Fabric Haul and M5894 Muslin Pics

Hello everyone!

Happy Monday!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend!  I got a chance to tweak the fit on my muslin for Mccalls' "Perfect jeans" pattern, M5894.  I spent a little over 2 hours on the crotch curve, and though I still have more tweaking to do (yes) I am happy about the direction it is going in.  In fact, I thought it was terrible having to create two muslins, but Angela Wolf says that she made SEVEN the first time she made jeans!!!  Wow!  Somehow, knowing that makes my second muslin not as bad.

So, I got a comment on my last post from Anne about showing pictures of my muslin (on me).  I have no problem doing that, I just didn't know anyone was interested in the process, so I left that out.  When I went to take the photos, I quickly realized that it was not easy to get good pics of my back.  So...I did the best I could.  I hope you get the drift from the photos I have:

For the front, I think I have WAY too much fabric coming over my navel.  I originally added 1/2" to the crotch depth, but didn't think about the fact that the waistband sits right at the waist.  That extra 1/2" makes the rise WAY too high for me.  I like my pants a little lower than the navel.  The rise is also covered in Angela Wolf's Craftsy class.  I will be experimenting with taking 1/2" to maybe more out, and making sure I don't get any wrinkling as a result.  Other than that, I am happy with the way it is looking.

The back is my favorite!  I really wish I could show you a picture of how it started--there has been SOOO much improvement!!  I started with a swayback adjustment, still ended up reducing the waist side seams by 1 inch on each side, tapered the side seams from the hips down to shape the legs some more, and took a 3/4" wedge out the back waist.  

I also deepened the crotch curve and lowered it an inch or so.  It was A LOT of fiddling, but worth it.  There is still a bit of excess fabric under my bottom, so I will look at more scooping today.

Transferring all these changes to my original pattern makes me a little uneasy, so I will probably deconstruct my muslin and use that as a template.  I read about it on a blog somewhere and thought "How brilliant, why didn't I think of that?"  

After all my changes I will attach the waistband for the final look on my muslin.  Hopefully that will be done by today, and I will get some updated pictures for you soon.

In other things, I also created a small dent in fabric-buying for my Fall Wardrobe.  I purchased some goodies from Fabric Marts Fabrics that I LOVE!!!!

See for yourself:

I love the Maggy London Ponte Knit!!  It is so luxurious feeling!  I also love the cream and sand color.  They will be great neutrals to tie in with other things I am sewing.

None of the Ponte Knits I ordered are a disappointment.  They are all midweight, and fabulous!  I haven't decided what to do with these yet, but I love the colors.  For the black cotton blend knit, it is pretty stable, and will be great for a stylish tee or two.

This ITY knit was one I considered my "I'm going to try something a little different than what I normally choose."  It is part of the Julie's Picks club, and I really liked the swatch when I received it, so I figured "Why not!"  I'm sure this will become a top too.

Also, a word about the Julie's Picks club.  I don't ever see anyone mention it, but I like it. Membership ends at the end of each year, so the club price starts out at $50, but is now pro-rated to $25 since there are only four months left in the year.  You get a discount of half the amount you pay for membership, and that goes toward any fabric purchase from Fabrics Mart.  Of course, the fabrics offered are exclusive to club member's only, and you receive swatches of all the picks (30) by the 1st of the month.  You also get an email with a digital download of the collection.  I was super impressed when I received all my swatches.  I really liked over half of them, only I didn't buy a lot of them because they would not fit into my wardrobe scheme well.  Also, my other favorite was already sold out when I got to it.

I'll see how the rest of this year's picks go, but I am happy about it so far!

Stay sew-filled!