Muslins for the whole family!

Lately I have been busy more with visitors than with sew-alongs, which is why I haven't posted as much as I would have liked. And there are many more visitors to come, too! I need to get my act together, I had such a strong start, so that I can wear some of these creations here. Okay. Here is where I am with my swing dress:

This is the second muslin, and besides having to take in a little where the gathers are, I think this one is finally a go. At this point all I need is some kind of fabric to underline and start cutting. I will hopefully get this soon before I loose too much steam. Fitting is a hard, tough process. And I think I have it right, but at this point I am just ready to cut :) 

Again, a reminder of the final fabric choice.

And here is the final muslin of the Negroni on my husband. I think under the arms is a little tight. I am not quite sure how to fix this, but I will post my pics on Peter's Flickr group and hopefully get some feedback. I am still unsure of the camp collar (there is no collar stand), but also not quite sure if I want to try to draft a new collar/collar stand. We will see how ambitious I get. 

The sleeves are definitely too long, that is completely certain. And I am now convinced that square pockets are the way to go on this shirt. I am also not in love with the pocket flaps. I feel in a blue checkered, it might look a little too western.

Oh, and if you want some shirt construction-gone-wrong shots, here is a look at my first attempt at putting together the yoke of the shirt. You first start with making a "burrito" with the two yokes as the tortilla, and the rest of the shirt as the tasty filling. (Can you see my laptop in the background opened to MPB and the instructions next to them?? See, I AM a good sew-alonger!)

Then you take your burrito and sew the seam together. In a perfect world the yoke's seams get sandwiched (or burrito-ed) in the inside of the shirt, which makes for a clean finish on the outside. When you are in my world, and for some reason you don't match up all seams, that doesn't happen. The instructions said, "right-sides of yoke together" which means the shirt back was in there as well, so I pulled it out. Even when the instructions said "sew through all layers", I sat there for a second and then just went a head with what I had anyway. This is what happens when you do that....

Not exactly the cleanest of finishes, eh? But I ripped and redid, and now (fingers crossed!) that will never happen again. 

Next installment, perhaps my new collar and stand, or the finished camp-collar Negroni....