This January I'm going to New Orleans to attend a boucle sheath workshop taught by Helen Haughey. In preparation, I decided to treat myself to a professional muslin fitting of the pattern I plan to use, McCall's 2401. Long out of print, I think it's the epitome of a classic sheath and I have made it many times.
Still, inasmuch as I am going to be spending a good amount of time using couture techniques on the boucle, I wanted an exceptional fitting muslin for my project. Enter A. D. Lynn of Sew to Fit. Many of you know Andrea from her incredible YouTube videos. I met her through my friend Roz, owner of SewMuchFabric one of the premiere online fabric stores and founder of the Sewing Fashionistas group here in Houston. I was fortunate enough to spend the better part of a day
with Andrea at her studio and came away with a perfectly fitting muslin worth
its weight in gold!
Prior to arriving Andrea asked me to sew up a muslin of
M2401. I think we can all agree this sack is reminiscent of the Branch Davidian
wives of that crazy David Koresh in Waco some years back.
Well, Andrea started doing her wizardry, somehow being hilariously entertaining at the same time, and in a matter of hours she had whittled that sack into a sleek muslin.
Magically, she transferred that muslin on to a flat pattern
that I can trace off with any of 3 different necklines and with or
without seam allowances.
After finishing Andrea asked me to sew another muslin to check
the fit. Having 101% confidence in her technical ability (and since I’m not
crazy about sewing muslins) I told her we were going to live on the edge and
use fashion fabric. I had just received this Double Espresso Boucle from Roz at
Sew Much Fabric and thought it might be perfect. It has a random weave of metallic
throughout that sadly doesn’t read in my photos. It was wonderful to work with
and steamed and shaped beautifully.
Being a boucle I underlined it with silk organza to avoid any stretching in back from sitting:
The underlining was also invaluable for stabilizing when clipping the corners of the square neckline:
Being a boucle I underlined it with silk organza to avoid any stretching in back from sitting:
The underlining was also invaluable for stabilizing when clipping the corners of the square neckline:
I love a contrast lining and this one really works with the
boucle:
Andrea heartily calls herself a geek and I concur. I can’t say enough about her expertise at fitting. I
learned so much about my body and why I could never fit certain areas without
drag lines in the same old places. Guess what? I am so NOT symmetrical! All of my
pattern pieces are unique and accommodating different quirks in my physique. It’s an amazing
process and I highly recommend treating yourself. Her blog is sewtofit.com so head over there to see what she's all about. Next time I’m going to have pants done!
Thanks for reading and enjoy the upcoming holidays!
