Muslin-Block

Sometimes I don't like making muslins.  Sometimes I just want to sew a dress, and I want to do it NOW.  (There are other times when I enjoy making muslins and adjusting patterns).  Sometimes, this leads to rash decisions, and sometimes it leads to a stalemate.

Last time I wanted to sew something right away, I went with a sundress I had made before.  I made a couple small pattern changes, and cut this fabric.  Now, having started I realized that I made at least one mistake... I lengthened the bodice but I didn't lengthen the back piece.  I'm fairly sure that I can put a pleat in the front midriff piece that will balance the two out.

However, now I'm a little stuck in that project.  Rather than finishing it quickly, I've completely stalled out of fear for what else could go wrong.

On the other end of the spectrum, I've been working on muslins for the Portrait Blouse from Gertie's New Book For Better Sewing for quite a while now.  I've made one that was split-sized, between the shoulders, bust and hips.  Then I adjusted it, and did a kind of full bust adjustment and a narrow shoulder adjustment all in one, and moved the hips up a size.  Now I just need to make one more muslin to make sure that I haven't thrown anything out of line with these changes and I'll be able to move into real fabric.

Now, the other day, I wanted to sew.  But I didn't want to make another muslin.  That's all I'd been sewing recently and I really wanted to sew something I could wear right way.   But, I also didn't want to sew the dress, because that means I might discover a mistake that I can't fix.  Worst case scenario, I will have a fairly nice A-line skirt if I've made an irreparable mistake, but that's not always a comfort.

I think I'll just have to buckle down on my next day off and sew the last muslin.  Once I've gotten past that, I think I should be able to make a Portrait Blouse pretty quickly.  And my next project from the book is likely to be the A-line skirt, which won't require a muslin.  (Yay!)