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I made a muslin! I cut up a $2 IKEA bedsheet and made up the the Hot Patterns Plain & Simple Woven T. I cut a size 22 and the armholes and bustline fit brilliantly.

Hilarious Newbie Mistakes so far:

(1) Not marking the bust darts accurately enough. I mis-alligned them and it looks like I have comedy wonky boobs.

(2) Forgetting how to add a sleeve to an armhole. Let's just say I mixed up right side and wrong side, and I love my seam ripper.

and this isn't a sewing mistake, it's a style mistake:

(3) Forgetting that boatnecks show everyone my bra straps. Next time I'm cutting out the V neck or adjusting the neckline so it's more like a scoop than a boatneck. It's probably the least flattering neckline on me, but I keep wanting it to look great on me, then forgetting that I can't influence the world by just my wanting. Hah!

Pattern's first muslin verdict:

The fabric is awful and I'm glad I don't sleep on it! The shape is GOOD, the pattern is straightforward nad where I didn't know something (understitching, for example) I looked in one of the books I borrowed from the library and will eventually have to buy. I love my simplicity 'how to sew' picture book, and I want the  vogue one for fitting. Must plant helpful hints, maybe I'll get sewing books as an anniversary gift!

It is bit boxy and I think I have too much fabric in the back. Not sure how to adjust for that, but it's sort of piling up on top of my bottom, if that makes sense. The front is right - I don't think I'm going to have to FBA for this one, (I'm sewing in my pajamas so I'm going to do 'fit issues' on this one another day, when I'm wearing a daytime bra) but I am going to have to work out if I need to take out some fabric in the back, and how. I don't think I have a particularly narrow back, but nor do I know how I'd tell! Off to the internet for more research...

I'm going to definitely make it up again as a top, and probably as a dress too. It might be a bit shapeless as a dress but It would be gorgeously cool, I'm sure.

Oh, what happened to the Cake 2224 Tee, you ask?
100% wadder.  Not hte fault of the pattern, which was straightforward and fit pretty well, but the fabric that bagged and sagged and rolled and generally misbehaved to an appalling degree. I've thrown the tee I ended up making and I am tempted to throw the rest of the fabric that i own (about a yard, I think). That said, my boys need pajama pants and it's 100% cotton so that might be a use of the rest of it. Ugh, it was a nightmare first knit! I received some cotton jersey knit from fashionfabricsclub.com yesterday that is about 5% lycra and seems to have a decent recovery, hopefully that will be a better one to use for trying out my hotpatterns Plain & Simple Fitted T (the knit one I hope will be a useful TNT, too)

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