[purlknitpurl]

Hi there, Okay, I’ve been reading up on bodice muslins (including Liesl’s fabulous tutorial) as I want to make the fairy tale dress for my 7 year old daughter. I completely understand how to make a muslin, my question is, what do I do once I have fitted my daughter in it and made the necessary adjustments? How do I transfer the adjustments to paper? Or do I just label the adjustments on the muslin itself and then make a new pattern piece? I think I just need to see pictures of this…anybody know of a tutorial?

Please keep in mind that I have not started this project yet– I prefer to get a sense of what I am going to need to do before I start purchasing everything and start cutting!

Thanks! Purl

[cybele727]

Hi Purl,

When I made the muslin and all the adjustments (several times over as I had lots of adjustments), I did two things. For a few tries I took my muslin, laid it out and transferred it on paper, and then used that as the pattern for the real thing. But because I was doing so many adjustments and muslins before I got it right (we have the buddha belly issue here with a very long torso), when I got one that “fit”, I just ripped out my darts and my zipper, and laid the muslin with its markings on the fabric and carefully used that as the pattern. I transferred the markings from the muslin to the fabric also.

Jenny

[meleliza]

there are a few options. You may have to try a few things to find what you prefer or it may depend on the project in question. If you’re making a lot of adjustments, you might like to take apart the muslin and use that as your pattern. Be sure to only baste the muslin together and not stretch it out when you take it apart. You can also just take a colored pencil and transfer your changes with a ruler. If you widened or lengthened darts, or took in a half inch from the sides, just measure them onto the paper the same way you drew them. This way you could keep the muslin for future fittings. But, if you anticipate needing the pattern again in a different size, maybe you don’t want to mark up the paper pattern.

[purlknitpurl]

Thanks for your help! So great! I’m having trouble visualizing without visuals though so please excuse my need for connecting so many dots. My 7 year old is very thin– no Buddha bellies here! — so I anticipate taking it all in. I envision pinning the back and / or side seams and maybe pulling in at the darts. I will have the lines transferred onto my muslin by the original. When I take it in and pin it, should I draw a line with tailor chalk where I pinned it. Then , when I take it off and unfold the muslin

I will see new lines? I would then take new tracing paper and transfer the new lines (adding 1/2 inches for seams) to make a new pattern piece OR I could cut the muslin to reflect new lines (again adding seams) and use that as pattern pieces? …yikes, do I get it, or am I off track?

[Nicole]

I unpick my muslin and use it as the pattern.

http://fiveandcounting-motherof5.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/i-hope-it-has-happy-ending.html

http://fiveandcounting-motherof5.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/a-christmas-fairy-tale-tutorial-part-i.html

I have no idea if this is the ‘proper’ way but it works well for my tired brain.

Both Melanie and Cybele give great advice.

[meleliza]

There isn’t a lot of ease in this style, so if you start by cutting to her measurements, there probably won’t be that much adjusting. In other words, if she is one size in the chest and a different size in the waist, simply blend those sizes together in the first place. The hip measurement won’t matter in this dress. Then your adjustments should be minor.

[purlknitpurl]

Oh my, that saves me! And by blending you mean cut pattern piece, say, size 6, for chest, but size 7 for the waist,as those measurements worked best?

I was so intimidated by the idea of a muslin, that I didn’t even take her measurements yet– I just assumed I would have to jump into doing a muslin.

Thank you very much!

[purlknitpurl]

Oh, and a thank you to the always wonderful Nicole/Mother of 5, for her helpful photos!

[Liesl Gibson]

Hmm, I wonder if we need another post about using a muslin to alter a pattern? Let me see if I can explain here, and feel free to chime in if it’s not clear and/or if you want a full post on it.

If there aren’t too many changes to the muslin, you can usually just transfer the changes back to your original pattern. For example, if you find that you need to lengthen the center front by 1/2″, that’s an easy change to draw onto the original pattern piece, right?

But if you find that you’re making quite a few changes, you can take to different approaches. You can either take apart the muslin and use it as the pattern, or if the muslin is a bit messy or you really want a paper pattern, you can use the taken-apart muslin to make a new pattern. If you choose to do this, pin a muslin pattern piece on top of use a new piece of pattern paper/brown paper/etc. and put them both on a self-healing cutting mat or a piece of cardboard to protect your work surface. Then us a spiky tracing wheel to trace the new seam lines, and when you remove the muslin you can draw those seam lines in with a pencil and add seam allowances from there.

Or if you’re really careful, you can also put a piece of carbon paper face down on top of the paper, place the muslin piece on top of the carbon, and use your smooth tracing wheel to transfer the seam lines to the paper–just take care not to shift them as you trace.

Does that make sense?

[purlknitpurl]

Yes! Sounds like I have been making it harder than it is! Thanks everyone for the extra clarity!