Muslin Monday - Simplicity 2444

No, this will not be a regular Monday post, lol. I just love alliteration :)

Well it seems I really have the sewing bug again. With all the cute printed cottons I've splurged on lately, I knew I needed a simple pattern that wouldn't break up the patterns to much (so I wouldn't have to match the print so much - I'm lazy, lol). Enter Simplicity 2444, the work horse of the sewing blog world. I've had this pattern for literally years and I never have put it together. I pulled it out of the stash and finally got my rear in gear. I would "allow" myself a tid bit of time each night last week to work on sewing in between other things I needed to do (like clean). I ended up prepping/tracing my pattern pieces one night, cutting out the muslin a night or two later, and finally sewing it up on Sunday before church.

Once it was put together, I was able to diagnose my issues. I'm beginning to notice I have some "usual" adjustments that I will probably have to make to every pattern forever. I had some gaping at the neck, so I did a 1.5" hollow chest adjustment - I just pinched out the excess and pinned it down, then made that my new center fold line of my pattern. I also had to go up to the next size - I was trying to compensate for the extra 4 inches of ease the big 4 pattern companies add and apparently I went down too much. I also had to lengthen the bodice by 2.25 inches - no seriously! I've never really thought of myself as long in the torso, but that was just to get it to hit my actual waist. Because I changed the angle of the center line, I wanted to adjust the darts back to where they were since they really did hit me perfectly right off the bat. Also, I had to extend the darts down to the new waistline. So, I measured the original distance of the darts from the center and shifted them accordingly. Then I lined up the original dart points with the new shifted spots on the waistline and drew a new dart. They seem pretty crazy long, but it did the job. I redrew the pattern with the new adjustments, and ended up with this:

Kind of a creepy smile, but I think it's obvious that I'm pleased, lol. This new muslin is almost perfect. I never tried to sit down with my first muslin on, and I realized that I need a tad more ease in the waist. I also had drawn the sleeves in the smaller size and I think I'll just go up to the next larger for ease of movement. I don't want to have to readjust the whole dress all the time when I raise my hands above my bust. It may look a little more wrinkly under the bust while I'm standing, but at least I know I will be able to move without worrying about it.

After all the problems I had on Butterick 5982, I am really excited to have a pattern I feel I know how to diagnose and fit correctly. Now I'm torn as to which fabric I'll use as the first full test! I am actually so excited that I may end up with 15 dresses from this pattern, lol, we shall see.