My Heart Really IS Aflutter!

I guess the FIFTH time is the charm!  Actually, muslin #3 of Louise's "My Heart's Aflutter" wasn't too bad.  I can wear it.  If my camera battery hadn't died, I would take a pic for you.  Maybe tomorrow.  I have lots of pics of #5 though.  I am wearing it right now.  I got VERY brave, and I cut into a piece of my treasured Cloth Merchant fabrics.  I love the feel of the fabric and how easy it is to sew, but there are some oddities about the print I'm not liking.  Only I would notice them, of course, so I'm not going to worry about that.  The real oddity is ME and how I see things.

Some points that maybe you can relate to -- maybe not:

1.  My "balls" are forward.  I didn't have Louise look at my balls when we were at the seminar, but I'm sure she would have said mine were quite forward.  She did look at several other ladies.  

Look at this picture:

Notice the ball of my shoulder and how FORWARD it is on my body.  I realize my hand is on my hip in this pic, but it is that way even if my hand isn't on my hip.

What that means is I have to move the entire shoulder seam forward 5/8".

You add 5/8" to the back and you subtract 5/8" from the front shoulder seam.  I did NOT realize it in Muslin #4, but that requires that you REDRAW the armhole facing AND the neckline facing.  No wrinkles under all the topstitching this time! 

2.  The maternity syndrome.  This is the 2nd pattern of Louise's I have made, and Phylly is working on one.  They have a TON of ease in them, even in the smaller sizes.  I really don't need any additional "stuff" sticking out in front of me, so I am going to try to remove some of this in the next MHAF.

3.  Gigantic armholes.

I noticed the large armholes in all the other muslins, and I took an inch off at the side seams thinking they would be smaller.  I guess I'll need to do some more work on that issue.

I can "hear" Peggy saying, "KNOW what size you want your armholes!!!"  She is right.

And YES, I did compare this to my SFD blueprint, and it was right on.  BUT, I forgot that SFD has you move the armhole UP HIGHER for sleeveless garments.  This armhole would be fine for a sleeve.

4.  Top-stitching.

Phylly doesn't like to do it, but I LOVE to do it.  I like stuff NAILED DOWN so it can't move.  Plus, I think it looks less homemade.  I like this part of LC's patterns a lot.  I thought you would be able to see all that top-stitching in this picture, but you cant.  There are two rows around each arm -- two rows around the neck -- one row around the top of the bottom "skirt" -- one row all around the hem and the side vents.

Louise has you put miles of SAS to glue all that down before you start top-stitching.  Good thing I HAVE miles of it!

5.  Full Bust Adjustment not enough.

Not only did I do the maximum FBA of 1 1/4", I did a 3/8" round back correction, and I added a 1/2" extension to the bottom front hemline.  STILL it appears to hike up a bit in the front.  I don't get this at all.  My boobs are NOT that big.  I must have the world's smallest rib cage.

Here is a picture of the back.  It has a 5/8" sway back correction and the 3/8" high upper round.

I think I will start on another creation tomorrow.  After 5 of these, I'm a bit weary of it. 

I suppose I should whip up at least 3 more now that I have perfected this pattern -- except for the maternity area in the front. 

AND GUESS WHAT???? 

I almost forgot to tell you.

THE WINDOWS ARE DONE!!!!!!!  The last three went in this morning, and I paid Window World the final payment. 

Tony and John were SO NICE.  They apologized over and over and over, and they were extra clean and careful, and John didn't even have a wad of tobacco in his mouth today.  I had mentioned in my 6-page letter to WW that a man should NOT go into a customer's home with a drippy wad of tobacco in his mouth unless, of course, the customer had a drippy wad of tobacco in his/her mouth too.  Gross!!!

Later, I received a call from Tracy, the scheduler at WW, and she went on and on about how sorry they were and told me she had heard that I have a beautiful home.  Got to give them an "A" for effort in trying to make up for the 38 days it took them to do the 3-day project.

Gotta get.

Hugs, Joy