also widened the straps to make the top more bra-friendly.

The verdict:
1. The flounce could be a bit flouncier. 
2. The flounce could be a bit longer.
3. The neckline is also a tad wide. I'm not sure yet if this is because I stretched it during my first attempt of sewing a bias strip to it followed by the unpicking.
4. The dart did end up in the right spot once I lengthened it.
5. It fits well through the torso. (This is lost a bit with the tucked-in look).
6. The spot where the straps attach to the bodice is a bit messy. This was quite tricky to do because of the extra material hanging around from the flounce. Might need to do some hand-sewn basting on the real thing.


I still haven't quite come to grips with a muslin being a throw-away practise. I tried to make this one as wearable as possible. I think I got away with it.

Now to try it out on a recently acquired oh-so-very-gorgeous cotton-silk fabric. Woohoo!

4 comments:

  1. I'm with you on the muslin business. I only make non-wearable muslins for jackets or really important pieces.

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  2. I think you did a great job! Is it knit fabric? Maybe cutting the flounce on the bias would make it more flouncier?? Even so, I think it looks gorgeous!

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  3. Well done - it looks very wearable to me.

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  4. Thanks Bernice for commenting on my blog and the link to the thread stitching tutorial - I had to have a go at it straight away! Too much fun!

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