this is my wearable muslin made from a freebie mystery fabric. out of curiosity i tried a burn test - i think it’s probably 100% cotton. i did a reasonable job of matching the stripes (on the facings as well as at the side seams), but the topstitching is a bit haphazard, i’ll try to keep it at 1/8 rather than 1/4 on the real deal, which will be her birthday party dress. at the moment i’m thinking reversible, one side in the fab embroidered cotton, other in pink linen/cotton with appliques cut from the embroidered stuff.

it went together pretty well without the aid of much instruction. stef did a great job at translating, though she was lost on a couple of technical terms, but it turned out they were pretty minimal anyway (i.e. even briefer than ottobre). i’m glad i did as instructed with the straps and sewed them right sides together then turned, rather than folded under and topstitched as i’d have been tempted to, as they’re not at all stiff. otoh i’m less pleased with the end result of the pleats. again it has you sew the strips rst and turn. i did this with a minimal SA but it still left me very little room to manoevre when i came to attach them to the hem. it also left a ridiculously thick wodge to sew through, especially a the side seams where i was sewing through 17 layers :eek:. while it gives a good weight to the hem it’s pretty stiff.

i won’t have the same problem with the next version as the pleats can just be sandwiched between the layers, so no need to turn a very long tube either, should make a quick pattern even quicker.

on the whole i’m really pleased with it. it seems to fit about right and i’m quite fond of the fabric now too. i found it rather alarming at first.