The Tailored Suit: Muslin 3 and A Very Cool Book

This post is about two things that interrelate. For those of you who want to hear more about the latest muslin (and how I've stayed away from bridges today), see farther down this post.

I do want to say, right off, that all of your feedback has been incredibly helpful - the advice, the commiseration - it really makes a huge difference. So thank you all.

But let's start with some truly fabulous eye-candy:

This is my new book, Singer Fashion Tailoring, written in hipster-days of 1973 - when all of the coolest titles were written without capital letters.

Back-page advertising wasn't lost on them in the day!

And they knew you were sewing with fur - and leather (each of which has its own chapter).

I mean, there's a whole chapter on aligning your (brown) plaids:

And tons of great tailoring advice (that's almost starting to look familiar):

See this excellent section on fabrics - which includes all kinds of fabrics I've never actually heard of?!

"The muslin" does not get short shrift in this book:


And, finally: apparently, body-typing methodology is timeless...


This book has actually provided me with my next step in the seemingly endless muslin process for the Starlet Suit Jacket.

(Note: I do intend to document the following with photos or more instruction - but only if it works...)

I mashed up the princess seam FBA method from Singer Fashion Tailoring (above) with this one from A Perfect Fit (generously provided by Taran):


I've decided to call it the Targeted Bust Adjustment (TBA).

In short, I added 5/8" at each side front piece (at the apex of the bust tapering to nothing at about 5 inches down and up from that point). Note: You don't want to alter the waist or shoulder / armpit curves so taper before you get to either of those spots. The Singer book cautions against doing this for alterations of more than 2 inches. I lived on the edge and added an extra half an inch (ish). A Perfect Fit suggests that you alter the front piece length too. But something tells me, since I'm not adding a lot of extra width, I can ease the length in. If not, I can always fix it on the next draft.

The interesting thing about this is that I used the FBA-altered front and side front pieces from muslin 2 (I'm running out of practice fabric, people!) to cut out these new TBA pieces. Natch, the new, muslin 3 pieces fit within those from muslin 2 because they are smaller everywhere but in the full bust - where they are exactly the same size. Furthermore, I got a fabulous sense of EXACTLY how the FBA'ed pieces differ from the TBA'ed pieces in cutting muslin 3 out of muslin 2.

The side front pieces are fairly similar - there's a bit of difference in the armscye and in overall width. It's in the front pieces that things seemed to be going in two very different directions.

On the front piece, the TBA is much narrower all around (except at the apex of the full bust point). The shoulder top is a good inch narrower (like the original size 6).

Look, I have no idea of whether muslin 3 is going to work and, frankly, tonight I'm too afraid to put it all together to see.

What I can say is that, if this doesn't fly, my next plan of attack is to cut the 8 and see how that fits.

So, what do you think? Have you ever done this alteration? Do you own the Singer Fashion Tailoring book? Let's talk.

The Tailored Suit: The Successful FBA is an Urban Myth

OK peeps, I'm at the point that I'm willing to say this: FBAs don't work on me. True confession: Every FBA I've ever done has either yielded a wadder or I've had to rework it in some other way to make the garment fit.

Don't sigh with amusement and assume I'm doing them wrong. I follow EVERY FUCKING STEP TO THE FUCKING LETTER OF THE LAW and they always fail. That is to say, no matter how restrained I am in the amount (never more than 2.5 inches) the finished product is always a freakin' tent. I am not an incompetent alterer. Most things I try work well to very well because I follow all of the steps - just as I always do with an FBA.

Admittedly, this is the first time I've done a princess seam FBA (as opposed to a regular darted bodice one). I was tame. I added 2.5" overall. 20/8 inch spread over 2 sides. 5/8 inch over front (x 2) and 5/8 inch over side front (x 2).

But this time the end result was far worse than it's ever been:

• The bust was significantly lowered.
• The front shoulder seam got an inch wider than the back shoulder seam (even though I was very careful not to alter that line at all).
• The waist disappeared.
• The princess seam definition was obliterated.
  
• Have no idea of what's up with the armscyes - but I'm afraid to even try inserting the original sleeve at this point.

I'm not taking photos - it's too demoralizing. Think of a tent. Then think of what it would look like on me. That's where I'm at.

So here are my options:

• Throw myself off a bridge.

• Throw this pattern and all of the muslins off a bridge.

• Reprint the pattern and cut a size 8. I have a feeling that will give me the ease I need without too much size increase in all of the other places. (Gotta be better than the FBA version.)

• Do what an awesome 1973 tailoring book I just bought (stay tuned for post) recommends if you are trying to add 2 inches or less on a princess seam bodice: add to the full bust on the side front (tapering at the waist and shoulder) and likewise to the side seam of front piece.

• Add 5/8 inch to the side seams (where the side front and side back meet) - for a total increase of 20/8 inch. I mean, it's not like my sleeves are fitting in particularly well at this point. And I could even taper slightly under the arm so as not to add too much width to the armscye.
  

Which of these options would you choose? Note: If you think they're all going to fail, feel free to be blunt.

I suspect the safest option is to just start again with the size 8. (Tree killers of the world unite.)

Mind you, wouldn't it be interesting to try the tailoring book instructions? I sense that it's just what I need - a bit more room for the boobs but not a lot more room everywhere else.

At this point, I am so confused I'm really leaning towards bullet 1, with bullet 2 thrown in for good measure.

So, here are tonight's questions: Does anyone else out there have an FBA-resistant body? What do you do - in lieu of an FBA - to make your clothes fit beautifully? I suppose I should consider the fact that I may, actually, be messing up every FBA - but I really don't think so. If you are convinced that's my problem - can you explain how?

Oh please, fabulous sewing community, pull out the big guns with your advice. xo

Updated: The Tailored Suit: The Irritation Continues

Nothing new to report except that I now realize I'm going to have to FBA not only the front and side front pieces of the main jacket, but also the facing, interfacing and lining. Suddenly I want to outsource this part of the project.

Furthermore, a princess seam FBA increases the width of the waist as well as increasing the bust area, so I don't know whether I'll need to take fabric out of the waist once I do the FBA.

Add the whole sleeve dilemma to the equation and it's quite a production.

All this is to say, I'm unquestionably going to need to make another muslin before I cut the fashion fabric. Hmmm... Glad I started 2 weeks early or I'd be really behind schedule right now.

Update: OMG - what a PRODUCTION. I've spent 2 hours and just finished (what I think is a correct) FBA. You really need to check out Patty's genius tutorial on this method (for shoulder princess seams), just for a sense of what I've been through. I actually had my computer on my ironing board and I followed along word for freakin' word. Once I've got this sorted - oh, please Sewing Goddess - I will write a post outlining some other useful resources. Now off to cut another muslin.

Updated: The Tailored Suit: This Pattern Is Irritating the Crap Out of Me Right Now

I'm having a really rough go with this suit jacket muslin and sizing of most of the paper pattern pieces.

This afternoon I realized that, originally, I cut most of the pattern piece armholes incorrectly (an extension of what I discuss in the bottom portion of this post?). In a bizarrely consistent manner, on the armscye curves, I cut all of the wrong-size, mini-dotted lines (like lots of periods strung together). On the main pieces, in general, I cut the correct line for a size 6 (a similar - but different - 3 mini-dots and a dash). I don't know what on earth my brain was thinking but it was thinking in a purposeful, if crazy, way.

I'm still reviewing all of the pieces and trying to figure out which fucking tile goes with which spot on which piece so that I can print out new pieces, as necessary. At this point, I've probably cut the pattern twice in bits and pieces. This pdf pattern-idea, where you print, tape and cut 8.5 x 11 paper is extremely irritating. If only the pieces had page numbers on them, at least I would know which one to cut again. Working piecemeal, and using reference numbers that correlate with partial pattern pieces over multiple pieces of paper, is beyond horrible.

I suppose I should feel fortunate that the need to recut and tape parts of most of the pattern pieces isn't germane to the muslin (see below) cuz I fixed sizing of those pieces last week and put them together over the past few days. The finished product is WHACK as far as sleeve insertion goes. I do think that the easing method Gertie uses in her course (it involves a 1x12 inch piece of self fabric cut on the bias) will help with this. What will also help is either a) lowering the side front piece on each side slightly (.25") and / or b) reshaping the front armscye curve by cutting it down about .5". Option a) will mean that the marking lines no longer align and option b) seems weird - given that I've recut the relevant armscye curves so I know I'm working with the pattern-specified angles. I've decided to stop caring.

I don't seem to be able to fix this by getting the pattern to conform - and, trust me, I've worked constantly over hours and hours. I don't know why, despite following all the rules to a T, I've got a good inch of extra fabric between the top of the sleeve cap to the tip of the front piece. When I made this muslin I eased the sleeves using two rows of basting stitches. It wasn't optimal. I also - in willy nilly ways, did a mishmash of options a) and b) above. It taught me some things, but the muslin shoulder area is a bit of a wreck.

All of this is a preamble to some photos.

Here you can see the first muslin, with weird sleeves - but I haven't trimmed the armhole seam allowances and the pattern, per usual, is too long for my torso:



See the puffball of fabric above the waist in the shots above?

So I pinned out an inch of fabric above the waist, but below the armholes, on all of the pieces. Note: The photo below shows this done in an ad hoc manner. After I looked at these pics, I went back and repinned to ensure that the shortening was even from the bottom of the jacket. The pinning on the front of the jacket moved down so that is in line with the pin height at the back.




Now I'm trying to figure out whether or not I need to do an FBA. The front pieces close at least 2 inches over one another, but there is slightly less room as the jacket moves towards the lapels (right where the boobs are). Of course, this fabric has less than no give. My fashion fabric does have a tiny bit of width stretch. Tomorrow, I intend to release the princess seams at the bust to see what happens. If, when the seams are cut, the jacket seems to hang better, I will consider the FBA necessary and will make the alteration in the required size.

One other thing: This has no shoulder pads and I don't think I'm going to use them. I may use sleeve heads, if the bias strip and seam allowances at the shoulder don't give the garment enough shoulder structure, but I'm not looking for height in the shoulders - just definition. When I put the shoulder pads into the shoulder area, this jacket starts to look clown like on my frame, which natch, is not appealing.

Of course, I'm looking for all of your feedback. Thoughts or feelings about the fit here? Try not to focus too much on the sleeve insertion. It's a dog's breakfast. Of course, if you have some theories about why the front sleeve is too long for the armholes, I'm glad to hear about it.

Update at a ridiculously late hour: I couldn't leave it be so I've made the following adjustments (or partial adjustments) since writing this:

• Lengthened the bottoms of each piece by 5/8" except the front pieces which I lengthened by an inch (tapering to nothing at the centre front sides so as not to impinge on the width of the final pieces. I did this cuz, once I turn up the hems, I'm concerned the jacket will be too short - having removed an inch of length above the waist. Pretty funny alteration, no? Taking out length in one spot only to add it back in another. This way, though, I'm removing the bulk where I'm short.

• Opened the princess seams at the full bust - I need an FBA of 2.5 inches (1.25" on each side). Now I've gotta figure out how to do the princess seam FBA. Fortunately there are some great tutorials out there - and I've got Fit For Real People and I've got the Palmer Pletch DVD on fitting for a full bust. I think I should be able to get it done.

• Removed the sleeves and now I see how well the bodice fits without them. Fortunately Sunni has provided this great link on the subject of altering a sleeve cap to fit the armhole from Casey's blog. I do remember reading this and, somewhere in my mind, I have remembered it. I intend to review the sleeve cap against the bodice pieces at the armhole to ensure the length and shape align.
  

Running Away

I have a lot of goals today. Goals that are competing with my headache and cramps and making me feel like curling up in a ball. Then there's the fact that my kid threatened to run away from home yesterday, because she's grounded and I wouldn't let her go to an after-school event. I do realize that, when your kid texts you at work to tell you she's running away - and she's actually at home having followed your initial edict not to stay at an event - chances are it's a bluff. But we'd had such a nice time on Thursday - a whole 12 hours of mummy-baby happiness. I don't know how to manage my anger and disappointment. Part of me realizes she's a hormonal mess without the life-skills to manage. But what about consequence?

It's her 12th birthday on Monday and I've spent all week searching out and buying her great new things she'll love (not cheap, natch), planning the cake she asked me to make with special icing, planning a shopping trip and dinner at a very nice restaurant and a trip to the movies. Furthermore, we went out for dinner on Thursday and had a great time, got ice cream, came home and did a spa. (Her hair, when occasionally clean, is the silky, thick, fluffy stuff of a shampoo commercial.) We had all kinds of real conversation. It was like a made-for-tv movie.

As the adult in this equation, I don't appreciate her behaviour. But as a human being who just keeps trying and trying and trying - who's been dealing with the tedium and challenge of parenting this child at all the stages of development - I'm tired, disappointed and my feelings are hurt.

That's all I've got, right now.

Cool Thing I Got On Etsy...

Yes, I am a bit obsessed with Etsy. I have actually spent mindless hours surfing random boutiques, endlessly amazed by the offerings. I love supporting small business and artisans. And you know I love shopping.

Here's my latest, utterly cool (and even relevant) purchase:

Purchased here

People, it was published in 1956 by the Clothing and Housing Research Branch of the freakin' US Department of Agriculture?! How bizarre and excellent is that. And it's in utterly mint condition - for $4.00 plus shipping. It's like no one ever opened this thing.

Also, the instruction is, on the one hand, entirely similar to what you will learn if you do the Starlet Suit Jacket course and, on the other hand, totally old school. They twill taped the arm holes back then. And apparently, crepe was "not appropriate" for suiting because it's too thin and drapey :-) Hand worked buttonholes (not bound, like actual buttonholes your machine would make) were all the thing.

They teach you how to make your own tailor's ham, collar press pad and sleeve press pad cuz, duh, who buys those things??

I can't tell you how much I love this quirky little booklet.

Has anyone else seen this? Do you have fun vintage tailoring books or booklets you can tell about? I have actually bought a couple of others from another vendor that haven't yet arrived but I'll be posting on them when I get them.

Today's Really Freakin' Good News...

Today, my friends, the world is looking very glass-half-full.

For starters, remember this?

Well, it arrived and I think it's terrific!

Smug Krissie

Happy Krissie

Thoughtful Krissie

Cute-bum Krissie

(I would like you to know that we took these pics after 5 pm, and I'm wilted from the day. My daughter would like you to know that she took these photos of me and the only problem she had was that my face kept looking prettier - said she - than the dress. Note: When you're tween is being lovey, a VERY occasional activity, you have to really be grateful...)

In truth, this bodice is longer than mine, but it's a great dress people, with beautiful workmanship. Run, don't walk, and get yourself a Lady Danburry original.

OK, awesome news part 2? Well, vis a vis muslin 1 of the tailored suit jacket, I do think I cut the wrong size. To wit:

See all the lines on the (left-side) curve of the LEFT side piece above? See how many more of them there are than on the curve of the right-side piece? I think that's cuz I mistakenly chopped 3 sizes off the front side and back side pieces of this pattern when cutting for muslin 1.

The back side pieces are below - in this case the right one is "correct" (I think), left side is the one I used to make muslin 1.

Keep in mind that I've badly hacked into the armsyce curves of the muslin 1 pieces. They do not resemble the original (presumed-too small) pattern pieces - so please don't get confused by that. Also, note (intriguingly) that my hack job vaguely mimics, at least in length, the unaltered second versions (the "correct" size)...

I don't know that I can blame Craftsy - though, trust me, I'd like to. I think I just got totally confused, though I'm going to review both pieces carefully again in the next few days to ensure it's not a problem with the pieces. If it is, I don't want this frustration to befall anyone else.

This would explain why:

• The sleeve head wouldn't fit into the original bodice pieces - 2 of the 4 were 3 sizes to small?!
• The armsyce was too small.
• The princess seams were exceedingly justified to either side of my breasts (rather than lying close to the apex.
• I couldn't raise my arms forward without the seams pulling.

In fact, if this is the problem, with the new pieces, I will add quite a bit of width to this pattern. Probably enough to make it the right size. Theoretically enough to obviate the need for an FBA.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Yes?

Instead, let's enjoy the moment.