Fitting the sleeveless sheath dress

Sewing:
I've been putting off sewing the two dresses for my originally planned 6-PAC wardrobe.  Mostly because the pattern needed a bit of adjusting and I couldn't even look at muslin after all the work on the jacket pattern. So I made another skirt... then a blouse... and then Kathleen posted about reshaping armholes to allow for proper range of motion. Hmmm... maybe now is a good time to take another look at that dress pattern.

First, I took the pattern I drafted from the Armstrong book and frankenpatterned it with my new TNT skirt. Then I lined them up the way Kathleen showed, with the grainlines aligned, with a pin at the underarm point, and reshaped the armhole:


Here's a close-up of the alteration:


By the way, if you don't have Kathleen's book, buy it, read it, and join the forum. Her book will change your life.

So now that the armhole looks anatomically correct, it's time to sew it up in muslin. This is a quick-and-dirty muslin version, marked with a regular pencil and a black Sharpie (which bleeds through the fabric so I can cut the fabric folded).



The neckline looks a little loose in the front so that will need to be tightened up, and I may add a half-inch or an inch to the length to get the hem to the top of my knees. Not really visible in these pictures, there was a dart forming in the back, on both sides. I pinned it out like this:


Just a note: see how the center back curves beautifully along my spine? Would you believe it was cut as a straight line? (If you don't, scroll back up to the first picture for proof.) Looks like the darts are doing their job, shaping the fabric just right.

I like the new armhole - it is comfortable; I can raise my arms in the front as if driving a car and it doesn't feel tight. All in all, this is a successful mock-up, I think. I'll make the few changes noted above and cut it in fabric.

**********

Pursuit of happiness:
Warm weather, open windows, lounging on the patio... good times.

**********