The Tale of Two Toiles

Let’s start out with the question…. do you make muslins or toilles? Yes? No? I used to not do them and tend to fit as I go. But there are times when you really have to make sure you are happy with the fit and as I have been putting a little bit more $$$ on my fabric I have been trying to focus a little bit more on making muslins and sure enough I’m glad I am spending the time on them. Not all patterns are well drafted, not all patterns fit as intended and not all patterns end up looking the way we envision them to look on ourselves. I’m no different.

Last week I worked on a muslin for the Fira Dress by Liesel and Co. The pattern cover is lovely but I noticed how another maker on Instagram had a heck of a time achieving the look she wanted whilst making it. It all looked well in the front but the back had a huge sway back adjustment to be made. I know this pattern was also tested and most testers were rather happy with the outcome, but this is not the first time I have seen people have to do adjustments to the sway back on this pattern which seemed rather odd but ok. I’m glad I made a muslin because sure enough…. I had the same issues that others did. Upon seeing the overall dress on me, I must say that I didn’t care for the style and I chucked it. I also looked at adjustments on the Fira dress and I believe someone wrote a blog post on the designer’s website about making adjustments to the pattern, and that sway back adjustment is there. I wonder if this came up when the pattern was being tested.

If you are curious I would have had to lower the bust dart 1”, raise the armhole as you could see my bra, lower the V neck (it’s way too modest for me), do a sway back adjustment… in the end I didn’t think it was worth the time it would take to make it, let alone cut into my nice sage green linen. So I’m saving my linen and thinking of another project to work on. For now, if I do make this pattern at a later time, I’m going to stick with the top vs. the dress.

I also worked on M8325 over the weekend. I told myself its a Learn to Sew pattern, so it should be a slam dunk. It is an easy pattern but it is time consuming. So I had some linen and decided to make a muslin because the ease on the bust was large, super large for this pattern. I realize its a Learn to Sew pattern so they perhaps put tons of ease so the maker doesn’t get discouraged trying to fit the pattern.

I’m going to cut to the chase and tell you right now, if you make this pattern, pick some very light fabric with some drape (as in Challis and light as a feather Swiss dot)… and while you are at it, stick with view A… and size down. In my case 2 sizes down! The pattern would have had me using XXL based on my bust measurements, I used Large and it was still way too big. For a pattern like this you want to make sure that your shoulders fit. I reached out to the designer thru Instagram and she was kind enough to answer my questions hence why I went down a few sizes.

After working on this pattern and making a muslin… I have so many questions for McCall’s about this pattern. First of all, did they test the pattern in the larger size range? What I mean by that is when a pattern is made, it’s usually drafted for size 8 and then graded from there to other sizes.

Did someone test the sleeves on this pattern (they are enormous by the way)… on the Size Large the bicep measurement is 18”. You read that right…. 18”. That’s BIG and its even bigger for the other size ranges! This is coming from someone who usually has to do a bicep adjustment and I was already expecting to do this adjustment on this pattern so I don’t know if I was pleasantly surprised when hay I have to reduce the size or I should have realized it was a RED flag for what awaited me. I’m not gonna go into details but lets just say… I dont look cute on it, and stick with Rayon Challis for this pattern… and if you have a large bust go return it to the store right now.

Suffice to say, I’m glad I made a muslin and as I mentioned if you do try this pattern stick with very lightweight fabric… I think linen may even be too thick because once you do the pintucks and if you do decide to do the honeycomb pattern which is so fun (and I loved it!) I also think the fabric will be gathered towards the front, the bigger the size, the more fabric, the more fabric the less shape it gives you. Also throw the facings off to the side and use bias tape for the neckline. Make it easy on yourself.

My unfinished muslin for M8325

In conclusion glad I made those muslins. I get a little sad when something doesn’t work out but I tell myself I’m going to give myself 24 hours to silently sulk on it and then move on!