Recut

Last night I cut out the "muslin" again using the New Look pattern. I also went ahead and ordered a new copy of the pattern online, since the pattern envelope and the first page of instructions remain stubbornly missing. After looking up the pattern back online I realized that since it's a Junior pattern, I needed to cut out a size 11-12. That was a little weird (I'm a size 6 in ready made clothes), but patterns do tend to run crazy small for some reason.

The skirt is MUCH narrower - I bet I lost 18-24" of the full skirt circumference. Which is very good. I actually have slight doubts about it fitting over my ass, but with the train in there I'm sure it will be fine. I don't want a situation where I have to wear pantyhose.

So I cut the new skirt from the pieces of the old skirt and the new top from some cotton poplin I had lying around (leftovers from Justin's Dr. Horrible coat from Halloween 2008). Although I liked having the lighter, silkier fabric to see the drape on the first mock up dress, the fabric frays like crazy and isn't very practical for reusing as a pattern. My plan is to fit it using the poplin pieces, like a traditional muslin, then deconstruct and use them as the pattern - first for the green mock dress and finally for the real ivory dress.

I'm modifying the V neck top (it's the yellow dress in the sketches on the bottom) so that it's a scoop neck.

It sounds more complicated than it is.

And I was finally able to find a bra on sale to work into the dress. I'm planning to sew it into the dress so that I have the dress straps giving me support through the bra and don't have to wear a strapless.