Susan Tries on the Blouse Muslin

Friends, no doubt you're wondering why I'm leading with a photo of designer Carolyn Herrera in her signature white shirt.

It's to remind myself that even internationally famous clothing designers wear clothing that will sometimes wrinkle, and drape awkwardly.  Our bodies are three dimensional and mobile and the clothing we wear needs to be able to move with it.  There's a reason why so many women have given up entirely on woven fabrics, opting for stretch knits.

Susan swung by today to try on the blouse muslin I made for her, as well as to see the fabrics we chose for the separates I'm making for her.



Let's talk about the blouse muslin.  As you know, I drafted it myself.  You may be wondering why I'm bothering, rather than working from a commercial pattern.  The answer is simple: I love it.  Drafting from scratch can take longer (though not necessarily), but it is incredibly satisfying to me and I'm learning a tremendous amount.  (I can honestly say that patterns no longer mystify me.)  With time, I'll get better -- and faster -- at it.

Susan's blouse is based on the bodice muslin I drafted previously. I shifted the shoulder dart (which had eliminated most of the excess fabric in the hollow of Susan's upper chest), to the side and redrew my front pattern.  I added a button placket, sleeves (also self-drafted from Dorothy Moore's excellent book) and a simple band collar.  The shirt is fitted at the waist with fish-eye darts and flares out as it extends roughly 4" below her true waist.  Working in stiff muslin on a what will be a soft garment is not ideal (darts look awful), but it does call attention to fit issues.  Before I cut into the Liberty fabric Susan chose for the blouse, I'm going to whip up another muslin in some inexpensive shirting from my stash.

Let's take a closer look.

The armhole is high enough for Susan to lift her arm without significantly raising the shirt.  The fish-eye front darts could be shallower; the collar band could be narrower.

The sleeve, even folded up clumsily at the hem, look pretty smooth

There's enough fullness in back for Susan to cross her arms comfortably in front.  An option is a back yoke with a small center pleat below it.

There's a little too much fullness between Susan's right breast and shoulder.  In a soft fabric, will this be noticeable?  The darts could be shortened.

Side seams are straight.

There's a bit of fullness at the left shoulder too.

I'm also considering extending the shoulder 1/2" -- it's a mite narrow.



I'm excited about tweaking this and moving forward.  As always, thanks for coming along for the ride.

Have a great day, everybody!