What I’ve been up to, Tweaking A Basic Bodice And More Slopers

Hi!! Have you missed me?  Well, I’ve been here, I’ve done a few things over the last month, I’ll share a little and then I’ll go into what I’m working on now.  Since my skirt sloper class, I discovered something, I don’t hate true muslins (LOL) and I haven’t made as many “wearable muslins” as I have in the past.  Here’s the issue,  I do not like to take out seams and fix issues (insert triple eye roll) so I have to remind myself that true muslins are really practice so I don’t mind fixing them.  I have to stop being lazy and take out the seams and fix things, that’s my goal.

I’m getting on this slow sewing kick and that means I’m wearing my garments more because care has been given to fabric and fit.  I though I was taking care, but I was not going back to my wearable muslins and making the garment again, I just moved on.  So when I mean slow, I mean taking my time.  If I use my block/sloper I don’t usually have fit issues unless the fabric is much different than what the pattern is drafted for so I make the seam allowances a little bigger and fit as a I sew.  I’m taking the time to work the kinks out of the blocks, these are not wearable garments which means mentally I don’t have an issue taking out seams and making adjustments ( I have to trick myself).

I made a skirt for my mother in love, a simple elastic waist skirt in Ankara.  She asked me if I had any “left over African printed Material” LOL, that meant she wanted a skirt.  I thought I could send her some material and she could make it her self, but she said I could do it lol!   This was a very basic elastic skirt, I added 1.25 inch elastic to the waist and added a narrow hem, she told me how long it needed to be so it was super easy.  I had some left over fabric so I made her a head scarf, that’s her thing, she wears matching head wraps/scarves so she will be happy.

Basic elastic waist skirt

I’ve also been teaching myself to knit so I’ve been knitting little hats for the babies at the local NICU and adult hats I think I’ll donate, not sure yet.  I like to add some charitable crafting when I can so this is a good use of time.  I knit while hanging out with the family, on my lunch break or when I’m waiting for something.  I like to have tactile things to do with my hands so easy knitting is great for when I need to grab something and it doesn’t need electricity (insert eye roll).  Sometimes finding a good internet signal and or electricity are difficult at work so this and reading are my go-to’s.

Little knit hat

Finally, I’ve been on a sloper kick, I recently completed my skirt sloper and I’m working on a bodice and pants block/sloper.  I’m taking a pants sloper class but before I dive into that, I’m finishing up on my bodice block/sloper.   I intended to take my bodice sloper to Sew Camp, but hurricane Florence prevented me from going (**sigh**).  Before the lights when out, I finished up my bodice block/sloper, over the next week or so, I’ll get my measurements and start on my pants, I want to finish my bodice first and I need to work up the bootstrap bodice first.

I purchased the Bootstrap Patterns basic sloper, this was a skirt and bodice, but I prepped the bodice since I already have a perfectly fitting skirt sloper.  I think it will be fun to show how the Bootstrap bodice and skirt measure up against my drafted skirt and adjusted V9197 bodice, stay tuned for that.  For this block/sloper, I used a basic bodice from Vogue 9197, I’ve made it before and there were a few things that I could have done to make it better so I chose this as my pattern to play around with.  It’s also categorized as a close fitting bodice so I thought that was good start.  I could have used the Cashmerette Upton dress but I wanted a bodice with a sleeve and high neckline for the block.  As a note, after it was all said and done, I was very close to my Upton bodice so I’m very pleased, my Upton is a good sleeveless bodice block.

First muslin, pink marking is the correct bust point.  I didn’t notice at first but the neckline is gaping in back.

2nd muslin of bodice and skirt

Need an armscye dart

Here are the adjustments I made to the original bodice:

• I did a round back adjustment
• I adjusted the slope of my shoulder at the neckline about an inch ( apparently my neck is very thick, insert double eye roll, LOL),  I used the thick neck adjustment  found on page 129 (Chapter 15 The Neck & Chest) of Fit for Real people.
• I have broad shoulders so I did a one inch broad shoulder adjustment.
• I lowered the front and back neckline one inch.
• I adjusted for my forward shoulder (I did this in the original but it wasn’t enough).
• I added an inch to the bodice front and back length at the waist.
• I had gaping in the armscye so I took a one inch tuck to the armscye instead of making an armscye dart.  I thought of rotating it to the french dart but decided against it, I simply cut where the dart would be and overlapped it by an inch.  Here’s a link to a pictorial on a few of my adjustments to include the armscye adjustment.
• I lowered the dart one inch.
• I added 1/4″to the bicep.
• I lowered the armscye at the side seam an inch.

Whew, that was a lot of adjustments, huh??!!  I used fit for real people for these adjustments and I received tons of help from my IG family in my Insta stories.   

So what’s up next, I’ll finalize my second muslin which happens to be wearable of V9197.   I’ll show how I adjusted the bodice even further to get a different look and then I’ll post about the Bootstrap pattern since I need to make that one too.   Also, I have a few more skirts to make from by block  and work on my pants sloper, I want to have my slopers/blocks done in time for fall sewing.