Bebe Dress Sew-a-long Part 3 Make the muslin

***7/6/12  This post is unfinished- it is missing some photos but I wanted to get it up quick so that Kristi has photos while she is working on her muslin 

:) 

Today I sewed up my muslin for The Bebe dress and I am so excited! It looks great! This pattern is beautifully drafted and easy to alter. I am going to show the process I used today to  fit this pattern to me. If you have any questions or problems- comment and I  help you!

 I transfered the dart markings from the pattern-  to the muslin using good old fashioned carbon paper and a tracing wheel .     The carbon ink is permanent so only do this on muslin!  I like to use carbon paper on muslins as the lines are bright and clear to see.   And it is  dark enough for you to see in photographs. On the real version I will use either dressmakers carbon paper or a disappearing fabric pen. I do not care for the wax free dressmakers tracing paper, the kind that is chalk. It is just  a personal preference. 

Ok! let's get crackin'!! :) 

Snip a tiny snip at the edge of the darts- do this to each dart leg. This makes it easier to line up the dart legs.  be sure it is tiny! The seam allowance on this dress is 1/2- DO NOT GO PAST THAT.   We just want a tiny snip to see where the legs are when folding them together. 

The pattern instructs us to fold the darts right through the dart point.  I then finger creased the fold.  Finger creasing is using - yep! your fingers to put in a crease or mark . I got everything lined up and smushed down on the fabric with my fingers. An iron could  put a permanent crease here and we just want the crease to hold long enough for us to make sure the darts are perfectly lined up. 

I lined up the dart legs while making sure the crease went right through the dart point. This took a couple of minutes so don't worry if it takes  a couple of tries to get it right on the point. 

I put a pin in the the dart point first and work out from there. The pin at the dart point makes sure that when you sew, the dart  doesn't move. Pin the dart in place, checking to make sure the dart legs are matched up.  You can also stick  a pin though one side of the dart leg and look at the other side to make sure both legs are exactly lined up. 

Put a pin in the dart point to ensure accuracy  on your dart.

Set your machine on  the longest straight stitch you have- a basting stitch. We are going to baste the muslin together.   This allows us to just pull thread out super fast  if we need to make changes.  Thread up your machine with a dark or bright  colored thread.  This allows us to easily  see stitching lines when trying it on.  

  Sew from the raw edge of the dart to the point , SLOWLY.  At the tip of the dart point sew off the edge one or two stitches. Lift up your presser foot and pull the fabric away form the machine and clip the threads, leaving long tails. Tie these threads together with two knots. Do not trim the threads - leave the threads long in case you need to pull them out to change the dart. 

Do this to all four darts. Press. Press the side darts downward and the smaller under bust darts towards the center. 

The pattern instructs us to trim the  side bust darts down to 3/8. We will not do this on the muslin as we are doing this for fit, not to wear, and if we trim it, we cannot make adjustments. 

All of the darts have been sewn and it is ready for pressing. 

FIT AS YOU SEW.

Try on the bodice at each stage when construction it. 

You can tell a lot at this stage by just holding the bodice up to you and looking.  A great way to do it is wear a form fitting t-shirt and pin the muslin front to the t-shirt. That way your hands are free to mark and pin. 

  I discovered that on me the under bust darts extended too far up. Not by too much, but enough that it made my  girls look kinda funny shaped.  I measured using my seam gauge and the dart was @ 1 inch too high.  The side bust darts were just fine.

The bodice front  is  pinned to my shirt
so I can look at it on me.
The flash went off for some reason. Sorry :) 

I removed the stitching in the under bust darts,  measured down one inch and made a dot. I drew a straight line from the dot to the dart legs original position. Then I  re-stitched the dart, still using a basting stitch. 

After the darts are all done  and pressed,  stitch  front  bodice to the back bodice pieces. 

I put in a zipper for fitting. It is just to hold the dress together as it will be in the final version so I can get a good look at the fit. It is basted in, I can rip it our and reuse it on something else. 

By putting a zipper, in it tightens the bodice around me and I get a very good look at how it is fitting. if you leave the muslin loose,  you aren't getting an accurate fit. 

XX pic of zipper XXX

Now under bust darts have been adjusted and look much better.

The side bust darts are a touch poufy at the tip. On the real version I will solve this by either tapering the dart farther away from the tip or by sewing the dart on a curve.   I will photograph this so you can see ot/ 

Everything fit nice but there was an extra bit of fabric just under the arm. I measured 1/2 inch in from the top edge of the side seam , and drew a line angling down to the original seam allowance at the bottom of the side seam  and then sewed on this line. This took out the floppy bit at the top edge.

XXXX picture of side seamXXXX

I tried it  on one more time (fit as you sew! fit as you sew!)  and it felt wonderful. Nice fit, nice dart placement, I'm happy!

To get an even  better idea of how the  dress will look when finished, I folded down the seam allowance  on the neckline and one arm to see exactly where the seams would sit on my body.  

Using a medium length stitch (2.5-3.5) stitch away from the raw edge of the neckline and armscyes  on the seam line. This pattern has a seam allowance of 1/2 inch. ( Most commercial patterns are 5/8 inch  so be sure  to look and use what each  pattern calls for)

Make tiny snips up to the stitching line. I did it every inch or so. 

then press the seam allowance to the inside.

 It will look like this.

 Then try it on.  Now I know exactly where the neckline will fall.  The neckline on this dress is perfection, not too low-cut but not nun-like either.
     By folding in the armscye seam allowance, I could see where the seam would actually be. On the left side of the picture ( my right arm)  you can see how the fabric is flat around  the arm, just like it should be. On the right side of the picture, there is some gathering just under my arm. This is taken care of when the seam allowance is removed, as it will be when the dress is sewn together.

 While I was working on this, I took notes or each alteration I made.  I usually use a piece of paper taped up onto the wall so that as I stand in front of the mirror, I can easily write it down.

WRITE DOWN EACH THING YOU DO, even if you think you will remember it , because it is easy to forget what you have done.

My crazy cracker handwriting says:

•  lower the under bust dart by 1 inch
• take in side seam 1/2 inch angled from top of seam to bottom
• add 1/2 inch more to bottom of bodice - total 11/2 inch. 
• stitch a curved dart seam  on the side darts  to reduce puffiness in the dart tip. 

Ok!!! Muslin made, next  we will talk about fabric choices!!!

Bebe Dress Sew-a-long Part 2 Determining size

In this post I am going to talk about determining what size to cut the pattern out. When first starting out, it can be a bit tricky  reading size charts, choosing a size and then making any alterations to the pattern. 


Here is the size chart for the Bebe Dress.


Size Chart

	XXS	XS	S	M	L	XL	XXL
Bust	32	34	36	38	40	42	44
Waist	24	26	28	30	32	34	36
Hip	34	36	38	40	42	44	46

The instructions state that the bust measurement is the most critical  to choosing fit for this pattern .  As this dress is loose around the hips and tummy, we really only need to look at the bust measurement.

   Step 1
 Measure. 
 We need to take two measurements : An actual  bust and over bust.

Actual bust- measure at the fullest part of your bust.

image from Sew La Blog 

Over bust- measure above the bust just under your armpits.

image from Sew La Blog 

 If there is a difference of 2 inches or less  between those two measurements you can use the pattern as it is  without altering. Just   look on the chart and use your actual bust size.



If there is a difference of 3 inches or more, you will need to make a full bust adjustment.  A full bust adjustment alters the pattern to provide more room just where it is needed: in the bust. This way the shoulders and neckline fit  and are not too big. Most patterns are drafted for a B cup.  This dress is drafted for a C cup.  If you are larger than a C cup   do a full bust adjustment.


In the Bebe Pattern  booklet, Kay Whit recommends looking at the Full Bust adjustment  on Sew LAs Website... here is the link:     Sew La Bog Full Bust Adjustment  I am not going to do one here as  the one on the link is just fantastic and I really don't think I could explain it any clearer :)


My measurements are 38 over bust and 42 bust.   That is a difference of 4 inches. Yes,  I need to do an FBA.

  When looking at the pattern, if I go by my overbust measurement of 38, I would need to cut out a medium. I have pretty broad shoulders and would like for this dress to be a tad loose for summer, so I am going to cut out a large and do a full bust adjustment of two inches.  The large is 40 inches, my  bust measurement is 42.

If I were to cut out the XL, which is a bust 42, yes it would fit around my ample  bosom.  But it would be too big  in the neckline, the sleeves, everywhere.  The rest of my body is a medium/large.  My front is just super-duper extra large :)

 I photocopied the bodice top because it makes it easier for you to see exactly what I have done to the pattern piece.   I find that photocopying works very well for pattern altering, especially bodices as  tracing can be a bit inexact.  (This also works in cases of laziness when you don't feel like tracing it. )

Once you have made the changes to your pattern, hold it up to you in front of a mirror and really look - is it long enough?  Does it look right?  You can get a lot of information about what the pattern needs to fit you, just by holding it up to yourself and looking.  Remember to factor in seam allowance,  which on the Bebe dress is 1/2.   I  am extending the bodice down one inch as when I pinned the pattern to me, it fell about an inch short. By adding on an inch, it makes sure that the bodice sits just under my bust, at the bra line.

 This is the bodice with a full bust adjustment.  I drew a line one inch down from the bottom edge to add an inch.  

Here is the back bodice piece and front bodice piece, ready to go to sew up!

Next post: Sewing the muslin!

The Bebe Dress Sew-a-long Part.1

  I love Sew Serendipity! I have both of her books and I love them.  She has hinted that there is a third coming out and I  can't wait. She hasn't said what it is about yet and that is just mean & evil. Why tease people? :)   Come on, I'm gonna buy  it- just tell me what is in it!

        I love  her patterns for many reasons but mostly because they make sense. They are clearly written and  well drafted. The designs are all  wearable. I have made a couple of skirts from the first book  and I wear them constantly.  I also love that she mostly uses quilting cottons.

Recently she released a couple of dress patterns and I went nuts over the Bebe dress. Hello! Isn't this the cutest thing ever?   Comfy and flattering and looks darn easy. Sign me up!

I ordered two copies . One for me and a copy for Kristi. Kirsti is my student who moved away. I really miss her. We listened to Lily Allen and talked about Battlestar Galactica  in lesson and had a splendid time. Then she up and moved and left me on Wednesday mornings to sew on my own.  ( EH!!! STOP MOVING PEOPLE! ) . She loves the inverted pleat version. Which is totally cute!   Oh and she ordered the boots in the above photo to go with  her dress when she finishes it! Awesome!

Kristi and I cooked up a plan (without alcohol even- she was a morning lesson girl) to sew it together- her in Washington and me here in Virginia and blog about it.  I can do a post and she can follow along and post as well.  Kristi is still new to the sewing thang and  so this will be her first project completely on her own. Completely on her own with me on  call by phone, email, Skype and text! Yea baby!
At the end  of this adventure you can see both of our dresses! Fun? We think so!!  You can sew a long with us or just read and learn. I hope to put lots of tips that I have learned in my 20+ years of stitching. And learn from Kristi too!

My plan is this- to weekly  take photos of the muslin process, the fabric choosing process, the sewing process and the wearing it out in public process!

Are you ready! Let's sew!




First step:
 Open the pattern! 

This pattern comes with the pattern tissue, an instruction sheet and a full color glossy  cover with lots of pictures.

Read the pattern!!!


       Read through it. Seriously  folks. Read the dang blasted pattern.  More than once. See what you are getting into.  Determine which version you are going to make.  This dress has a lot of variations  and has the possibility of getting a bit confusing  as to which directions to follow. So read it, become one with the pattern.  Lightly circle  in pencil the parts  that pertain to you and the dress you want to make. This really helps to eliminate the instructions that you don't need for your dress.
       Draw  the dress out like you want it.  It does not have to look like a John Singer Sargeant drawing - it can look like a toddler drew it- it's fine! Don't worry if you can't draw for diddly. Neither can I. In fact, to prove it- here is my initial drawing for this dress:

Determine which pattern pieces you will need.  Short or longer sleeves or no sleeves, which length,  which hem , etc. Cut out the pattern pieces that you will need. Cut out on the largest size. That way we can use the pattern later or change sizes later or use two sizes. 

For this pattern I am making the short  gathered skirt  with the short sleeves. 

( I am typing with a band- aid on  my right pointer finger which is my main typing finger and it is driving me crazy! I ripped  a pin through the skin yesterday - on the job injury. It really stings!  Can I file workman's comp on myself....? )  

I cut out the pattern with my rotary cutter and mat. Using the rotary cutter makes it super fast!!

 Once you have them all cut out,  fold them up nicely with the  PATTERN PIECE INFO FACING OUT.  So you can see it quickly. This makes life sooooo much easier! If you get in this habit now,  it will make going back into pattern envelopes  to find one specific piece easy peasy . Otherwise when you need to get a  piece  of the pattern out because oh, let's say you forgot to mark the notches, you don't have to open every single pattern piece to find it.

After I have cut everything out, I fold them with the info facing out  and then I put them into a large ziplock bag.  

Second step:

Photocopy the small pieces. 

I like to photocopy the small pieces like  facings,  collars, sleeves in baby items, pockets,etc. Anything small.  This makes them : 1. easier to deal with and   2.  harder to lose

I photocopied the facings on this pattern. 

That's all for today :) 

Next post: choosing your size!