Recently I bought the By Hand London Victoria blazer pattern, with the intention of making it up in some gorgeous black broderie anglais. Because the fabric is so lovely, I wanted to make a muslin (I will freely admit I don't ALWAYS make a muslin, although I do more and more often now). I went to my cupboard and got out the bag of fabric I use for muslins, only to discover I had less than half a metre left! Ooops, time to visit Ikea for some more.
But as so often happens I was desperate to sew, so I hunted around for something else to use. My eyes fell upon a remnant of furnishing weight linen that I bought a while ago from a local curtain shop, just because it was pretty. I thought I might make it into a bag or something. However it seems it was destined to become a muslin for Victoria, and a very wearable muslin at that.
I literally had about a metre of this fabric, so no pattern matching could be done, and I had to omit the collar and cuffs - although I really like it that way. I'm planning on making my "real" one without the collar too, although I will use the cuffs I think.
As you can see from the photos above and below I added a dart at the hem on each front, in line with the neck dart. I did this because the fabric is quite stiff and it stuck out quite a lot at the front. This has shaped it in a bit, and hasn't really made that much difference to the intended shape.
I'm very pleased to say that quite early on in construction I realised I wasn't going to have to make any fitting alterations at all, and that my muslin was indeed going to be wearable.
I did however cut a much smaller size than I would normally to make it more fitted. I would normally wear a size 12 in a jacket, which on this pattern has a finished bust of 44 1/2 inches. I ended up cutting a size 8 for the body and a 10 for the sleeves, as my arms are not the slimmest. I'm more than happy with the resulting fit.
The jacket body is lined with some basic beige acetate lining - which is all my local fabric shop stocks - that I rushed out and bought as soon as I realised that this wasn't going to be consigned to the scrap heap. I finished the armholes with matching bias tape, enclosing both the outer fabric of the body and sleeves and the body lining for a neat finish.
I couldn't resist that last photo opportunity, but don't worry, I won't be wearing my new jacket to do the gardening. (I don't DO gardening!)
All in all, I'd call this a resounding success, and I only hope my next one - which is currently under construction - turns out as well.
Samantha, your blazer looks brilliant. Considering it was only meant to be a muslin it has turned into a wonderful piece. I have a linen Victoria in my sewing que at the moment and I think I might have to adopt your front hem darts. They give it just slightly more shape in the front. Love it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lorna. The frontbhem darts certainly help avoid it looking too boxy.
DeleteIt really looks great on you! Love the length and it doesn't look as boxy as some others that I've seen. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nakisha. Adding those darts at the hem has really helped with the shape, and I love the cropped length.
DeleteLove your jacket.. The fabric for your muslin is just perfect.. so proud it turned into a wearable muslin.. Beautiful..
ReplyDeleteThank you Judy. I'm ridiculously pleased with how it turned out!
DeleteThis is lovely! I think it gives it quite a modern look not having a collar/cuffs. The material is really nice too :)
ReplyDeleteThis may be a very silly question but I'm new to sewing and I've heard this word thrown about quite a lot on sewing blogs - what is a muslin?! Is this something I should be doing when I make clothes?
Georgia :)
satiablefashion.blogspot.co.uk
Thank you Georgia. That's not a silly question to ask at all, I've been sewing for over 30 years and only discovered the concept of a muslin in the last few! Muslins - or toiles as many people call them - are basically tests for the pattern. You would use some cheap fabric and make the pattern up roughly to see if you've got the right size or need to make any fitting changes before cutting into your "good" fabric. I tend to use calico from Ikea for £1.75 a metre, but you can use anything as long as it is a similar weight/drape to your good fabric.
DeleteThere's a blog post on Craftsy here: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/07/how-to-fit-muslin/ or lots more if you Google "Making a muslin". Hope that helps!
this looks amazing for a muslin - what a great result!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jo. When I realised that it was going to fit, I did treat it more like a real project.
DeleteGreat blazer, it looks brilliant! I very rarely make a muslin (I think I've only ever made one) and usually use some cheaper fabric for a test make fully intending to wear it, so I suppose I make wearable muslins!
ReplyDeleteI tend to try and make wearable muslins, or if I'm doing something like a lined dress where the lining is the same as the outer, I make the lining first and use that as my muslin.
DeleteA triumph as usual, Sam! The 'real' one looks like it's going to be a stunner, too!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I did some more to the "real" one last night and it is looking good.
DeleteI didn't realize from the smaller picture on Instagram that you'd left off the collar and cuffs. I've thought of doing that but haven't gotten to it yet. It looks really nice! I think this fabric you used is just perfect for a little jacket!
ReplyDeleteThe photo on Instagram was pretty rubbish! I've left the collar off my next one, as I'm not keen on how the collar seems to flop on a lot I've seen.
DeleteThe only problem with this one is that it doesn't go with much in my wardrobe. The next one is black though, so that will be more versatile.