I have tried dressmaking in the past but my results have never been very good and I have not often been happy with what I have made. Sadly, more often than not, my garments have been half made and then abandonded. The problems has usually been with "fit". Things seem to turn out too big so that they hang off me in all the wrong places, or too small so that seams bulge and zippers won't fasten. I've had problems with gaping armholes, too short sleeves... just too many disheartening problems so I gave up for a long time.
Reading many of the wonderful blogs about dressmaking has inspired me to start again - from the beginning as it were. Using these as my teachers and guides I took the plunge and started again at the very beginning.
This time I measured myself properly instead of just taking my "shop" dress size. I haven't actually measured myself for a long time and it came as quite a shock to see the numbers written down on a piece of paper. It was also a shock to see that for the purposes of making my own skirt I would need to use the size 18 pattern pieces - for a skirt or trousers from M&S I buy size 14.
I traced my pattern onto some heavy quality greaseproof paper and used this to cut a muslin. This is the first time I have ever made a muslin and so far it has been very useful. I have made some adjustments to the fit of my skirt - my waist and hips aren't in the same proportion as the pattern pieces so I have changed the darts at the back of the skirt with the result that it fits much better. I thought making a muslin would be timeconsuming and boring but it hasn't been. It has taken me some time, that it true, but boring ..... no. It has almost been like a scientific experiment (and I love those) - what will a tweak here do? if I change x how will y change? It has been an interesting learning curve. I feel ready now to move onto some real fabric!
