Monday, June 7, 2010

Clash IV - Muslins

I sewed up the muslins several days ago and they have been patiently waiting.  Today, I finally claimed a chunk of time and put them on the dress form.

The Sunshine muslin was made from the leftovers of my daughter’s New Look 6179 top.  To make a reasonable pattern comparison, I used an identical fabric (a stretch jersey knit), in a different print, for the Butterick top.

Scraps of heavy weight interfacing were block-fused to the neckband fabrics before cutting.  A soft knit interfacing would have been a better choice but this was a good use of the scraps.
HP Weekender Sunshine Tops

The Sunshine top is too large under the arms (the excess has been pinned) and the hip side seams curve out unnaturally.  The waist is fine.  As I had suspected, something is off with the armscye.  Too high?  I don’t know, but it needs to be dealt with once the side seams have been corrected.  The hem is narrow and would look nicer if it were at least one inch deep.
Butterick 5219

The hem band of the Butterick pattern visually adds width and combined with the short length makes for one unflattering top.  That band will disappear.  The top is too big around.  If you look, you can see the extra pinned on the right.

I experimented with the Bernina stitches while sewing the muslins.  And, for grins, I used leftover bobbin thread.  The bobbin box is now tidy but the muslins have crazy stitches that do not blend into the fabric.

I haven’t found a stretch stitch that I like for topstitching knit hems.  It is a small matter but one that cannot be resolved without ownership of a coverstitch machine.  For now, I need to make friends with a Bernina 930 stretch stitch and get on with it.

Okay, the side seams and length on both patterns require adjusting.  Remember, though, I had added to the side seams so I can’t fault the patterns for that.  The armscye on the Sunshine top is strange and the Butterick top will be losing its hem band.  At this point, they are pretty much even.

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