Simplicity 1250 - Fitting and Cutting Out

Alas! I have begun my Christmas dress! And a month before Christmas; I'm rather impressed with myself.  If you're just dropping in now, I'm making Simplicity pattern 1250 for my Christmas dress (fingers crossed!).  You can find my initial planning post here.  You can also find my finished product here!

The pattern (I'm doing view A)

Firstly: my fabric choices! I did stick to the originally planned plaid with black lace.  Upon visiting both Hancock and Joann's I realized my selection was slim and I had take what I could get.  There was literally next to no taffeta-esque tartan in stock at my stores this year!  It's a little weird, especially considering that there has been an abundance in previous years.  And it was slim pickings online, too!  Ah well, I'm pretty pleased with my choice anyways.

The plaid with lace and gold buttons

 The  classic red tartan with green is growing on me.  Plus it's got some shiny gold to sparkle it up!

After bringing my fabric home, I was very well behaved and did make a muslin for the top bustier area.  I would highly recommend doing it due to the close fitting nature of the bustier, even if you normally avoid making muslins (as I do) .  I ended up doing two, one in muslin and one in a red taffeta that's a similar to the plaid I'll be using.

Measuring/Ease
My bust measurement is 32" and my waist is 26".  I'm in between the sizes specified on this pattern, with a size 10 at the bust being 32.5" and a size 12 at the waist being 26.5" (pretty close).  Normally Simplicity patterns give quite a bit of ease, but this pattern surprised me. On the pattern tissue it says that there is 2" of ease for the bust (34.5" finished measurement for size 10) and 1" of ease at the waist (27.5" finished measurement for size 12).  Much less ease than expected, but it sounded good to me!

Muslin I
The initial muslin was... interesting.  I decided that 2" of ease on the bust might be a little too much for me.  I am a bit flat chested so excessive ease doesn't always serve a purpose on my figure.  Plus, with the gown being strapless I thought making it as tight as was comfortable would avoid some awkward flashings in the future.  Therefore, I cut out the bust at a size 8, giving it 1" of ease.  I kept the waist at a size 12 since the 1" of ease there seemed reasonable.

This was the result:

AH!!! SO LOOSE!!! NO!!!! NO NO NO!!

As you may have surmised, the fit was not exactly what I intended.  You may not be able to tell from the picture, but there turned out to be a lot of ease!  It bubbled all around my dress form in sack-like manner, despite the form being slightly larger than me!  Even with the boning that it will eventually have, I had my doubts about this dress staying up let alone portraying a flattering, retro silhouette.  Back to the cutting board I went!

Muslin II/Taffeta

My second muslin/mockup, made of taffeta instead of cotton, went much better.  I reduced the bust to a size 6 (giving me 1/2" of ease) and the waist to a size 10 (giving me 1" of ease).





 The result:

 

Much better!! It fits on the dress form (and me) quite nicely, with plenty of room for a zipper and boning.  It's much closer to the silhouette I imagined; no more sack!

In summary, I reduced the bust by two sizes (from size 10 to size 6) and the waist by one (from size 12 to size 10) to achieve my desired fit.  After my too-long foray into fitting, I finished cutting the dress out and I've started piecing it together.  It's turning out lovely and I can't wait to share my progress in my next post!

Until next time!

-The Gretchen