Tried to fit the Aouda muslin on my dressform last night. I’m hoping that even though she’s a bit boobier than I and I can’t corset her, this dressform will be a smidge better than trying to pin stuff on myself. At least for the first muslin.
‘Cept nothing made sense to me. Dunno if it’s this 1860s style or it’s me or both. I’m starting with Simplicity 9761, but at one point I was so frustrated I thought I might try to drape the bodice myself. HA. That way lies madness. I did get out the draping bit from Kendra‘s class at Costume College ’05 to compare the darts and armscye with the Simplicity pattern. They looked very similar so I stuck with the muslin I already had. I knew I had to take about an inch up because I’m short-waisted, so that was easy. But I futzed and fussed with the bust-arm-shoulder area and was v. frustrated. It looked like the fabric wanted a big ol’ dart from the arm to the bustpoint. Um, no. This is not the 1950s. I *think* that was because Lola’s tits are super-pointy to begin with. I smoothed as best I could and ended up taking the fabric out at the shoulder and side seam a lot. This is probably all wrong and breaks every kind of Law of Dressmaking, and surely I’ll pay for it when trying to attach the sleeve. But hey, it’s only mockup #1.
Could only get as far as marking everything and ripping seams before bed. Tonight, I’ll cut new muslin pieces and start mockup #2. I’ll try it on corseted me first and see what I can pin. Ugh. I hatehatehate fitting. And I hatehatehate seam-ripping.
Let’s face it, I hatehatehate sewing! Everything I did last night make me feel like I don’t know jack. At best, I’m a patient beginner — even though I’ve been sewing since my foot could reach the pedal and I’ve been making historical costumes since 1991. Practice does not make perfect in my case. Oh and I’m not even that patient either. I just want to play dress up. I don’t want to *make* dress-up clothes.
The other thing that was stressing me out last night is that I reallyreallyreally don’t want to fuck up this fabric. It’s my last sari that I bought in India. Benares silk. I saw the weavers. I sat in a pool of silk as the sari merchant unfurled fabric around me. I bargained for this myself. This fabric is very precious to me for the memories of acquiring it and for it’s intrinsic beauty.
I have to get this muslin perfect before I dare take scissors to that fabric. Oh and I’m also scared like hell of how to lay it out to best use the pattern on the choli end, while preserving enough yardage for the very full, tiered skirts. Will probably get two tiers at best, though if I’m clever at how I mount the ruffles on a solid underskirt, I might eek out three tiers. Gotta wait to jump off that bridge when I come to it.