Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Kwik Sew 3338 Muslin

On Saturday morning, in addition to finishing up the Vogue top for my sister, I stitched up a quick and dirty muslin for KS 3338, the fitted tee pattern. In the process, I realized that black is NOT a good choice of colors for a muslin - it doesn't photograph well and it hides a multitude of sins. And, trust me, there are some issues with this top at the moment.

Here's the front - please ignore the absolutely shoddy job I did on the neckline. I was testing out a bunch of different stitches to see what worked best, and it now looks all wonky and a-symetrical.


And here is the back - again, note how wonky the neck band is:



There are a few easy-to-fix problems, like easing out the hips and making the top longer (my usuals). But there are a few things that may be a little more complicated.

First, I need more room thru the armpit; it is too high. Next, notice the wrinkles running from the bust to the armskye in the front and then the slumping fabric at the shoulder in the back. The shoulder into the sleeve cap is just not sitting right. When I put my hand on my hip there is more pulling from bust to sleeve and the sleeve cap seems to pop up. I'm not sure if this means I need more room in the shoulder, in the sleeve or some kind of combination. And I am not quite sure where to begin in the back. Finally, I didn't think so at the time, but from the photo of the front of the top, it looks like I may need a to do an FBA (Full Bust Alteration).

After trying on the top, I immediately headed to my copy of Fit for Real People. However, I'm still not entirely sure how to proceed or in what order I should make the alterations. I need to do some further research in sleeve fitting. It is not my forte, apparently.

Oh, and coincidentally, I forgot to bring the now-finished Vogue top to my sister, so the final reveal will have to wait until this weekend. But I think it is going to be great!

Update at 4:59pm: OK, I just read over ALL of the reviews of this pattern on PatternReview.com and, apparently, I am the only freak in all of the sewing blogosphere who this pattern did not fit out of the envelope. Beautiful. LOL. Typical.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the shoulders are too square for you? You can pin them a bit more sloped to see if this helps. Don't for get to lower the armhole by the same amount that you take off the shoulder so the sleeve will fit into the amended armhole.

JodieK said...

It almost looks like the shoulders are too narrow - like the point of your shoulders are into the sleeves? You may want to try cutting up the back and adding more fabric until the drag lines disappear. This may impact your FBA as well. Although, it's 5:30am, I'm a teacher (3 weeks to go), so I could just be making this up
8 )!
Fitting knits is a pain - I spent part of the summer fitting Simplicity 407somthing.....the one that is so popular on SPR. Anyway, good luck! Be sure to document your changes and add the ones that work to your tissue pattern,
Jodie

Clio said...

Thanks for the feedback!

JodieK - Last night I tried on the top again and I think you may be right - the shoulders are too narrow.