V8648 - muslin

Ok, but first I have to show you this adorable broach that Dom's little sister Imogen picked out for my birthday:

Perfect for someone who sews! :) I enjoyed Monday afternoon a lot, it was lovely to see everyone again. Mum cooked my favourite meal (curry fry, I remember my uncle teaching us to make it) and did party food! 

Anyway, back to what you're here for:

I think princess seams are the way forward! I've never managed a successful darted bodice, but I'm really pleased with the fit of this princess seamed one. All my hard work paid off! Looking at the back of the bodice, I think the narrow back adjustment was successful. So I have a narrow back! Who knew? As I've already said, I'm happy with the FBA too. The waist pieces are the right length too, though they look like they're too short. I think with the weight of the skirt, they'll be the right length though. But. . .the sleeves. I'm ditching the sleeves. The armhole is currently too big, so the sleeve pulls terribly. I unpicked the part that was pulling for these photos. I can sort the armhole, but I don't know what to do to the corresponding sleeve piece. So I'm being a coward and ditching the sleeves. It is meant to be a summer dress after all (she says, as it's pouring rain outside)! And sleeveless dresses are great for layering. Or I was thinking of using a capped sleeve piece form one of my other patterns, as I think that would be cute. What do you guys think?

So I have a couple more adjustments to make. I want to add 1.5cm to the front part of the armhole, so that when the lining is in the armhole will be where it is in the photos. Also, you can see in the photos that there was a little gaping in the neck. I think this is a result of the FBA as it happened on the birdie blouse too. So I pinned it out on the muslin (roughly!) and I need to pinch about 2cm out. As these are only minor adjustments, I'm going to make the changes to the paper pattern, then go ahead and cut out my fabric! :) I'm excited, my first dress that might actually fit!!

On a completely unrelated note, I also got some birthday money! :) I picked up 'Little Red in the City' by Ysolda Teague from Spins and Needles. This book is exactly what I've been looking for. She goes into the detail on bust shaping in knitting patterns and how to alter for a bigger bust and other fitting problems. I love how its explained, it's finally starting to make sense to me. Not only does she give advice on fitting a knitting pattern, but she also explains a few techniques that are used in the patterns that are in the book. Yep, not only do you get wonderful advice and instruction, but you also get 7 patterns! She also shows each pattern on two different body types which is helpful to see. All in all, I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of this book :) 

As well as the book, I also couldn't resist a look at the yarn. There's a scarflet pattern on Ravelry that I've had my eye on, so I picked up some yarn for that:

After reading the notes on other peoples projects on Ravelry, it looks like I'm going to need another ball! Ah well, next time I'll check first :) I also picked up some yarn to make Dom a pair of socks:

I'm so glad that I went to the sock knitting class, as I love this pattern! The yarn is DK weight on 4mm needles, so it knits up super quick for a sock. Dom thinks it's sweet that I'm knitting him some socks, and now complains that he has cold toes and that I should hurry up!

I also finished another pair for myself. I bought two balls of this yarn to make a shawl with, and ended up with a ball left over. Plenty for a pair of socks!

I didn't bother trying to get the colours in similar places on each sock, as I was only trying to use up the yarn. They turned out really well :)

More later!

Ashley x