The Lily Diaries Part 3 - Fitting the muslin

Hi everybody!
Last week you were left with a picture of a strapless and zipperless Lily...but I worked at it during the week and here's how it looked on Saturday :

Sorry for the mirror picture...on top of this it's the only full-length mirror in my flat, and not the best thing in front of which to take pictures. Maybe it's not really obvious, but the waist was actually too high, which makes my hips look huge.

So...Here are the critics for this first muslin :

• waist is too high
• skirt is not long enough (but this is only a matter of personal taste)
• there seems to be some excess fabric at the back just above the bum, but this point apparently is only the result of the waist being too high.

Therefore, after taking a few measurements (how much length should I add for the waisline to sit at my natural waist, and for the skirt to fall just a little below my knees for a (in my opinion) kind of more authentic 50s look?), I sat with my non-woven pattern, pencils, scissors, tape and more non-woven interfacing and started slashing-and-spreading my pattern where it was needed. I proceeded that way :

First I drew a line on my pattern pieces. I chose to draw it 2cm above the bottom of each piece.

Then I cut...

...And taped it onto my sheet of checkered non-woven interfacing. I love this stuff, it's really so useful! And after taping, all there's left to do is re-draw the lines between the upper part and the lowest, cut it...

...and voilà! My four bodice pieces, with extra length added! Seems like they're going to match quite well, won't they?

Then I did the same to add some length to the skirt. Afterwards, I traced my new bodice on my muslin fabric...

Why do cats always choose to sprawl on your fabric when you're doing something that requires focus like tracing or cutting? Luckily, this is only muslin fabric...

...and then ripped apart the bodice from the skirt on my muslin, to sew the new bodice on. (I chose not to make another muslin for the skirt part, as I didn't think only lengthening it would dramatically alter the fit).
And by Saturday evening, when I went to bed, everything was sewn in place except for the zipper.

Having a busy Sunday (due to a meeting of the organization I am part of, which is currently organizing a gathering of hot rods, custom cars, choppers and so on, with garage and rockabilly concerts, DJs and other cool stuff), I could't sew a lot, but still managed to hand baste my zipper so I could try on my muslin, and...

IT FITS!My hips don't look as huge as they did now, do they?

And from the back, no sign of too-much fabric left anymore! It might look a bit tight , but that's because I left a big seam allowance as I sewed the zipper on. I won't let it that big when I sew the dress for good.

All in all I had the time to get a good deal of work this week-end, as I even traced the patterns pieces on my underlining fabric and cut them roughly before going to bed. If I can find the time this week, maybe my dress shall be ready to be worn next week-end...

Have a nice week everybody!